Past discussions
We have always had a complex relationship with technology. There are perennial claims that it may come to dominate us, or in some way undermine human values. In the 5th century BC, Plato’s dialogue the Phaedrus contained an early critique of the technology of writing at the time of its widespread adoption: Socrates voices concerns that writing will undermine human knowledge and authority and will ultimately be destructive to the Athenian polis. We find echoes of this in some of the responses to contemporary media technologies from Wikipedia to Google to Facebook. Some suggest our dependence on a range of digital ‘cognitive extension technologies’, are dumbing down culture, or even changing the nature of human consciousness. Read more
Tuesday, 1 November 2011 - 7:30pm to 9:00pm Read more
The revelation that murder victim Milly Dowler’s phone had been hacked caused a scandal that sparked a raft of political inquiries into controlling the press with new laws and regulations. But can we really muzzle tabloid newshounds at the same time as protecting the techniques of investigative journalism that speaks truth to power? While those who sought to limit the influence of Rupert Murdoch and expose illegal red top practices might see the closing of the News of the World as a victory for responsible reporting, further revelations of police complicity and widespread use of private investigators to steal information threaten all of Fleet Street. Has understandable disgust at the treatment of the Dowler family been used to justify a crackdown on journalism by the very people it is supposed to investigate?
Tuesday, 18 October 2011 - 7:00pm to 9:00pm Read more
The watchwords for our troubled times seem to be 'easy now', and there are no radicals left in the western world. Students, alternatives and political activists of all kinds, who once experimented with new ways of living, doing things and organising themselves, are no longer leading struggles for international solidarity, equal rights or better conditions.
Wednesday, 28 September 2011 - 7:30pm to 9:00pm Read more
For more than 70 years, the Aborigines’ Protection Society, a select group of the great and the good, fought for the natives of the British Empire and against the tide of white supremacy to defend the interests of aboriginal peoples everywhere. Active on four continents, the Society brought the Zulu King Chetswayo to meet Queen Victoria, and Maori rebels to the Lord Mayor’s banqueting hall. The Society’s supporters were denounced by senior British Army Officers and white settlers as Zulu-lovers, ‘so-called friends of the aborigines’, and even traitors.
Thursday, 14 July 2011 - 7:15pm to 9:00pm Read more
Bringing up children now seems to be a battleground. At stake is the self-esteem and future resilience of the child. Get it wrong and we apparently risk damaging children permanently.
To some, children appear to rule the roost with an abdication of responsibility by adults for disciplining children. To others, the maxim ‘the child is always right’ is still seen as an indispensable approach to the socialisation of the young.
Thursday, 23 June 2011 - 7:15pm to 9:00pm Read more
The uprisings in Arab countries came as a surprise to most; even President Obama questioned US intelligence agencies’ failure to predict events. Those uprisings are driven by genuinely popular democratic movements, but their outcomes are still unclear. Given the lack of traditional forms of political organisation spearheading those uprisings, how will events unfold and who are the main players determining the outcomes?
Tuesday, 19 April 2011 - 7:15pm to 9:00pm Read more
Popular outrage over tuition fees and cuts to public expenditure have provoked anger on the streets of Britain not seen for years. As we approach the end of the financial year and the cuts and reforms begin to bite more deeply, there is every sign that more and more people are prepared to demonstrate, especially school pupils and public sector workers who have never taken to the streets before.
Tuesday, 22 March 2011 - 7:15pm to 9:00pm Read more
Museums were founded to show the public the results and artifacts of archaeological, scientific and historical research, but some museums in Britain are now questioning that role by locking away human remains. Institutions that once shared the privileges of knowledge are becoming reluctant to display the bodies that have taught us so much about the origins of the peoples of today and the environments they lived in.
Wednesday, 16 February 2011 - 7:15pm to 9:00pm Read more
After WikiLeaks passed leaked US Embassy cables to selected news organisations, its founder Julian Assange has been both vilified and beatified. Some of those who have given material to WikiLeaks in the past have faced long-term imprisonment. But beyond the personalities and witch-hunts, what have we actually learned from these many revelations?
Tuesday, 18 January 2011 - 7:00pm to 9:00pm Read more
Generation Y is in revolt. Young people born since the Thatcher years can’t afford a house, they protest. Even the top graduates can’t get jobs that pay well and they think politics - voting or protesting - is pointless. Their parents, born of the post-war boom, received free education and jobs for life. ‘Britain’s young people are insecure, unstable and poor, (while) their parents are the richest generation ever to have lived and they have flatly failed to share the wealth,’ argue twenty-something journalists Ed Howker and Shiv Malik.
Tuesday, 19 October 2010 - 7:30pm to 9:00pm Read more