Our most recent Public Lectures include:

Sir Anthony Seldon - What can Starmer learn from Johnson and Truss?

Thursday 21 November 2024

Sir Anthony argues that Boris Johnson and Liz Truss were two of the worst Prime Ministers in British history. Starmer has much to learn from them. Sir Anthony is a bestselling contemporary political historian. He served as honorary historian of Number 10 Downing Street, chair of the National Archives Trust, and has interviewed most of the senior figures who have worked in Number 10 in the last fifty years. His most recent books are Johnson at 10: The Inside Story (2023) and Truss at 10: How Not to Be Prime Minister (2024).

Lord Jonathan Evans

Wednesday 20 March 2024

Lord Jonathan Evans was Director-General of the British Security Service (MI5) from 2007-13. Dubbed by The Independent as ‘the spy who came out from the cold’, Lord Evans was Britain’s top domestic spy. His main focus was counter-terrorism, both international and domestic, including initiatives against cyber threats. Lord Evans will be discussing the nation's current security challenges.

Sarah Porter - Mortal Humans, Time Machines, and a Future with AI

Wednesday 22 November 2023

Sarah gave us an overview of current state of AI and explored what that means for our future.

Sarah is the founder and CEO of InspiredMinds (a global community of 220,000 high level experts in AI and emerging technology), an advisor to the UN and the EU AI Council, the previous chairperson of Women in AI, and founded ADA-AI; a not for profit focusing on the democratization of tech. In 2017, Sarah lobbied on behalf of the all-girl Afghan Robotics team vs the Trump travel ban. She founded the first STEM school for girls in Kabul and is now working to build an online school for girls still in Afghanistan.

Listen to Sarah's lecture:

Robin Ince - Weapons of Empathy

Tuesday 21 February 2023

Robin Ince is best known as the host of Radio 4's The Infinite Monkey Cage with Professor Brian Cox.

Since writing his book I'm a Joke and So Are You, Robin has become increasingly engaged with trying to understand the disparity between how we project ourselves to the outside world and who we are on the inside. Weapons of Empathy explored neuroscience, psychology, and how books can lead us into the minds of others and help us understand their world. It also contained jokes, impressions and poetry.

Listen to Robin's lecture:

Jo Brand - Growing Old Gracelessly

Tuesday 1 November 2022

Jo says: “This lecture is about making more of a fuss, getting decent care, some proper respect and irritating people. This is not an academic lecture, because I am a comedian, so lower your expectations. And there might be some jokes.”

Watch Jo Brand's lecture

If the video doesn't start straight away, skip ahead 10 minutes.

Past events

Previous speakers include The Most Revd and Rt Hon Justin Welby, former Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow, children’s author Michael Morpurgo, Stonewall CEO and activist Ruth Hunt, and musician, journalist and parish priest Reverend Richard Coles.