Towards a Decolonial Cultural Front
Artists, activists and academics in New York are working towards the emergence of a decolonial cultural front in New York City to create actions, conversations and artwork to hold our cultural, academic and art institutions accountable to the struggles being waged today. In this time, Professor Nicholas Mirzoeff will report back on how this project has unfolded and […]
The Inheritance of ISIS
While the Islamic State marks in many ways a radical departure for Muslim militancy, it continues to draw upon many of the themes and concerns that have preoccupied Islamists in particular for many decades now. This lecture will focus on the way in which ISIS has taken over and transformed a long-standing debate on sovereignty […]
The Panama Papers, the Global Elite, and the Democratic Deficit
The Panama Papers have revealed the corruption and greed of the global elite. They have also underlined the hollowing out of democracy. We now inhabit a world in which wealth is more concentrated than ever before in human history. The hoovering of wealth to the top has accelerated since the 2008 Crash. This is happening […]
Free Speech Under Attack
Is free speech, our most fundamental human right, under attack in the 21st century? Thanks to the phone in our pocket, we can now reach and be reached by up to four billion other human beings. Never has free expression been so accessible. Yet this world of hyper-connectivity leaves us open to both dangerous and […]
The Implications of Cortisol in Counselling
Cortisol is a hormone produced by the body in response to starvation (low blood sugar & fats) and as part of the stress response. Under normal circumstances this hormone maintains balance in the body and helps to keep us alive. Chronic exposure, such as long term stress, has a negative effect on our mental and […]
Prisons In Crisis
The prison population in England and Wales has doubled since the mid-1990s. Prisons are experiencing huge problems, with rises in violence and self-harm. Suicides behind bars are at their highest levels in a decade. There were more homicides in prison in 2015 than any other year on record. This is an urgent question for today […]
National Shop Stewards Network 2016 – 10th Annual Conference
Unions are under threat. It’s no accident that the Tories announced their (anti) Trade Union Bill at the same time as they roll out yet more cuts. They fully understand that the unions, with 6 million members, can be a major obstacle to another austerity wave and the fight is on. Junior Doctors are striking […]
How David Hume Became the First Modern Humanist
David Hume was one of our greatest philosophers. When he was growing up, the dominant ethical debate in Britain was between the “pessimists”, who believed we are all fundamentally selfish, and the “optimists”, who vehemently denied this. The latter were all devout Christians, and so for those sceptical of orthodox religion (like the young Hume), […]
Trident Renewal – The Arguments
How much will the renewal of Trident actually cost? Have nuclear weapons really kept us safe since the end of World War Two? Is Trident even legal under International Law? The UK professes to be committed to ‘multilateral disarmament’ – but is that actually the case? In this presentation, Quaker peace activist Timmon Wallis summarises […]