LSE: Public lectures and events
1,444 episodes - English - Latest episode: 5 days ago - ★★★★ - 256 ratingsThe London School of Economics and Political Science public events podcast series is a platform for thought, ideas and lively debate where you can hear from some of the world's leading thinkers. Listen to more than 200 new episodes every year.
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Episodes
LSE Festival 2018 | The Future of Work [Audio]
February 22, 2018 19:30 - 56 minutes - 26.1 MBSpeaker(s): Rebecca Campbell, Ruth Reaney, Dr Jamie Woodcock | If William Beveridge was to return to the East End, what would he make of it today? The welfare state has changed significantly in the 75 years since the publication of the Beveridge report, but so has the structure of the economy and the kinds of work that people do today. There is continuity with work, but there is also change: in some ways moving backwards, in other ways radically transforming. This panel session brings togethe...
LSE Festival 2018 | Blueprint for Welfare? The Beveridge Report and the Making of the Welfare State [Audio]
February 22, 2018 19:00 - 1 hour - 42.4 MBSpeaker(s): Professor Derek Fraser | There was a marked difference between the enthusiastic popular response to the Report and what was perceived to be a lukewarm reception by Churchill and the wartime coalition. How far was the Report implemented in the creation of the Welfare State in 1948 and why 75 years later do many politicians wish to "Get back to Beveridge"? The lecture will review the content and context of the Beveridge Report and explain why it is of enduring importance. Derek Fra...
LSE Festival 2018 | Universal Health Coverage in the Global South: what is needed to make it work? [Audio]
February 22, 2018 18:30 - 1 hour - 103 MBSpeaker(s): Professor Kalipso Chalkidou, Professor Ken Shadlen, Dr Daniel Wang | Although Universal health coverage is a pillar of the modern welfare state, the successful design and implementation of arrangements to deliver on this promise faces enormous challenges. This panel, with perspectives from health policy, law, and political science, examines these challenges and reflects on national experiences in developing countries. Topics will include: the imperatives of determining which healt...
LSE Festival 2018 | Is Higher Education Good for You? [Audio]
February 21, 2018 19:30 - 56 minutes - 26.1 MBSpeaker(s): Professor Paul Dolan, Lord Willetts | There is increasing evidence from the UK and the US to show that higher education is associated with less happiness and more inequality. In light of this, Professor of Behavioural Science at LSE Paul Dolan argues that the government should reduce funding to higher education and prioritise early years education instead. Former Minister for Universities David Willetts stands up for the value of a university degree. Paul Dolan (@profpauldolan) is...
LSE Festival 2018 | Writing Fiction to Dramatise Inequality [Audio]
February 21, 2018 19:00 - 55 minutes - 25.4 MBSpeaker(s): Louise Doughty, Winnie M Li, Professor Nicola Lacey | How can literature reach audiences in ways that social science research about inequality can’t? How can narratives about fictional characters dramatise lived experiences of social inequality – and what are the ethical implications of creating these narratives for a mass readership? This event brings together two award-winning authors (one established, one emerging) whose fiction explores various forms of social inequality. Loui...
LSE Festival 2018 | Education and the Giant of Ignorance [Audio]
February 21, 2018 17:30 - 1 hour - 27.9 MBSpeaker(s): Professor Nicholas Barr, Professor Howard Glennerster, Professor Sandra McNally, Dr Kitty Stewart, Professor Anne West | Ignorance, though one of the Giants, was barely mentioned in the Beveridge Report, but addressed by the 1944 Education Act and 1963 Robbins Report. This panel identifies gaps that have emerged and ways to fill them, focussing particularly on equality of opportunity. Kitty Stewart will discuss the importance of early education to children’s life chances, and cons...
LSE Festival 2018 | Beveridge in Context: reconstruction planning during the Second World War and after [Audio]
February 21, 2018 17:30 - 1 hour - 43.6 MBSpeaker(s): Professor Matthew Jones, Dr David Motadel, Professor David Stevenson | Editor's note: We apologise for the poor audio quality of this podcast. Academics from the Department of International History at LSE will reassess the 1942 Beveridge Report in the light of German, American, and British planning for reconstruction after World War II. Matthew Jones is Professor of International History at LSE. He works on US foreign relations, British foreign policy, and nuclear history during ...
LSE Festival 2018 | Combatting the Five Giants in 21st Century European Welfare States [Audio]
February 21, 2018 16:00 - 50 minutes - 23 MBSpeaker(s): Kathleen Henehan, Professor Nicola Lacey, Lord Wood | A distinguished panel discusses the most promising European welfare state reforms to combat Beveridge's social evils, presented in a video by European Institute students. Kathleen Henehan (@kathleenhenehan) joined the Resolution Foundation in 2017, working on post-16 skills and education, including apprenticeships, technical and higher education, and adult skills development. Prior to joining Resolution Foundation, Kathleen wor...
LSE Festival 2018 | The Challenge of Richness? Rethinking the Giant of Poverty [Audio]
February 20, 2018 20:00 - 55 minutes - 76.7 MBSpeaker(s): Dr Tania Burchardt, Amy Feneck, Dr Sam Friedman, Dr Luna Glucksberg | The economic and political power of the richest in our society has dramatically increased since 1942. 75 years on since his report, the panel will discuss whether Beveridge’s concern with poverty now needs to be extended to include a concern with richness. Tania Burchardt is Director of the Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion (CASE) and an Associate Professor in the Department of Social Policy at LSE. Amy Fe...
LSE Festival 2018 | Beveridge Rebooted: a basic income for every citizen? [Audio]
February 20, 2018 18:30 - 1 hour - 92.5 MBSpeaker(s): Professor John Kay, Professor Philippe Van Parijs, Dr Malcolm Torry, Polly Toynbee | Discussion of a Basic Income – an unconditional, nonwithdrawable income for every individual (and sometimes called a Citizen’s Income, a Citizen’s Basic Income, or a Universal Basic Income) – is now a mainstream global social policy debate. This event will bring together key figures on different sides of that debate – Professor Philippe Van Parijs from the University of Louvain, and Professor John...
LSE Festival 2018 | Beveridge's Sixth Giant [Audio]
February 19, 2018 20:00 - 1 hour - 43.2 MBSpeaker(s): Professor Sam Fankhauser, Professor Fawaz Gerges, Professor Naila Kabeer, Professor Mary Kaldor, Professor Lord Layard | Beveridge's "Five Giants" remain central issues in discussions about the welfare state today, but there are also new challenges that have emerged since the 1940s. Which "Giant" issue would a modern day Beveridge prioritise? Having polled LSE students, staff and alumni for their suggestions as to Beveridge’s missing giants, the sixth giant will be selected from o...
LSE Festival 2018 | Our Automated Future: utopia or dystopia? [Audio]
February 19, 2018 20:00 - 52 minutes - 71.8 MBSpeaker(s): Salonie Hiriyur, Laura-Jane Silverman, Dhruv Washishth | Editor's note: We apologise for the poor audio quality of this podcast. For the younger generations considering their future career options, are the technological advances transforming the way we work something to be afraid of or excited by? And are they being sufficiently prepared for the future of work? Salonie Hiriyur started work as a journalist in India, but wanting to develop a sound theoretical basis in development st...
LSE Festival 2018 | Identity and the Welfare State: evolving challenges for sustaining social solidarity [Audio]
February 19, 2018 18:30 - 57 minutes - 26.3 MBSpeaker(s): Professor Xenia Chryssochoou, Professor Peter Dwyer, David Goodhart, Celestin Okoroji | Editor's note: We apologise for the poor audio quality of this podcast. Central to the promise of the Beveridge Report is the assumption of social solidarity: we need a cohesive society to support social protection, and the resulting shared safety net should increase cohesion even further. Yet as the country and its welfare state evolved, so did the social bonds on which they depended. Given wh...
LSE Festival 2018 | The Five Giants and the Ministers who Made a Difference [Audio]
February 19, 2018 18:30 - 1 hour - 45.1 MBSpeaker(s): Nicholas Timmins, Professor Sir Julian Le Grand, Minouche Shafik | Five tools and massive programmes were adopted to tackle Beveridge's "Five Giants": A policy of full employment; a National Health Service; a massively extended system of education; a new housing programme; and a much modernised system of social security. But in the 75 years since they took effect, who have been the "Five Giant" ministers in each of these areas? In this opening event of the LSE Festival: Beveridge ...
Can Literature Solve Poverty? [Audio]
February 15, 2018 18:30 - 1 hour - 41.5 MBSpeaker(s): Kit de Waal, Paul McVeigh, Dr Aaron Reeves | In the run up to the LSE Festival: Beveridge 2.0, rethinking the welfare state for the 21st Century, we bring together a panel to discuss the relationship between literature and poverty. They reflect on questions such as: do you need money to access literature? If not, why are there comparatively few working-class writers? And can literature actively play a part in reducing financial hardship?
Post-Beveridge International Law [Audio]
February 14, 2018 18:30 - 1 hour - 41.1 MBSpeaker(s): Dr Tatiana Borisova, Professor Matthew Craven | This event will consider the relationship between Cold War International Law and the Beveridge moment. In particular, did the ideals of the Beveridge Report get translated into global legal idealism, or were they neutralised or depoliticized by international legal projects around human rights or co-existence? And did the Beveridge Moment in international law actually take place at the height of the Cold War in Bandung in 1955 with th...
At the Limits of Urban Theory: racial banishment in the contemporary city [Audio]
February 13, 2018 18:30 - 1 hour - 41.8 MBSpeaker(s): Professor Ananya Roy | In cities around the world, especially in the United States, processes of socio-spatial restructuring continue to unfold. Often understood as neoliberal urbanism and often identified through concepts such as gentrification, these processes entail the displacement of subaltern classes to the far edges of urban life. In this talk, Ananya Roy argues that it is necessary to analyse such transformations through a theorisation of racial capitalism. In particular, ...
Is God Really Dead? Why Belief Matters [Audio]
February 12, 2018 18:30 - 1 hour - 38.6 MBSpeaker(s): Professor Eileen Barker, Professor Conor Gearty | Thirty years after founding INFORM, the information network on religious movements, Eileen Barker argues that the sociology of religion still has an important role in “knowing the causes of things”. Abraham Lincoln is reputed to have remarked, “I don’t like that man; I must get to know him better”. Today the world is populated by religions that most of us do not like. Throughout most of the 20th century, there was a rumour that sec...
Truth and Lies about Poverty [Audio]
February 08, 2018 18:30 - 1 hour - 30.3 MBSpeaker(s): Stephen Armstrong, Alex Wheatle, Ros Taylor, Ros Wynne-Jones | In this event, aimed at school children aged 13-18, a panel of speakers discuss how we tell the truth about the people struggling to get by in modern Britain. Stephen Armstrong (@SArmstrong1984) is a journalist and author of The New Poverty. He writes extensively for the Sunday Times, the Daily Telegraph and the Guardian. He also appears occasionally on BBC Radio 4 and Radio 2. His other books include War PLC, The Supe...
Academic Freedom and the New Populism [Audio]
February 08, 2018 18:30 - 1 hour - 41.2 MBSpeaker(s): Professor Michael Ignatieff | A new ‘populism’ is evident in a variety of countries. Experts and expertise are attacked as standing in the way of the popular will. Universities are under new pressures from populist politicians. How should these pressures be resisted? Born in Canada, educated at the University of Toronto and Harvard, Michael Ignatieff (@M_Ignatieff) is a university professor, writer and former politician. His major publications are The Needs of Strangers (1984), S...
100 Years of Votes for Women: an LSE Law celebration [Audio]
February 06, 2018 18:30 - 1 hour - 37.5 MBSpeaker(s): Baroness Chakrabarti, Baroness Hale, Professor Nicola Lacey | On February 6th 1918, with the coming into force of the Representation of the People Act, women were by law first given the vote in this country. Even though this foundational right only applied to a restricted category of women initially, the dam had been breached and the universal franchise would soon follow. 100 years on, to the very day, LSE Law will be marking this constitutional watershed with speeches from Brenda...
Universal Declaration of Human Rights at 70: rejuvenate or retire? [Audio]
February 05, 2018 18:30 - 1 hour - 42.2 MBSpeaker(s): Professor Francesca Klug | At the beginning of the year in which the UDHR’s 70 birthday will be commemorated around the globe, Francesca Klug asks: is the Declaration no longer relevant for our modern world or has its time finally come? Francesca Klug is a Visiting Professor at LSE Human Rights and former Director of the Human Rights Futures Project from 2001-2015 at the LSE Centre for the Study of Human Rights. Francesca was formerly a Senior Research Fellow at King's College La...
How do People Really Think about Climate Change? [Audio]
February 01, 2018 18:30 - 1 hour - 38 MBSpeaker(s): Professor Cass Sunstein | How does new information about climate change impact our existing beliefs? Cass Sunstein identifies some surprising biases and findings. Cass Sunstein (@CassSunstein) is the Robert Walmsley University Professor at Harvard Law School. From 2009 to 2012, he was Administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. Nicholas Stern (@lordstern1) is IG Patel Professor of Economics and Government at the LSE and has been Chair of the Gran...
What do the Italian Elections Mean for Europe? [Audio]
January 31, 2018 18:30 - 1 hour - 38.1 MBSpeaker(s): Professor Francesco Caselli, Lorenzo Codogno, Miriam Sorace | Italy will hold its next general election no later than spring 2018. What are the potential outcomes and likely implications for Italy and Europe? Francesco Caselli is Norman Sosnow Professor of Economics, Department of Economics, LSE. Lorenzo Codogno is Visiting Professor in Practice, European Institute, LSE. Miriam Sorace (@MiriamSorace) is LSE Fellow in EU Politics, European Institute, LSE. Sara Hagemann (@sarahagema...
The Politics of Marriage [Audio]
January 31, 2018 18:30 - 1 hour - 38.9 MBSpeaker(s): Dr Clare Chambers, Sir Paul Coleridge, Peter Tatchell | Marriage is an odd mix of sex, religion, and politics. Our speakers ask what marriage is and whether there is there any distinctive moral value in it. Should the state promote it? Is it possible to have an ‘equal’ marriage, or is marriage fundamentally an oppressive institution? Should marriage be rejected in favour of civil partnerships, or something else, or perhaps nothing else? Clare Chambers is Senior Lecturer in Philoso...
Crisis Politics and the Challenge of Intersectional Solidarity [Audio]
January 31, 2018 18:30 - 1 hour - 39.7 MBSpeaker(s): Professor Akwugo Emejulu | How might we transform the ways in which we think about ‘crisis’, ‘activism’ and 'solidarity'? Drawing on her new co-authored book, Minority Women and Austerity: Survival and Resistance in France and Britain, Akwugo Emejulu's talk will explore the asymmetrical impacts of austerity measures on women of colour and their strategies for resistance in Scotland, England and France. Akwugo Emejulu is Professor of Sociology, University of Warwick. Aisling Swaine...
A World of Food in Change [Audio]
January 30, 2018 18:30 - 1 hour - 37.8 MBSpeaker(s): Michael La Cour | Michael La Cour will in this lecture discuss the role and responsibility of corporations in addressing the challenges of the food system, and how sustainability and health drives innovation. Michael La Cour (@MichaelIKEAFood) is Managing Director of IKEA Food Services AB. Richard Perkins is Associate Professor of Environmental Geography at LSE. The LSE Department of Geography & Environment (@LSEGeography) is a centre of international academic excellence in econom...
Development Collective Know-how and Us [Audio]
January 29, 2018 18:30 - 1 hour - 63.3 MBSpeaker(s): Professor Ricardo Hausmann | The difference between rich and poor countries is mostly explained by differences in “technology”. But what is technology and why does it not diffuse more quickly? This lecture will clarify the importance of collective know-how in technology diffusion and the importance of a sense of us in creating the needed cooperation to support the implementation of technology. Ricardo Hausmann (@ricardo_hausman) is Director of Harvard's Center for International De...
Ground Down by Growth: tribe, caste, class and inequality in 21st century India [Audio]
January 25, 2018 18:30 - 1 hour - 41.2 MBSpeaker(s): Professor Philippe Bourgois, Dr Jens Lerche, Dr Alpa Shah | Our panel examines how economic growth in India entrenches social difference of tribe, caste and class and has transformed identity-based discrimination into new forms of exploitation and oppression. Philippe Bourgois is Professor of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles. Jens Lerche (@JensLerche) is Reader in Labour and Agrarian Studies, SOAS. Alpa Shah (@alpashah001) is Associate Professor (Reader), Depart...
Megatrends: predicting the future to reinvent today [Audio]
January 25, 2018 18:30 - 1 hour - 38.3 MBSpeaker(s): Shane Wall | Our planet’s pace of change is at lightning speed. How do we stay ahead of the curve to innovate, adapt, reinvent and engineer experiences for a future that promises to look vastly different from today? Join Shane Wall for a conversation about megatrends – major socio-economic, demographic and technological shifts occurring across the globe that will have a sustained, transformative impact on the world and humanity in the decades ahead. Shane Wall (@ShaneWallCTO) is H...
Being Alone [Audio]
January 24, 2018 18:30 - 1 hour - 38.3 MBSpeaker(s): Professor John Burnside,Professor Barbara Taylor,Professor James Warren | ‘Hell is other people’, noted Jean Paul Sartre—rather rudely, it might seem to an outside observer. But is the pursuit of philosophical understanding an inherently solitary pursuit by its nature? From Augustine to Kant, philosophy has cherished the image of the deep thinker immersed in solitudinous reflection. But how does solitude differ from loneliness? And in an age of increasing social atomization, can w...
The Despot's Apprentice: Donald Trump's attack on democracy [Audio]
January 24, 2018 18:30 - 1 hour - 39.8 MBSpeaker(s): Dr Brian Klaas | Donald Trump isn't a despot. But he is increasingly acting like a despot's apprentice. An expert on authoritarianism, Brian Klaas is well placed to recognise the warning signs of tyranny. He argues forcefully that with every autocratic tactic or tweet, Trump further erodes democratic norms in the world's most powerful democracy. Brian Klaas (@brianklaas) is Fellow in Comparative Politics, Department of Government, LSE and author of The Despot's Apprentice: Donald ...
The Origins of Happiness: Andrew Marr in conversation with Richard Layard [Audio]
January 22, 2018 18:30 - 1 hour - 32.7 MBSpeaker(s): Professor Lord Layard | To mark the publication of The Origins of Happiness Andrew Marr and Richard Layard discuss some of its key focal points: What makes people happy? Why should governments care about people's wellbeing? How would policy change if wellbeing was the main objective? Richard Layard is Director of the Wellbeing program at the Centre for Economic Performance, LSE. Andrew Marr (@AndrewMarr9) is the host of The Andrew Marr Show on BBC One and also hosts BBC Radio 4's ...
Turbulent Climate Change: why we need to address injustice [Audio]
January 18, 2018 18:30 - 1 hour - 35.9 MBSpeaker(s): Mary Robinson | Events such as hurricanes affecting Texas, Florida and Caribbean Islands, wild-fires raging in California and Portugal, and severe monsoon rains in South Asia, bring home the urgency of a people centered, climate justice approach. Mary Robinson is President of the Mary Robinson Foundation – Climate Justice and Chair of the Board of Trustees. She is a former President of Ireland (1990-1997) and a former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (1997-2002). Between Marc...
Toxic Inequality in the United States: economic inequality and racial injustice driving ugly politics [Audio]
January 18, 2018 18:30 - 1 hour - 40.8 MBSpeaker(s): Professor Thomas Shapiro, Zamila Bunglawala | In his latest book, Toxic Inequality, which he will discuss in this lecture, Thomas Shapiro examines a powerful and unprecedented convergence in the United States: historic and rising levels of wealth and income inequality in an era of stalled mobility, intersecting with a widening racial wealth gap, all against the backdrop of changing racial and ethnic demographics. Thomas Shapiro (@tmshapiro) is Director, Institute on Assets and Soc...
Culture under Fire [Audio]
January 17, 2018 18:30 - 1 hour - 41 MBSpeaker(s): Professor Helen Frowe, Issam Kourbaj, Vernon Rapley, Professor Eleanor Robson | From the recent destruction of Palmyra and the looting of the National Museum of Iraq, cultural artefacts are one of the many casualties of armed conflict. What exactly is cultural property and whose property is it? How should we weigh its value against other priorities during times of conflict? What risks should be taken to protect it, and who is responsible for rebuilding and restoring when the confl...
Clean Brexit: why leaving the EU still makes sense [Audio]
January 17, 2018 18:30 - 1 hour - 42 MBSpeaker(s): Liam Halligan, Dr Gerard Lyons | In their latest book Clean Brexit, which they will discuss at this event, Liam Halligan and Gerard Lyons offer a vision of how Britain, and the world, can make a great success of Brexit. If the negotiations go well, the UK could become an inspiration for voters elsewhere in Europe who have long demanded EU reform. Unashamedly optimistic about Britain’s future, they argue that leaving the EU provides an opportunity for the UK to re-invent its econom...
Role of Trade and Investment in Driving Sustainable and Inclusive Growth [Audio]
January 12, 2018 14:00 - 1 hour - 35.2 MBSpeaker(s): Shri Suresh Prabhu, Y K Sinha | Editor's note: We regret to inform you that owing to a technical problem the last few minutes of the lecture are missing from the podcast Shri Suresh Prabhu, Minister for Commerce and Industry, Government of India will in this lecture discuss the importance of trade and investment in driving sustainable growth and inclusion. He will also reflect on the future of India-UK collaborations in a changing world. Prior to his current role Dr Prabhu (@sures...
Challenges for the Eurozone [Audio]
January 11, 2018 18:30 - 1 hour - 38.1 MBSpeaker(s): Jeroen Dijsselbloem | In his lecture Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem will speak about the lessons learnt from the economic and financial crises, where we are now and about the challenges for the Eurozone in the future. Jeroen Dijsselbloem (@J_Dijsselbloem) is President of the Eurogroup and former Minister of Finance for the Netherlands. Kevin Featherstone is Head of the European Institute, LSE. The LSE European Institute (@LSEEI) is a centre for research and graduate teach...
Moonshot Thinking to Unleash Innovation [Audio]
January 10, 2018 18:30 - 1 hour - 77.5 MBSpeaker(s): Dr Pablo Rodriguez | Innovation in most large companies these days is fairly incremental. There is nothing inherently wrong in this, as much of our progress as a society has resulted from such innovation. Over recent years, however, we are seeing a radical departure from incremental innovation. Instead, we look at organisations who intentionally set extremely ambitious innovation objectives, where incremental innovation cannot get the job done. The focus of this talk is to discuss...
Streaming Consciousness [Audio]
January 09, 2018 18:30 - 1 hour - 58.3 MBSpeaker(s): Eimear McBride, Dr Kaye Mitchell | Is it possible to express the richness, variety, and depth of our inner experience, our thoughts and feelings? If so, what is the best way to do it? Should we turn to literature or to philosophy? And what can they teach each other about understanding, expressing, and performing the self? In this event, award-winning novelist Eimear McBride will discuss these questions with writer and academic Kaye Mitchell. Eimear McBride is an award-winning nove...
The Cold War: a world history [Audio]
January 09, 2018 18:30 - 1 hour - 75 MBSpeaker(s): Professor Arne Westad | Arne Westad and Michael Cox discuss the truly global nature of the Cold War, with East and West demanding absolute allegiance around the world. For over forty years the demands of the Cold War shaped the lives of millions of people worldwide, with countries as remote from each other as Korea, Angola, and Cuba defined by the conflict. For many nations, the war was not 'cold' at all and the second half of the 20th century offered no reprieve from horrors of w...
LSE IQ Episode 9 | Why is social mobility declining? [Audio]
December 11, 2017 12:00 - 38 minutes - 17.8 MBSpeaker(s): Professor Mike Savage, Dr Abigail McKnight, Dr Sam Friedman | We hope you’ve enjoyed listening to the autumn 2017 programme of LSE public events and that you’ll stay tuned for the exciting programme of events we have lined up for the new year. In the meantime we have a new podcast series that we think you might enjoy. LSE IQ is a monthly, thirty minute podcast, where we ask some of the smartest social scientists - and other experts - to answer intelligent questions about economics...
Exploitation and the Gig Economy [Audio]
December 07, 2017 18:30 - 1 hour - 37 MBSpeaker(s): Brhmie Balaram, Jason Moyer-Lee | The gig economy is on the rise and with it worries about exploitation. Leading experts will analyse how to deal with the challenges and opportunities of new ways of working. Brhmie Balaram (@Brhmie) is a Senior Researcher in the RSA’s Economy, Enterprise and Manufacturing team. She leads the RSA’s research on the sharing economy. She was previously a researcher for the Independent Review of the Police Federation and for the influential RSA City Gr...