Brexit, the topic dominating British politics, is the focus of a new series of public talks at the University’s Canterbury campus.
Organised by its School of Politics and International Relations, the series is entitled Britain, Brexit and the future of British politics and speakers will reflect on these issues, broader questions of the changing character of politics and the future of Europe, as well as problems of political engagement, populism and participation. All the talks are free and open to all, with each session followed by a reception and an opportunity for further discussion on the topic.
The series begins with a talk by journalist and author David Goodhart on Wednesday 10 October in Grimond Lecture Theatre 3 at 17.00. Titled ‘Do Smart People have too much Power?’ his talk will examine the role of the expert and relations with society, an issue that came to the fore during the Brexit vote.
David Goodhart is currently head of the Demography, Immigration and Integration Unit at the Policy Exchange think tank. He is the founder and former editor of Prospect magazine and the author of The Road to Somewhere: The Populist Revolt and the Future of Politics (2017), a book that examines the political fault lines that led to the Brexit vote and the election of Donald Trump in the USA.
Future talks for 2018 include:
November 7 – Jamie Bartlett, Director of the Centre for the Study of Social Media, Demos and the University of Sussex – ‘Can Democracy Survive Big Data: The Facebook Challenge’
November 21 – Phillip Blond, political philosopher, theologian and Director of the ResPublica think tank – ‘The Future of Post-Liberal Politics’.
For 2019, speakers will include Arkady Rzegocki, Polish Ambassador to the UK since 2016, Rachel Reeves, economist and Labour MP for Leeds West since 2010, and Eric Kaufmann, Professor of Politics, Birkbeck College, University of London.