At the time of the 2008 global credit crunch, I participated in Oxford's online debate on whether the economic crisis sounded the death knell for laissez faire capitalism. I argued it did, not because I was naive enough to think that laissez faire policies would be abandoned, but because they should be, and until and unless they are, a repeat of the credit crunch and the resultant global recession hangs over us. In this talk I will review the record of the past five years, and consider...

This session will look at the history of coalition government in British politics over the past 200 years and discuss some of the constitutional implications of the current Conservative-Liberal Democrat government under David Cameron and Nick Clegg. Professor Angus Hawkins is Director of Public and International Programmes.

Philosophy deals with the BIG questions of life: does God exist? How should we live? What is truth? What are numbers and do we need them? Does space come to an end or is it infinite? NO SOUND FOR FIRST 3 MINUTES. In this 45 minute slot Marianne Talbot will take participants on a romp through the nature of philosophy for complete beginners. Philosopher Marianne Talbot is our Director of Studies in Philosophy, and is well-known as an author and the creator of two hugely popular Philosophy...

With the recent resurgence in interest in F. Scott Fitzgerald following Baz Luhrmann's imaginative film adaptation of Fitzgerald's 1925 novel The Great Gatsby have come the inevitable cliches of the 'lost generation' and the 'American dream'. But who was the writer of The Great Gatsby, and how does his most famous novel resonate with, or even against, his other works? How similar is the novel to its most recent adaptation, and what can this tell us about the iconography surrounding Fitzgerald...

Vienna around 1900 witnessed a vital and anxious surge in art, design, literature and music. This creativity also inspired psychological investigations into the inner self and dreams, most famously by Sigmund Freud. The old Imperial city was transformed into a modern metropolis encircled by the cafes and cultural institutions of the new tree-lined Ringstrasse and beyond new elegant suburbs. As the acclaim surrounding Edmund de Waal's The Hare with Amber Eyes and the forthcoming National...

In 1900, pure mathematics had the smug air of a finished product. We thought we knew what it was and we thought we knew how it was done. Then Bertrand Russell came along with an analysis that has the feeling of a childhood paradox, and blew the smugness away, perhaps forever. In this short talk I shall describe the pre-Russell situation, and go through his paradox in a way that you will find accessible. After that, I shall attempt an informal account of what happened next before ending with...

In this short lecture we will consider what the internationalisation of higher education means, and the global implications of international mobility - on the students, on their 'receiving' countries and on their places of origin. In 2011 there were 4.3 million students pursuing university education outside of their home country. The majority of international students come from China, India and Korea, and they have a huge and unprecedented impact upon universities, economies and societies...

Imagine a world without music. No music on the radio, no concerts, no musical instruments. No background music in films and television. No music at our weddings, funerals, religious worship or sporting events. Even to conceive of such a world requires an enormous leap of the imagination. Music is all around us, intimately woven into the fabric of our lives and there is no known society on earth that has not developed some form of it. In this talk Jonathan Darnborough will explore some of the...

The Oxfordshire floods of 2007, 2008 and 2012 caused enormous disruption to homes, agriculture and local businesses, but what were the consequences for wildlife? This presentation will unravel some of the key environmental impacts of summer flooding, explores the on-going ramifications for local wildlife and highlights the importance of a landscape conservation approach to alleviate potential future impacts of climate change upon wildlife. Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share...

Some film and tv adaptations of Jane Austen's novels might give the impression that the stories are little more than Mills and Boon-type romances in empire-line frocks. This talk will introduce fictions whose representations of the path to marriage is anything but starry-eyed and rosy-coloured, and an author who is anything but 'dear sweet Aunt Jane'. Dr Sandie Byrne is a University Lecturer in English Literature and Creative Writing. Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike...

Aristotle's 'Poetics' is regarded as the earliest surviving work of dramatic theory. How much notice do Goldman, Godard, Bertolucci or indeed Tarantino pay to his classic tenets of drama? Is a screenplay just a radio play with pictures? How do I make a career as a screenwriter? If they know so much why do authoritative writers on the subject of screenwriting have so few film credits themselves? These and many other questions may or may not be satisfactorily answered in this entertaining...

The regulation of labour immigration is among the most important and controversial public policy issues in high-income countries. How many migrant workers should be admitted, how should they be selected, and what rights should migrants be given after admission? Who are the winners and losers from opening our borders to more migrant workers from lower-income countries? Drawing on economics and politics, this lectures identifies major trade-offs in international labour migration and discusses...

There is a story behind every map. Generation after generation, we have imprinted ourselves on the land we live upon. Our depictions of that land, in maps, have recorded social attitudes and social change like no other source. This lecture will trace a very personal history of England through some of its most fascinating and beautiful maps, showing how the landscape, local history, and cartography can illuminate the very nature of England. Dr Jonathan Healey is a University Lecturer in...

Find out about how archaeologists uncover the past using a range of techniques, including excavation, survey and scientific analysis. We will also have the opportunity to discuss the programme of archaeology courses on offer here at the Department for Continuing Education. Dr Alison MacDonald is a Departmental Lecturer in Archaeology. Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales; http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/

Ritual celebrations were at the heart of life in medieval communities. The passage of time was articulated by the cycle of the seasons, the exigencies of husbandry and of trade, all inextricably bound up with religious holidays and anniversaries. Great households, religious houses, towns, and village communities fasted in season and looked forward to times of feasting and pageantry. In this lecture, we look at the ways in which beliefs were celebrated, events were remembered, and local...

We'll be looking at Beowulf and the epic as a way of passing on experience and history. See your own life as an epic! Where would you start? What would you leave out? Surprise yourself - and us!

This lecture will examine one of the longest wars in history, fought between England and France from 1337 to 1453 by scrutinising twenty objects. The series of bloody battles, including famous events like Crecy and Agincourt, bridged the enormous cultural, intellectual and social developments that saw both nations move from the medieval world to the modern. By scrutinising twenty objects, from skulls to manuscripts, paintings to buildings, this lecture will bring to life, not just the...