Contributor(s): Professor Viktor Mayer-Schönberger | Viktor Mayer-Schönberger is the Professor of Internet Governance and Regulation at Oxford. His research focuses on the role of information in a networked economy. Earlier he spent ten years on the faculty of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. Professor Mayer-Schönberger has published seven books, as well as over a hundred articles (including in Science) and book chapters. His most recent book, the awards-winning 'Delete: The Virtue of...

Contributor(s): Michael Wolff | Rupert Murdoch is currently engulfed in one of the most extraordinary news stories of recent times, his own. Michael Wolff has long argued that a trend of decline for media moguls is inevitable. In this conversation, Wolff will reveal some of the unparalleled insights he has gleaned from his unprecedented access to Rupert Murdoch and News Corporation. He will also discuss how this most recent crisis will ultimately impact the most infamous of media moguls going...

Contributor(s): Michael Atherton | A conversation and Q&A with cricketer Michael Atherton, author of Glorious Summers and Discontents: Looking Back on the Ups and Downs from a Dramatic Decade. Renowned as a shrewd and resolute captain of England, Atherton moved effortlessly into the commentary box and Fleet Street, proving himself every bit as capable with the pen as with the bat. Born in 1968 and educated at Cambridge University, Mike Atherton played his entire career for Lancashire and...

Contributor(s): Professor David Miles | The banking sector across many developed economies proved fragile – insufficiently robust to prevent worries about the value of bank assets generating a banking crisis. This caused a downturn which in the UK has been severe and prolonged. But this has happened while inflation has stayed relatively high. This creates huge challenges in setting monetary policy. David Miles will analyse those difficulties and consider how banks can be best made more...

Contributor(s): Professor George Selgin, Professor Lord Skidelsky, Duncan Weldon, Dr Jamie Whyte | How do we get out of the financial mess we're in? Two of the great economic thinkers of the 20th century had sharply contrasting views: John Maynard Keynes believed that governments could create sustainable employment and growth. His contemporary and rival Friedrich Hayek believed that investments have to be based on real savings rather than fiscal stimulus or artificially low interest rates....

Contributor(s): Douglas Edwards | Comparing Google to an ordinary business is like comparing a rocket to a wheelbarrow. No academic analysis or bystander's account can capture it. Now Douglas Edwards, Employee Number 59, takes us inside the Googleplex for the closest look you can get without an ID card, giving us a chance to fully experience the potent mix of camaraderie and competition that makes up the company that changed the world. Edwards, Google's first director of marketing and brand...

Contributor(s): Professor Tim Bale, Professor Patrick Dunleavy, Mark Harper MP, Rt Revd Lord Harries | The draft House of Lords Reform Bill, published in May 2011, sets out a number of proposals aiming to reform the UK's Upper House. These proposals - among them the reduction in number of members by more than half, making the House either 80 or 100 per cent elected, and limiting the length of term to 15 years - aim to increase the democratic authority of the House of Lords whilst retaining...

Contributor(s): Professor Lisa Anderson | This lecture is an examination of the recent uprisings in the Arab world, highlighting where they happened, where they succeeded and what they may mean for both the practice and the study of politics in the region. Lisa Anderson was appointed president of the American University in Cairo in January 2011. A specialist on politics in the Middle East and North Africa, Anderson served as the university's provost from 2008 to 2010. Prior to joining AUC in...

Contributor(s): Sir Harry Kroto, Philippe Sands QC, Mike Phillips, Gita Sahgal, Barbara Roche | Migrants are often presented as a burden, but no one can deny the impact they have had on Britain's intellectual life. One quarter of Britain's Nobel Prize winners in science were born abroad. Our religious, philosophical and ideological heritage has often been inspired by migrants, from royal patrons (Prince Rupert, Prince Albert) to refugees (Ralf Dahrendorf, Isaiah Berlin). It is rarely noticed...

Contributor(s): David Aaronovitch, Charlotte Harris, Martin Moore, Paul Staines | The furore around the phone-hacking scandal at the News of the World has raised wider issues around the regulation and standards of British newspaper journalism. Is it time for the authorities to get tough on the press or would that threaten freedom of expression and the media's ability to hold power to account? David Aaronovitch is a writer, broadcaster and commentator on culture, international affairs,...

Contributor(s): Mehdi Hasan, James Macintyre | Ed Miliband is perhaps the least understood political leader of modern times. Mehdi Hasan and James Macintyre's book, ED: The Milibands and the making of a Labour leader, reveals where he has come from and where he is going. It charts his unique upbringing, against the backdrop of tragedy and with a prominent Marxist thinker for a father. ED follows his coming of age at Oxford, his election to Parliament and asks whether the pressures of being...

Contributor(s): Professor Fawaz A Gerges | Fawaz Gerges is a Professor of Middle Eastern Politics and International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He also holds the Emirates Chair of the Contemporary Middle East and is the Director of the Middle East Centre at LSE.

Contributor(s): Platon | Portrait photographer Platon shares his experience photographing an eclectic mix of presidents, politicians, celebrities and artists through to his award winning portfolios for the New Yorker. He will also discuss highlights from Power his book of over 100 Heads of State including Barack Obama, George W Bush, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, Nick Clegg, Vladimir Putin, Dmitry Medvedev, Muammar al-Gaddafi, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Benjamin Netanyahu, Mahmoud Abbas, Hugo Chavez,...

Contributor(s): Rahul Hiremath | The textile sector in India plays an important role in the country's economy, providing employment to a significant population in rural and semi-rural areas. It generates sizeable foreign exchange for the country, and is a repository of the cultural heritage of the nation. The sector, however, remains largely unorganized and heavily dependent on market fluctuations. The mass production of textile goods without any effects on the environment seems utopian in...

Contributor(s): Rt Hon Margaret Hodge MP, Dr Katharine Rake, Professor Anne Power, Jane Waldfogel | Family futures is about family life in areas of concentrated poverty and social problems where surrounding conditions make bringing up children more difficult and family life more fraught and limited. Home and neighbourhood carry special meaning for families, because where they live, how they fit in with their neighbours, and how their children grow up all intertwine, to build a sense of...

Contributor(s): Dr Zack Cooper, Professor Julien Forder, Professor Mireia Jofre-Bonet, Dr Irini Papanicolas | In this lecture, organised by LSE Health and Social Care, and supported by LSE HEIF 4 Bid Fund, LSE academics will discuss quality and competition in the field of health and social care. Welcome from Chair - Professor Alistair McGuire (LSE Health and Social Care). Does Hospital Competition Save Lives? Evidence from the English National Health Service - Dr Zack Cooper (LSE Health)....

Contributor(s): Professor Sir Hilary Beckles | This event is part of the celebrations that the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Caucus of High Commissioners are organising to celebrate CARICOM day on 1 July 2011. Several activities are being planned to mark the day from July 3-8, which aim to showcase CARICOM countries. Professor Sir Hilary Beckles was born in Barbados in 1955. He attended secondary school in Barbados and Birmingham in the UK. He received his higher education in the United...

Contributor(s): Liz Fekete, Dr Naika Foroutan, Dr Myria Georgiou, Nazia Hussain, Lamya Kaddor, Profressor Julian Petley | How can we formulate a vision of the future after the widely proclaimed "failure of multiculturalism"? The London Integration Forum aims at providing a fresh perspective on British and German integration debates bringing together renowned scholars and professionals and framing immigration and integration as fields of learning and exchange. Liz Fekete is the executive...

Contributor(s): Professor Danny Quah | Your clothes, trainers, Xboxes, TVs and much, much more are all made in the East. And by selling us all this stuff, countries such as China and India are becoming wealthier and more powerful than ever before. But if the East is becoming stronger – is the West becoming weaker? Should we be scared by this? What does it mean for you anyway? In a highly interactive online lecture for schools, Professor Danny Quah explores how the world is changing, with...

Contributor(s): Felipe Larraín Bascuñán | Since March 2010, Felipe Larraín Bascuñán has been the Minister of Finance of the Government of President Sebastián Piñera. Felipe gained a PhD (1985) and Master of Arts (1983) in Economics from Harvard University, and Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Universidad Católica de Chile (1981), he has a vast experience as an international consultant, academician, editor and author of more than 10 books and 120 professional articles, both published in...

Contributor(s): Andrea Colantonio, Tim Dixon, Brian Field, Jan Olbrycht | Urban regeneration is a key focus for public policy throughout Europe. This launch marks an examination of social sustainability through the analysis of its meaning and significance. The authors will offer a comprehensive European perspective to identify best practice in sustainable urban regeneration in five major cities in Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Germany, and the UK. Respondents will discuss current policy thinking...

Contributor(s): Sir Michael Bichard, Matt Briggs, Guy Ker, Simon Boniwell, Nick Chapman, David Dinsdale, Patrick Dunleavy, Harry Metcalfe, Ivo Gormley, William Heath, Teresa Perchaud, Kevin McLean, Mark O'Neill, Jerry Fishenden, Martin Ferguson | LSE Public Policy Group, LSE Moving Social Security Online Conference, Wednesday 29 June 2011. In the present fiscal climate, governments must cut the costs of delivering services at the same time as maintaining quality. They must also cope with the...

Contributor(s): Sir Michael Bichard, Matt Briggs, Guy Ker, Simon Boniwell, Nick Chapman, David Dinsdale, Patrick Dunleavy, Harry Metcalfe, Ivo Gormley, William Heath, Teresa Perchaud, Kevin McLean, Mark O'Neill, Jerry Fishenden, Martin Ferguson | LSE Public Policy Group, LSE Moving Social Security Online Conference, Wednesday 29 June 2011. In the present fiscal climate, governments must cut the costs of delivering services at the same time as maintaining quality. They must also cope with the...

Contributor(s): Sir Michael Bichard, Matt Briggs, Guy Ker, Simon Boniwell, Nick Chapman, David Dinsdale, Patrick Dunleavy, Harry Metcalfe, Ivo Gormley, William Heath, Teresa Perchaud, Kevin McLean, Mark O'Neill, Jerry Fishenden, Martin Ferguson | LSE Public Policy Group, LSE Moving Social Security Online Conference, Wednesday 29 June 2011. In the present fiscal climate, governments must cut the costs of delivering services at the same time as maintaining quality. They must also cope with the...

Contributor(s): Sir Michael Bichard, Matt Briggs, Guy Ker, Simon Boniwell, Nick Chapman, David Dinsdale, Patrick Dunleavy, Harry Metcalfe, Ivo Gormley, William Heath, Teresa Perchaud, Kevin McLean, Mark O'Neill, Jerry Fishenden, Martin Ferguson | LSE Public Policy Group, LSE Moving Social Security Online Conference, Wednesday 29 June 2011. In the present fiscal climate, governments must cut the costs of delivering services at the same time as maintaining quality. They must also cope with the...