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): Rudy Demotte | In the 19th century the Belgian region of Wallonia was the second industrial power of the world after England. Then, in the 1950s, came rapid and seemingly unstoppable decline. Now, with exports and investment rising, there is a growing perception that Wallonia is finally turning the corner. How is it doing so? Rudy Demotte is Minister President of the Belgian region of Wallonia and President of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation. Before becoming Minister...

Contributor(s): Suzanne Moore, Max Mosley, David Price, Hugh Tomlinson | A public debate to celebrate the launch of the new issue of Index on Censorship magazine, Privacy is dead! Long live privacy. Index editor Jo Glanville chairs a panel featuring Hugh Tomlinson QC, who represents Ryan Giggs, former F1 president Max Mosley and Imogen Thomas' lawyer David Price, who will discuss gagging orders, tabloid intrusion and the right to a private life. Are injunctions a means to uphold our human...

Contributor(s): Phillip Blond, Jonathan Douglas, Professor John White | Three debates will examine the theoretical, practical and policy implications of teaching philosophy to children in primary and secondary school settings in the UK. Phillip Blond is director of ResPublica. Jonathan Douglas is director of The National Literacy Trust. John White is emeritus professor of philosophy of education in the Institute of Education, University of London.

Contributor(s): Dr Rami Zurayk | In his lecture, Rami Zurayk will discuss his current work on food and de-development in Gaza and the use of food insecurity as a weapon of siege. He will also look at Egypt and its post-revolution agricultural policies. Rami Zurayk is an agronomy professor at the American University of Beirut and a longtime activist for political and social justice. Born in Beirut during the 1958 U.S. Marines' landing in Lebanon, he has witnessed two Israeli-Arab wars, one...

Contributor(s): Dr Katerina Deligiorgi, Dr Angela Hobbs, Dr Vivienne Orchar | Three debates will examine the theoretical, practical and policy implications of teaching philosophy to children in primary and secondary school settings in the UK. Katerina Deligiorgi is senior lecturer in literature and philosophy at the University of Sussex. Angela Hobbs is senior fellow in the public understanding of philosophy at the University of Warwick. Vivienne Orchard is lecturer in French at the...

Contributor(s): Dr Mary Healy, Dr John Taylor, Peter Worley | Three debates will examine the theoretical, practical and policy implications of teaching philosophy to children in primary and secondary school settings in the UK. Mary Healy is senior lecturer in education at Roehampton University. John Taylor is director of critical studies at Rugby School. Peter Worley is chief executive officer of The Philosophy Shop.

Contributor(s): Jean-Michel Severino, Martin Wolf | Two of the world's top commentators on economics, development and finance discuss some of the most pressing global imbalances and the social challenges that they pose in the years ahead. Jean-Michel Severino is general inspector of finances, French Ministry of Finance. Martin Wolf is associate editor and chief economics commentator at the Financial Times.

Contributor(s): Michael Shackleton, David Curry, Sara Hagemann, Hugo Brady | The launch of the 8th edition of the "The European Parliament" by Richard Corbett, Francis Jacobs and Michael Shackleton offers a timely opportunity to reflect on the development of this fascinating institution. Following the Lisbon Treaty, has the European Parliament reached the apogee of its powers, or is there still more for the MEPs' to influence? And, after a record low in voter participation in the 2009...

Contributor(s): Philip Davies | It is almost thirty years since the American social scientist Carol Weiss noted that social science findings and evaluation evidence "were not having visible impacts on policy decisions". Weiss went on to suggest that "this is not the same as saying that research findings have little influence on policy", but that the influence that they do have is more subtle and indirect. This seminar will consider the various ways in which research gets into policy and...

Contributor(s): Professor Stephen Nickell | This lecture will look at immigration and its economic effects including the contribution to population growth. Why does housing not keep up with population growth? More generally, why do we find it so hard to house our population decently? Stephen Nickell is warden of Nuffield College, Oxford and a member of the Budget Responsibility Committee at the Office for Budget Responsibility. Professor John Van Reenen is Director of the Centre of Economic...

Contributor(s): Professor Yves Tiberghien | In the wake of the global financial crisis of 2008 and at the time of major impasses regarding both the future of the global trading regime and the Kyoto protocol, the global economic governance is in the midst of major uncertainties. The G20 process presents the most systematic effort since 1971 to rebalance the relation between market and governance and to establish an integrated structure of global governance. It has also become the key focal...

Contributor(s): Eli Pariser | Imagine a world where all the news you see is defined by your salary, where you live, and who your friends are. Imagine a world where you never discover new ideas. And where you can't have secrets. Welcome to 2011. Google and Facebook are already feeding you what they think you want to see. Advertisers are following your every click. Your computer monitor is becoming a one-way mirror, reflecting your interests and reinforcing your prejudices. The internet is no...

Contributor(s): Ed Balls | Ed Balls is the Labour & Co-operative MP for Morley and Outwood and Shadow Chancellor. He was previously MP for Normanton (2005-2010) and Labour's Shadow Home Secretary (2010-11), Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (2007-2010) and Economic Secretary to the Treasury (2006-2007). Ed brought together schools and children's policy for the first time in the Children's Plan and pushed through radical and progressive policies including raising the...

Contributor(s): Professor Michael Cox, Fadi Hakura, Professor Şevket Pamuk | Turkey's international role has grown in recent years as its economy has boomed under the direction of Prime Minister Erdogan and Foreign Minister Davutoglu's much-vaunted 'Strategic Depth' foreign policy doctrine. But as Turkey goes to the polls in a general election, what will be the impact of the result on its international role? This event marks the launch of a major new research report from LSE IDEAS entitled...

Contributor(s): Professor Benny Morris | The lecture will look at various aspects, some of them innovative, of the 1948 War, the first between the Arabs and Israel. Benny Morris is professor of Middle East history at Ben-Gurion University, Israel, and is the author of several books on Israeli history, including The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited.

Contributor(s): Lord Glasman, Jesse Norman MP | David Cameron has championed the 'big society' as his big idea for government; Ed Miliband has countered with the 'good society'. Two of the thinkers behind these concepts debate what is at stake in rethinking the role of the state in contemporary Britain. Maurice Glasman was raised to Baron Glasman of Stoke Newington and of Stamford Hill in 2011. Jesse Norman is the MP for Hereford and South Herefordshire and author of The Big Society.

Contributor(s): Dr Rajiv Shah | In the process of implementing one of the most sweeping sets of reforms in its history, the U.S. Agency for International Development is transforming the way it delivers development assistance. Administrator Rajiv Shah will discuss how fundamental reforms, coordinated approaches, and new U.S. Presidential initiatives on food security and global health are helping achieve more effective, cost-efficient, results-oriented development. Dr Rajiv Shah was sworn in as...

Contributor(s): Professor Chris Frith, Dr Alex Gillespie, Professor Dermot Moran | How do we create our world through shared experiences? What are the psychological and physiological mechanisms that underlie our abilities to relate to and interact with others? Chris Frith is emeritus professor of psychology in the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging at UCL. Alex Gillespie is senior lecturer in the Department of Psychology at the University of Stirling. Dermot Moran is professor of...

Contributor(s): Jean-Claude Trichet | The Stamp Memorial Lecture is in memory of Josiah Charles Stamp, an alumnus and former governor of LSE. The recent financial crisis has been a turbulent period for policy-makers around the world. Originating in and mostly affecting the financial sector, it has forced central banks to take unprecedented steps to contain the situation and its fallout for the real economy. Overall, this has been achieved, and economic activity is gradually recovering around...

Contributor(s): Various - see description for details | Academics are increasingly being pressed to provide evidence of impact from their research on the world outside academia. And universities will have to provide evidence of impact as part of the new Research Excellence Framework. But there is confusion about the different definitions of impact that exist amongst funding bodies and research councils, and also about methods of measuring impact. This one day conference will look at a range...

Contributor(s): Various - see description for details | Academics are increasingly being pressed to provide evidence of impact from their research on the world outside academia. And universities will have to provide evidence of impact as part of the new Research Excellence Framework. But there is confusion about the different definitions of impact that exist amongst funding bodies and research councils, and also about methods of measuring impact. This one day conference will look at a range...

Contributor(s): Various - see description for details | Academics are increasingly being pressed to provide evidence of impact from their research on the world outside academia. And universities will have to provide evidence of impact as part of the new Research Excellence Framework. But there is confusion about the different definitions of impact that exist amongst funding bodies and research councils, and also about methods of measuring impact. This one day conference will look at a range...

Contributor(s): Various - see description for details | Academics are increasingly being pressed to provide evidence of impact from their research on the world outside academia. And universities will have to provide evidence of impact as part of the new Research Excellence Framework. But there is confusion about the different definitions of impact that exist amongst funding bodies and research councils, and also about methods of measuring impact. This one day conference will look at a range...

Contributor(s): Sadiq Khan MP | Sadiq Khan will explain Labour's approach to human rights. Sadiq Khan is shadow lord chancellor and shadow secretary of state for justice.