Modern Liberty
www.modernliberty.net The Convention on Modern Liberty was held at the Institute of Education in London, 28th Feb 2009, and at seven l...Video Episodes:
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13:06:15 05/06/09
Liberty and the national question Q&A
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CONVENTION ON MODERN LIBERTY 28.02.09 LONDON Chair: Guy Lodge, Senior research fellow, ippr Yasmin Alibhai-Brown is an Uganda-born journalist and author, based in London. She is a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Centre. In 2005, she was voted the 10th most influential black/Asian woman in the country in a poll and in another she was among the most powerful Asian media professionals in the UK. Gerry Hassan is a writer, researcher, policy analyst and broadcaster, who has worked on a range of Scottish, UK and international subjects. He has published widely and been involved in setting up a number of research and ideas networks. He is Head of the Demos Scotland 2020 programme and is the Head of the forthcoming Demos Glasgow 2020: Tales of the City project – a futures project looking at how citizens see cities. Paul Kingsnorth, author of Real England, has been a writer, journalist and environmental campaigner for the last ten years. From torture in the highlands of New Guinea to tree-sitting in Hampshire to armed rebellion in Mexico he writes about the political and the personal. Gareth Young is a campaigner for an English Parliament. He stands for an England and an idea of Englishness that is ‘the product of our collective psyche, a sum of parts, the national consciousness and self-awareness of the nation of England.’
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12:30:25 05/06/09
Are human rights universal or a privilege of citizenship? Q&A
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CONVENTION ON MODERN LIBERTY 28.02.09 LONDON Chair: Ehsan Masood, writer and journalist Jean Candler, head of Policy and Public Affairs at the British Institute of Human Rights, an organisation that is committed to challenging inequality and injustice in everyday life in the UK. Jean has recently returned to the UK after working on human rights for development in Ethiopia. Andrew Dismore MP is chair of the Joint Committee on Human Rights. The Committee is charged with considering human rights issues in the UK. The Committee undertakes thematic inquiries on human rights issues and reports its findings and recommendations to the House. David Goodhart is the founder and editor of Prospect, the British current affairs magazine. He was formerly a senior correspondent of the Financial Times. Roger Smith is a visiting professor at South Bank University and the director of Justice, a law reform and human rights organisation whose purpose is to advance justice, human rights and the rule of law. Roger is a solicitor who has worked for a variety of national non-government organisations including the Law Society and the Child Poverty Action Group. He is also a writer and has been the Bar Council’s journalist of the year. Geraldine Van Bueren is Professor of International Human Rights Law and is also a Visiting Fellow, Kellogg College, Oxford. She is a barrister and an Associate Tenant at Doughty Street Chambers. She is working on a project for UNESCO on how the law can be used constructively to help combat poverty. She is a member of the Attorney General’s International Pro Bono Committee and her most recent book, Child Rights in Europe, is published by the Council of Europe.
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12:02:21 05/06/09
Faiths and freedoms Q&A
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CONVENTION ON MODERN LIBERTY 28.02.09 LONDON Chair: Simon Barrow, co-director, Ekklesia Keith Harris Kahn is a British sociologist living in London, working as a research associate at Goldsmiths College’s Centre for Urban and Community Research. He is also an associate lecturer for the Open University and as convenor of New Jewish Thought. Keith’s principle areas of expertise are contemporary Jewish identity, inter and intra communal dialogue and the sociology of denial. He is also musically engaged in the extreme metal scene. Savitri Hensman was born in Sri Lanka and lives in London. She has worked in the voluntary sector for many years, mainly in equalities, health and social care. Savitri is a respected writer on Christianity and social justice, believing in the transformative impact of traditional Christian faith. She was also founder of the Black Lesbian and Gay Centre in London. Vaughan Jones is the Chief Executive of Praxis. He was the Director of New Horizon Youth Centre for young homeless in Central London and has worked for Barnardos and as a teacher. He is a Minister of the United Reformed Church and besides his teaching qualification, he has a MTh in Pastoral Theology. He was awarded the prestigious Order of Bernardo O’Higgins by the Government of Chile in recognition of his work with Chilean refugees during the dictatorship.
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08:38:24 05/06/09
Xenophobia Q&A
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CONVENTION ON MODERN LIBERTY 28.02.09 LONDON Chair: Khadija Ali, Nominated for the Equalities and Human Rights Commission Muslim Women Power List 2009 Tufyal Choudhury has taught international human rights law at Durham Law School since 2000. He is a graduate from SOAS and Cambridge. In his role as a senior policy advisor to the Open Society Institute, he has raised awareness of violent radicalisation among Muslims and was invited to become a member of the UK Government’s post 7/7 Working Group on Preventing Extremism. Stuart Wilks-Heeg is a lecturer in Social Policy at the University of Liverpool, where he received a PhD for his work on Globalisation and World City Governance. He has recently completed a major study of ‘The State of Local Democracy’, funded by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust. He was Deputy Editor and then Editor of the journal Local Economy from 2001-05. Robin Knowles QC (South Square Chambers) His dedication to pro bono causes is testament to his belief – as he himself affirms, ‘pro bono is part of being a lawyer and should form part of any legal career’ He continues that ‘ if everyone contributes , then no one needs to be asked to do too much .’ Robin is a Trustee of LawWorks, the chairman of the Bar Pro Bono Unit and of Bar in the Community, and a trustee or director of a range of other bodies in the pro bono field. Dr Edie Friedman was born in Chicago. She came to England to study and subsequently worked for Oxfam and a local community relations council. She started the Jewish Council for Racial Equality (JCORE) in 1976 and is now its Director. The organisation aims to eradicate racism through education, action and dialogue. Ifath Nawaz is a principle solicitor of Wycombe District Council. She has been President of the Association of Muslim Lawyers since 2002. Ifath is a member of the Independent Advisory Group to the London Criminal Justice Board and co-chair with Sir John Waite of the Independent Asylum Review Commission.
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06:27:41 04/24/09
Child's play? Equality and young people
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CONVENTION ON MODERN LIBERTY 28.02.09 LONDON CHILD’S PLAY? EQUALITY AND YOUNG PEOPLE Chair: Sabina Frediani, Campaigns co-ordinator, Liberty Sam Dimmock is the Programme Director at the Children’s Rights Alliance for England. Her role includes monitoring the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in England and enabling children and young people to engage in international human rights reporting processes. Terri Dowty is Director of Action on Rights for Children, a children’s civil rights organisation that focuses on the effects of Information Technology on children’s rights. She is co-author of the 2006 report to the Information Commissioner Children’s Databases: Safety and Privacy and is on the advisory councils of Privacy International and the FIPR. Alex Gask: Prior to converting to the Bar and joining Doughty Street in October 2008, Alex Gask spent 5 years as a solicitor and legal officer at the human rights organisation Liberty. During his time at Liberty, Alex led on much of the organisation's most significant and high profile litigation. Alex has written various articles for publication and spoken at both public and private events - on topics as diverse as anti-social behaviour orders, the right to protest, anti-terrorism powers and state support for asylum seekers. Jenni Russell worked for many years at the BBC and ITN, most recently as editor of The World Tonight on Radio 4. She recently criticised modern Britain as a ‘rule-bound, risk-averse, box-ticking culture’. She also writes that it is Cameron’s promise of less state control makes him more electable. Lisa Blakemore Brown is a leading independent applied psychologist who specializes in ADHD, Autism, Aspergers Syndrome and related disorders. In 1993 Lisa was the consultant psychologist involved in the setting up of the first school for adolescent boys with Aspergers Syndrome in the UK.
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08:19:57 04/20/09
CHILD'S PLAY: EQUALITY & YOUNG PEOPLE - Q & A session
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Convention on Modern Liberty 28.2.2009 London
CHILD'S PLAY: EQUALITY & YOUNG PEOPLE - Q & A session
Chaired by Sabina Frediani , Campaigns co-ordinator, Liberty
Sam Dimmock is the Programme Director at the Children’s Rights Alliance for England. Her role includes monitoring the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in England and enabling children and young people to engage in international human rights reporting processes.
Terri Dowty is Director of Action on Rights for Children, a children’s civil rights organisation that focuses on the effects of Information Technology on children’s rights. She is co-author of the 2006 report to the Information Commissioner Children’s Databases: Safety and Privacy and is on the advisory councils of Privacy International and the FIPR.
Alex Gask : Prior to converting to the Bar and joining Doughty Street in October 2008, Alex Gask spent 5 years as a solicitor and legal officer at the human rights organisation Liberty. During his time at Liberty, Alex led on much of the organisation's most significant and high profile litigation. Alex has written various articles for publication and spoken at both public and private events - on topics as diverse as anti-social behaviour orders, the right to protest, anti-terrorism powers and state support for asylum seekers.
Jenni Russell worked for many years at the BBC and ITN, most recently as editor of The World Tonight on Radio 4. She recently criticised modern Britain as a ‘rule-bound, risk-averse, box-ticking culture’. She also writes that it is Cameron’s promise of less state control makes him more electable
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16:20:33 03/30/09
CONSERVATIVES & CIVIL LIBERTIES
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Convention on Modern Liberty 28.2.2009 London
CONSERVATIVES & CIVIL LIBERTIES: panel discussion
Chaired by Iain Dale (blogger, publisher Total Politics )
Phillip Blond is a senior lecturer in theology and philosophy at the University of Cumbria. He is currently writing Red Tory, a book which proposes a radical communitarian conservatism inveighing against both state and market monopoly. He writes frequently for the mainstream press on economics, politics and religion
Edward Garnier QC MP has been the Conservative MP for Harborough in south east Leicestershire since April 1992. In 2007 he was appointed Shadow Minister for Justice. He practices as a defamation and media law specialist
Laura Sandys has been a political consultant for over 15 years, with experience of political structures across Europe, Turkey, South America and the US. She is currently a trustee of Open University Foundation and the Civic Trust and has recently worked as a journalist and policy strategist in Washington DC. She is a member of the Board of openDemocracy and also works as Senior Research Associate for the Centre For Defence Studies, Kings College.
Founder and editor of the website ConservativeHome , Tim Montgomerie was appointed Political Secretary to the Conservative Party in 2003. In his role as blogger he has written broadly on the use of ‘judicial intimidation’ of various kinds by the current government.
Dominic Raab is currently Chief of Staff to Dominic Grieve, the Shadow Home Secretary, advising on all areas of Home Affairs policy including crime, counter terrorism and human rights. His recent work The Assault on Liberty: What went wrong with Rights, is a lament for Britain’s lost liberal democracy and the erosion of civil liberties. In June 2008, Raab joined David Davis’s by-election campaign in Haltemprice and Howden as Chief of Staff.
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06:11:28 03/23/09
BUSINESS GETS PERSONAL
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Convention on Modern Liberty 28.2.2009 London
BUSINESS GETS PERSONAL Organised by Open Rights Group
Chaired by Jim Killock , Executive Director, Open Rights Group Peter Bazalgette is a British media expert who helped create the independent TV production sector in the UK and went on to be the leading creative figure in the global TV company Endemol. He is a former board member of Channel 4 and is a non-executive director of the market research company, YouGov. He is a board member of English National Opera and is deputy chairman of the UK's National Film and Television School. He lectures on media convergence and creativity.
Caspar Bowden is the chief privacy advisor at Microsoft. Caspar leads the privacy pillar of the Trustworthy Computing initiative across Europe, Middle-East and Africa, aiming to ensure Microsoft users that they control their own personal data. He is a specialist in data protection policy, privacy enhancing technology research, identity management and authentication. He was appointed expert adviser to the UK parliament for the passage of three bills concerning privacy issues, and was co-organizer of the influential Scrambling for Safety public conferences on UK encryption and surveillance policy.
Wendy Grossman is a blogger, journalist and folk singer. She sits on the executive committee of the Association of British Science Writers and the Advisory Councils of the Open Rights Group and Privacy International. She founded and edited The Skeptic, a magazine examining extraordinary claims, exploring revolutionary ideas, and promoting good science. Skeptic is a leading international publication in the realm of skeptical inquiry.
Iain Henderson is founder of Mydex, an organisation which provides tools, technology and services to help people manage their personal data better, allowing users to choose which organisations they give information to, and what they share. Iain Henderson is also the former Customer Data Strategy Manager for The Post Office, founder of The Customer’s Voice and an active participant in the Harvard University based Project VRM.
David Smith is Deputy Information Commissioner (Data Protection) at the Information Commissioner’s Office, the UK’s independent authority set up to promote access to official information and to protect personal information. His role is to ensure that the ICO meets its goal of 'strengthening public confidence in data protection by taking a practical, down-to-earth approach’.
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08:13:25 03/20/09
HOW DO WE STOP RIGHTS & FREEDOMS BECOMING A POLITICAL FOOTBALL?
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Convention on Modern Liberty 28.2.2009 London
HOW DO WE STOP RIGHTS & FREEDOMS BECOMING A POLITICAL FOOTBALL?
Chaired by Peter Facey , Director, Unlock Democracy
Douglas Carswell MP was elected Member of Parliament for Harwich and Clacton in May 2005 having previously worked in business and investment management. Douglas co-wrote "Direct Democracy; an agenda for a new model party", which the Spectator magazine described as "One of the founding texts for the new, revitalised Toryism”.
Anthony Grayling MA, DPhil (Oxon) is Professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck College and a Supernumerary Fellow of St Anne's College, Oxford. Among his most recent works are a biography of William Hazlitt and a collection of essays. For several years he wrote the "Last Word" column for the Guardian newspaper and is a regular reviewer for the Literary Review and the Financial Times. He is the Editor of Online Review London and Contributing Editor of Prospect magazine. He is a past chairman of June Fourth, a human rights group concerned with China, and has been involved in UN human rights initiative.
Francesca Klug is a Professorial Research Fellow at the LSE, based in the Centre for the Study of Global Governance, and a Senior Research Associate at the Centre for the Study of Human Rights. She is the Director of the Human Rights Futures project, which seeks to explore and analyse the future direction of human rights discourse in the UK and elsewhere. Francesca is a Commissioner on the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), the statutory body that acts as a central point of advice, guidance and enforcement on equality and human rights issues.
Michael Wills is the Labour member of Parliament for Swindon North. He is also a Minister of State at the Ministry of Justice, a position he has held since 29 June 2007. He previously served as a minister in the Department of Trade and Industry, Department for Education and Employment, Lord Chancellor's Department, and the Home Office.
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06:59:37 03/19/09
WHO RULES: IS THERE A MEDIA POLITICAL CLASS?
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Who rules? Is there a media political class?
Rm: Clarke
Chair: David Elstein, commentator and chairman, BPG
In 2003 Liz Forgan became the sixth Chair of The Scott Trust, the owner of the Guardian newspapers, hence making her Britain's first female newspaper proprietor. She has worked as an executive for radio and tv, namely as Director of Programmes at Channel 4, and as a journalist. From February 2009 Forgan will be the new Chair of Arts Council England, becoming the first woman to be head of the leading British Arts organisation in its 62-year history.
Simon Jenkins is a journalist and author. He writes for the Guardian and the Sunday Times, as well as broadcasting for the BBC. He has edited the Times and the London Evening Standard. Earlier this month, regarding Guantnamo, Jenkins wrote that the ‘disregard for law and liberty threatens to taint our state indefinitely’.
Claire Fox is the director of the Institute of Ideas (IoI), which she established to create a public space where ideas can be contested without constraint. She is highly critical of authoritarian developments such as New Labour's 'antisocial behaviour orders'. She is also a passionate supporter of the arts, and strongly believes that they should be valued for their own sake. Claire convenes the yearly Battle of Ideas festival and she is a panellist on BBC Radio 4's The Moral Maze.
Peter Oborne is a journalist and commentator well known for his attacks on the apparent hypocrisy of today's politicians. He is also a vocal critic of the Zimbabwean president, Robert Mugabe and author of a pamphlet about the situation in the country entitled A Moral Duty to Act There. In 2008, Oborne presented a Dispatches programme on Channel 4 called It Shouldn't Happen to a Muslim, which argued that the demonisation of Muslims has become widespread in British media and politics.
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06:16:25 03/19/09
PRESS FREEDOM
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Chair: Joanne Cash , barrister & Conservative Candidate
Fatima Bhutto is an Afghan born Pakistani writer: she came to fame after the appearance of her first collection, Whispers of the Desert. She is a columnist for The News in Pakistan. She is politically active but has no desire to run for office.
Nick Cohen is a British journalist, author, and political commentator. Pretty Straight Guys, a history of Britain under Tony Blair, was published in 1999. Our Friends on the Left, an examination of agonies, idiocies and compromises of mainstream liberal thought was published in 2006. Cohen recently described Britain under Brown as ‘a morbid country stuck between a lost past and an unrealisable future’.
Andrew Gilligan is a journalist, best known for his 2003 report about a British government briefing paper on Iraq and weapons of mass destruction (the September Dossier). He is the current holder of the most prestigious award in British print journalism, the British Press Awards' Journalist of the Year.
Alan Rusbridger is an acclaimed writer who has been editor of The Guardian since 1995. He is also a visiting Professor of Contemporary History at Queen Mary, University of London.
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03:53:33 03/19/09
PRESS FREEDOM: Q & A
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Convention on Modern Liberty 28.2.2009 London
PRESS FREEDOM: Question & Answer session
supported by The Observer
Chaired by Joanne Cash , barrister & Conservative Candidate
Fatima Bhutto is an Afghan born Pakistani writer: she came to fame after the appearance of her first collection, Whispers of the Desert. She is a columnist for The News in Pakistan. She is politically active but has no desire to run for office.
Nick Cohen is a British journalist, author, and political commentator. Pretty Straight Guys, a history of Britain under Tony Blair, was published in 1999. Our Friends on the Left, an examination of agonies, idiocies and compromises of mainstream liberal thought was published in 2006. Cohen recently described Britain under Brown as ‘a morbid country stuck between a lost past and an unrealisable future’.
Andrew Gilligan is a journalist, best known for his 2003 report about a British government briefing paper on Iraq and weapons of mass destruction (the September Dossier). He is the current holder of the most prestigious award in British print journalism, the British Press Awards' Journalist of the Year.
Alan Rusbridger is an acclaimed writer who has been editor of The Guardian since 1995. He is also a visiting Professor of Contemporary History at Queen Mary, University of London.
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13:42:56 03/18/09
HUMAN RIGHTS AND GLOBAL RESPONSES: Q & A
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Convention on Modern Liberty 28.2.2009 London
HUMAN RIGHTS AND GLOBAL RESPONSES: Question & Answer session
Chaired by Tom Porteous , London Director, Human Rights Watch Chair: Tom Porteous, London Director, Human Rights Watch
Timothy Garton Ash ’s biography speaks of a deep familiarity with repressive states: having lived in East Berlin and travelled behind the Iron Curtain, he reported and analysed the emancipation of Central Europe in many of Britain’s key papers as well as his own books. His current weekly column for the Guardian is syndicated across the world. His aspiration is to ‘make political writing into art’ (George Orwell)
Jo Glanville is editor of Index on Censorship and a former BBC current affairs producer. She believes that free speech is the most precious and most vulnerable of our human rights. Her anthology Qissat: short stories by Palestinian Women was published last year by Telegram.
Mary Kaldor is the Director of the Centre for the Study of Global Governance and a Professor of Global Governance at the London School of Economics. An expert on security and civil society, she has researched and written exclusively about these topics, and has written for openDemocracy on Iraq and the issue of terrorism.
Paul Rogers is Professor of Peace Studies at Bradford University and is openDemocracy’s International Security Editor. A consultant to the Oxford Research Group, the second edition of his book Losing Control has just been published by Pluto Press. Professor Rogers has worked in the field of international security, arms control and political violence for over 30 years. His works include ‘Why We're Losing the War on Terror’ (Polity, 2008).
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09:01:58 03/16/09
LIBERTY, SOVEREIGNTY & REPUBLICANISM: CAN THE LEVELLER TRADITION BE REVIVED IN THE 21ST CENTURY?
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LIBERTY, SOVEREIGNTY & REPUBLICANISM: CAN THE LEVELLER TRADITION BE REVIVED IN THE 21ST CENTURY?
Organised by History Today and OurKingdom
Chaired by Paul Lay , Editor, History Today
Quentin Skinner was elected into a fellowship at Cambridge in 1962 upon gaining a double starred first in History. He stayed there, becoming Regius Professor of Modern History in 1996, until 2008 when he moved to become Professor in Humanities at Queen Mary, London. He is generally regarded as one of the two principal members of the influential 'Cambridge School' of the study of the history of political thought. More recently, he has turned to the classic preoccupation of Cambridge Regius Professors the history of liberty.
Geoffrey Robertson QC is a writer and founder and head of Doughty Street Chambers. He serves (part-time) as an Appeals judge of the UN Special Court for Sierra Leone. He has argued many landmark cases in media, constitutional and criminal law in the European Court of Human Rights, the House of Lords, the Privy Council and Commonwealth courts. As a UN Appeal judge he has delivered internationally important decisions on the illegality of conscripting child soldiers and the invalidity of amnesties for war crimes.
Melissa Lane is a fellow at King’s College, Cambridge. Her work has focused on the history of political thought and political philosophy, spanning both the ancients and the moderns. Areas of research in political philosophy include security, compensation, authority, and accountability, as well as work on the political theory of international migration and of the role of corporations.
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08:12:29 03/16/09
HOW DANGEROUS IS THE DATABASE STATE AND 'TRANSFORMATIONAL GOVERNMENT' TO OUR CIVIL LIBERTIES?
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Convention on Modern Liberty 28.2.2009 London
HOW DANGEROUS IS THE DATABASE STATE AND ‘TRANSFORMATIONAL GOVERNMENT’ TO OUR CIVIL LIBERTIES?
Organised by NO2ID and Centre for Poiicy Studies
Chaired by Guy Herbert , General Secretary, NO2ID
Tony Bunyan is an investigative journalist and writer specialising in justice and home affairs, civil liberties and freedom of information in the EU. He has been the director of Statewatch since 1990 and is the author of "Secrecy and openness in the EU" (1999) and "The Shape of Things to Come" (2009) and edited "The War on Freedom and Democracy" (2005). He has taken ten successful complaints against the Council of the European Union.
Sam Talbot Rice is the Director of Research of The Centre for Policy Studies (CPS), a British policy studies think tank whose goal is to promote coherent and practical public policy, to roll back the state, reform public services, support communities, and challenge threats to Britain’s independence.
Simon Davies is a privacy advocate and academic based in London UK. He was one of the first campaigners in the field of international privacy advocacy, founding the watchdog organization Privacy International in 1990 and subsequently working in emerging areas of privacy such as electronic visual surveillance, identity systems, border security, encryption policy and biometrics.
Christina Zaba sits on the Freelance Industrial Council of the National Union of Journalists and is union liaison officer for NO2ID, the campaign to stop ID cards and the database state.