The Lunar Society

Today's <<page: Lunar Society=8>> has several hundred members and includes leading practitioners from all walks of life in Birmingham and the wider region. Like its <<page: illustrious 18th century predecessor=3>>, it provides a lively forum for its membership to influence change through stimulating ideas, broadening debate and catalysing action.
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We're delighted to announce that the Society's <<pages: Fifth Annual Lecture=114>> will be by Sir Liam Donaldson, the Chief Medical Officer of Health, on 5 March 2008.
Other next meeting is on 19 February with <<pages: Professor Sir Ian Kennedy=108>>, Chairman of the Healthcare Commission who will lead a discussion over dinner at Birmingham Botanical Gardens.
Other meetings in 2008 include the Commemoration of Boulton and Watt on 12 May at St Mary's Handsworth with the Rt Rev David Urquhart, the Bishop of Birmingham. 
On 3 June, there is a tour of Shri Venkateswara (Balaji) Temple in Tividale with a presentation by Professor Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya and a catered South Indian dinner. Later in the year, Sir David Arculus will be our speaker at the 2008 Annual Dinner on 18 November and the Winter Social will be on 9 December at Highbury, with a chance to tour what was the Chamberlain family home.

Trevor Phillips' 2007 Annual Dinner speech

Trevor Phillips, Chairman of the Commission for Equality and Human Rights, ended his Annual Dinner speech Knowledge, Difference and Inequality: The Potential for Combustion with these words:
"Birmingham will face the demands of dealing with difference earlier and more fully than most. I entreat you to put your considerable skills - your professionalism, your intellect, your enthusiasm - to working out here, in the one of the nation's great laboratories of diversity, how we should confront this 21st century challenge. This is no longer a local issue. It is global. You here, in this room, with your ingenuity and your energy could in the years ahead, become a beacon to the world."
The full text of his speech can be read <<pages: here=97>>.

Professor Parkinson: Boulton & Watt Commemoration Lecture

Professor Michael Parkinson gave the Society's annual Boulton & Watt Commemoration Lecture: Where is Birmingham going in the 21st century?, chaired by the Society's Vice Chairman, Alan Wenban-Smith on 31 October 2007. Acknowledging the "brilliant first act" of Birmingham's renaissance in the 1980s and 90s, Professor Parkinson put this in the context of comparatively more successful cities in the 21st century, both in the UK and in Europe. Alan Wenban-Smith's summary of his Lecture can be read <<pages: here=103>>, where pdfs of Professor Parkinson's presentation can be downloaded.

AGM: New Chair Professor Deirdre Kelly sets vision for the Society

At the 2007 AGM, the incoming <<page: Chair Professor Deirdre Kelly=5>>, set her vision for her two-year tenure of office, saying. "The Lunar Society is a unique society. It has been hugely successful and has talented and accomplished members. It is an enviable brand. We are able, through our neutral position to facilitate discussion and debate on many leading edge issues and concerns and influence the outcome."
The full text of her speech can be read <<page: here=77>>.

John Armitt's 2007 Annual Lecture

The Society's Fourth Annual Lecture Engineering the Future delivered by John Armitt at Matthew Boulton College last March can be downloaded from here. John Armitt has since retired from his position as Chief Executive of Network Rail to take up the position of Chairman of the EPSRC. From 1 September, he will also lead the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) as its Chair.

David Miliband's 2006 Annual Dinner Speech

David Miliband's Speech One Planet Living: Towards a 3D Energy Revolution made at the Annual Dinner in the autumn can be read <<pages: here=89>> or downloaded as a pdf from here. Members will recall that, in a departure from his prepared speech, the Minister pledged his Department's support for the Lunar Society's challenging target for the region to be carbon neutral by 2030.

David Miliband left DEFRA to become Secretary of State at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office with Gordon Brown's premiership.