Birmingham Unleashed - An elected Mayor, High Speed Rail and Academies
In 2011, the eigth Annual Lecture of the Society, eminent political thinker Lord Adonis addressed three topics of importance to Birmingham's economic and civic future: high speed rail, elected mayors and academies.
In his lecture, Andrew Adonis argued for three big solutions to tackle three of Birmingham's biggest challenges. An elected Mayor to provide much stronger and more effective civic leadership. High speed rail to transform transport connections and massively intensify the benefits of Birmingham's the geographical position. And the conversion of all Birmingham's lower performing schools into academies, to transform school standards and skills and to link the world of school to the world of work, apprenticeships and higher education in wholly new and better ways. To read his lecture in full click here.
All these issues have been the subject of lively, sometimes passionate argument across the city of Birmingham and the wider West Midlands. This was an opportunity to hear the views of one of the most eminent and eloquent proponents of these policies, to join in the debate and to make other views known.
Andrew Adonis joined the Institute for Government on 1 September 2010. He served 12 years in government as a Minister and special adviser.
The lecture was held at the Thinktank, Birmingham, on 15th March 2011, chaired by Alan Wenban-Smith, Chairman of the Lunar Society Transport and Climate Change sub Committee, who has provided a response to challenges raised. Please click here to download.
Jonathon Porritt CBE, gave the Society's 2010 seventh Annual Lecture on Tuesday 23rd March 2010, entitled Engineering a Low Growth Economy. Jonathon gave his view on why politicians love to tell us that we can have a very low-carbon society (with 80% cuts in greenhouse gases required by 2050) and high economic growth at the same time. He believes that to have any chance of achieving our carbon reduction targets, we need both "full-on decoupling" (in other words, creating long-term economic value with a massively reduced throughput of energy and raw materials), and an economy based on well being not growth. That means that today's rich will need to consume less, not more. That’s the bottom line behind today’s climate change agenda. So why are so few politicians even talking about it?
Founder Director of Forum for the Future, he is also an eminent writer, broadcaster and commentator on sustainable development. He was formerly Chairman of the UK Sustainable Development Commission (2000-2009) and Director of Friends of the Earth.
Professor Ian Stewart, FRS gave the Society's 2009 Sixth Annual Lecture on Monday, 23rd March 2009, entitled After Darwin's Watch. A prolific author for the lay-reader as well as a world-renown mathematician specialising in fiendishly difficult fields such as topology, Ian Stewart has often appeared on radio and TV, and gave the Royal Institution 1997 Christmas Lectures. He was aptly qualified to give this Lecture in the 200th anniversary year of Charles Darwin's birth, having written widely on the subject of evolution, including co-authoring the Science of Discworld series with Lunarman Jack Cohen and Terry Pratchett, the last of which was called . . . Darwin's Watch.
The Society's Fifth Annual Lecture The Challenges for Medicine in the 21st Century was delivered by the UK's Chief Medical Officer, Sir Liam Donaldon on 5 March 2008 in the Leonard Deacon Theatre at Birmingham Medical School. Sir Liam was introduced by Professor Ian Booth, and the event chaired by Lunar Society Chair Professor Deirdre Kelly.
The Fourth Annual Lecture Engineering the Future by Sir John Armitt, then Chief Executive of Network Rail on 20 March 2007, can be downloaded here. The evening was was chaired by Professor Michael Clarke, Vice Principal of the University of Birmingham.
The Third Annual Lecture Climate Change and what to do about it was by Professor Sir John Lawton, Chairman of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution.
The Second Annual Lecture Great Ideas in Biology was by Nobel Prizewinner (and University of Birmingham graduate) Professor Sir Paul Nurse, ninth President of the Rockefeller University. A report of his Lecture can be read here.
The First Annual Lecture The Portrait and the Country House was by Professor Brian Allen, then Chairman of the National Arts Collection Fund.