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Prospect at York Festival of Ideas 2014

Thinkers and writers gather to discuss "order and chaos"

June 10, 2014
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The historic city of York will play host to a meeting of minds. ©John Houlihan




The York Festival of Ideas begins on Thursday 12th June, bringing together the world's leading authors, thinkers, economists and more for over 140 talks and debates on the theme of "order and chaos."

Prospect will be in the thick of it all, with Managing Editor Jonathan Derbyshire chairing three events:

"The cross-roads of conflict: the world's response to global crises" (12th June) will see former US assistant secretary of state James Rubin, award-winning Prospect writer and author of The Last Man in RussiaOliver Bullough, professor Sultan Barakat of the University of York, former Ambassador to Iran and Libya Sir Richard Dalton and the BBC’s Chief International Correspondent Lyse Doucet debate whether the international response to events in the Middle East and Ukraine are appropriate or effective.

On the 20th June, economists, business leaders, policymakers and third sector experts will discuss the future of the British economy for a special festival "focus day." At 11.45am, Andrew Sentance, Diane Coyle and John Lewis director of selling Maggie Porteous will debate what the rise of the city state means for the employment market.

This will be followed by a conversation on "the future of banking" with Energybank's Anita Bradshaw, PwC's Andrew Sentance, economist Richard Werner and entrepreneur and author Margaret Heffernan.

Other festival highlights include a focus day on "the future of food" (14th June) and a debate on the question "can science and religion co-exist?" where leading academics Chris Collingwood, Erez Manela and Dr Tara Alberts will explode myths related to this centuries-old issue.

Find out more about the York Festival of Ideas