Past Institute lectures

Democracy

What is the future of Parliamentary Democracy? What are its roots? What keeps it healthy? With deference gone, how can trust in those who govern be earned and retained? How can a voice be given to the voiceless? Politicians standing for election must seek and retain power but that can have a corrosive effect on moral character and disposition. How do people seeking election avoid joining the ‘celebritocracy’ or becoming vacillating people pleasers? Has political language coarsened beyond repair?

Videos

Protest and Liberty: How the Reformation Shaped Modern Democracy

Professor Alec Ryrie, Durham University, and The Reverend Professor Vernon White, Canon Theologian, Westminster Abbey

The One People Oration 2017: The Responsibilities of Democracy

Sir John Major, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 1990-1997, and The Very Reverend Dr John Hall, Dean of Westminster

The Coarsening of Political Language

Rt Hon Nick Clegg, Deputy Prime Minister 2010-2015, and Mark Easton, BBC Home Editor

Audio