The Frontline Club

"The problem is not that diversity exists, it is what we choose to make of it. In short, do we understand our various identities as being an integral part of our common humanity or as something separate, above and beyond it?"

How does the way we see ourselves affect our lives? Why do certain identities confer powers and privileges that others do not? In his latest book, Who Are We – and Should it Matter in the 21st Century? Guardian US correspondent Gary Younge argues that identity is core to the way people think about everything from international terrorism to immigration, crime and military occupations.

Gary Younge will be at the Frontline Club in conversation with Afua Hirsch, Guardian legal affairs correspondent to discuss his book, which weaves together memoir and analysis, taking in Sarah Palin, Tiger Woods and the Danish cartoon controversy and calls for the differences between us to be talked about "properly".

The Japan we know from films and TV is one of tradition, high technology and pop culture. But as with every nation, something more sinister lies beneath the bright lights of Sony and Nintendo.

Jake Adelstein, author of Tokyo Vice, a memoir of his time as an investigative crime reporter in Tokyo, is the only American reporter to be admitted to the Tokyo Metropolitan Press Club and writes of a country that where organised Yakuza crime gangs are rampant.

But is this the real Japan? With an expert panel including Jake Adelstein, Peter Hill author of The Japanese Mafia: Yakuza, Law, and the State and Satoshi Hashimoto, bureau chief & European editor Asahi Shimbun (Japanese daily newspaper) we’ll investigate the problem of organised crime in Japan and cast a light on the media’s reporting of it.

Chaired by William Horsley, BBC Tokyo correspondent from 1983-1990.

The Japan we know from films and TV is one of tradition, high technology and pop culture. But as with every nation, something more sinister lies beneath the bright lights of Sony and Nintendo.

Jake Adelstein, author of Tokyo Vice, a memoir of his time as an investigative crime reporter in Tokyo, is the only American reporter to be admitted to the Tokyo Metropolitan Press Club and writes of a country that where organised Yakuza crime gangs are rampant.

But is this the real Japan? With an expert panel including Jake Adelstein, Peter Hill author of The Japanese Mafia: Yakuza, Law, and the State and Satoshi Hashimoto, bureau chief & European editor Asahi Shimbun (Japanese daily newspaper) we’ll investigate the problem of organised crime in Japan and cast a light on the media’s reporting of it.

Chaired by William Horsley, BBC Tokyo correspondent from 1983-1990.

With crucial post-war elections due in October this year we will be discussing present-day Bosnia and asking what lies ahead: How fragile is the peace established by the Dayton Agreement that ended the 1992-1995 war?

With the 3 October elections and the trial of ex Bosnian Serb leader, Radovan Karadzic, at the Hague, the months ahead are likely to be critical for Bosnia.

Paddy Ashdown, former High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina will be in conversation with Kemal Pervanic, founder trustee of Most Mira, who is a survivor of the Omarska concentration camp and author of The Killing Days: My Journey through the Bosnian War, and Allan Little, BBC correspondent in Former Yugoslavia 1991 – 1995.

Kemal Pervanic will also be talking about his return to the area with the Most Mira charity to bring together Serb and Bosnian Muslim young people in the Omarska Prijedor area for annual arts festivals.

With crucial post-war elections due in October this year we will be discussing present-day Bosnia and asking what lies ahead: How fragile is the peace established by the Dayton Agreement that ended the 1992-1995 war?

With the 3 October elections and the trial of ex Bosnian Serb leader, Radovan Karadzic, at the Hague, the months ahead are likely to be critical for Bosnia.

Paddy Ashdown, former High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina will be in conversation with Kemal Pervanic, founder trustee of Most Mira, who is a survivor of the Omarska concentration camp and author of The Killing Days: My Journey through the Bosnian War, and Allan Little, BBC correspondent in Former Yugoslavia 1991 – 1995.

Kemal Pervanic will also be talking about his return to the area with the Most Mira charity to bring together Serb and Bosnian Muslim young people in the Omarska Prijedor area for annual arts festivals.

The sinking of the South Korean navy ship Cheonan and the subsequent international report that found a North Korean submarine’s torpedo was responsible, has lead to heightened tension between the two countries that co-exist uncomfortably at a constant level of alert.

North Korea is once again in the spot light, but what lies behind the borders of this most secretive of countries? The totalitarian regime stands accused of systematic human rights abuses amongst the worst in the world, its prison camps have been compared to the concentration camps in Nazi Germany and it is reported that there are acute food shortages due to economic mismanagement and natural disasters.

Join us at the Frontline Club with an expert panel to discuss the implications of recent events, the role and responsibility of the international community and what life is like for people living in this most secretive of countries.

With Vitit Muntarbhorn, former UN Special Rapporteur on situation of human rights in North Korea; Lord Alton of Liverpool, chair of the all party parliamentary group for North Korea; Professor Hazel Smith, professor of security and resilience at Cranfield University and author of Hungry for Peace: International Security, Humanitarian Assistance and Social Change in North Korea and North Korean refugee, Mrs Park Ji-hyun.

Chaired by Charles Scanlon, BBC correspondent in Japan and South Korea from 2000 to 2007, currently an editor at BBC World Service news.

The sinking of the South Korean navy ship Cheonan and the subsequent international report that found a North Korean submarine’s torpedo was responsible, has lead to heightened tension between the two countries that co-exist uncomfortably at a constant level of alert.

North Korea is once again in the spot light, but what lies behind the borders of this most secretive of countries? The totalitarian regime stands accused of systematic human rights abuses amongst the worst in the world, its prison camps have been compared to the concentration camps in Nazi Germany and it is reported that there are acute food shortages due to economic mismanagement and natural disasters.

Join us at the Frontline Club with an expert panel to discuss the implications of recent events, the role and responsibility of the international community and what life is like for people living in this most secretive of countries.

With Vitit Muntarbhorn, former UN Special Rapporteur on situation of human rights in North Korea; Lord Alton of Liverpool, chair of the all party parliamentary group for North Korea; Professor Hazel Smith, professor of security and resilience at Cranfield University and author of Hungry for Peace: International Security, Humanitarian Assistance and Social Change in North Korea and North Korean refugee, Mrs Park Ji-hyun.

Chaired by Charles Scanlon, BBC correspondent in Japan and South Korea from 2000 to 2007, currently an editor at BBC World Service news.

What are the new government’s policies on climate change and how do they match up up to the global challenges of the next five years?

Join us for a discussion at the Frontline Club in association in with Communications INC that will look at the coalition government’s policies and the challenges that lie ahead during the new parliament’s fixed term.

Looking ahead to key events such as Rio 2012 and the 2015 Millennium Goals we will be examining the coalition government’s policies and approach to climate change and asking if it meets the scale of the challenges that lie ahead. What role will NGOs and journalists need to play holding the coalition to account?

Are more natural disasters around the world likely as a result of climate change and if so what role will NGOs need to play as the world begins to change? What challenges will the media face as they are confronted with human tragedy as a result of climate change?

With Mark Maslin, director of the Environment Institute, UCL, a leading climatologist with particular expertise in past global and regional climatic change; John Vidal, the Guardian’s environment editor; Matthew Spencer, director of Green Alliance and Fiona Harvey, The Financial Times environment correspondent.

Chaired by Lawrence McGinty, health and science editor ITV news.

What are the new government’s policies on climate change and how do they match up up to the global challenges of the next five years?

Join us for a discussion at the Frontline Club in association in with Communications INC that will look at the coalition government’s policies and the challenges that lie ahead during the new parliament’s fixed term.

Looking ahead to key events such as Rio 2012 and the 2015 Millennium Goals we will be examining the coalition government’s policies and approach to climate change and asking if it meets the scale of the challenges that lie ahead. What role will NGOs and journalists need to play holding the coalition to account?

Are more natural disasters around the world likely as a result of climate change and if so what role will NGOs need to play as the world begins to change? What challenges will the media face as they are confronted with human tragedy as a result of climate change?

With Mark Maslin, director of the Environment Institute, UCL, a leading climatologist with particular expertise in past global and regional climatic change; John Vidal, the Guardian’s environment editor; Matthew Spencer, director of Green Alliance and Fiona Harvey, The Financial Times environment correspondent.

Chaired by Lawrence McGinty, health and science editor ITV news.

Labour’s attempts to crack down on digital piracy, extend broadband across the country and re-write outdated copyright laws were all part of the Digital Economy Bill, which received Royal Assent in the legislative “wash-up” process in the dying days of the last parliament.

But while the Act has been passed, meaning an incoming government will honour its clauses, much is uncertain: Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg has said he would seek to repeal the most stringent piracy measures of the Act in the next Parliament. Much of the Act’s disputed detail has been left for Ofcom to resolve.

Where the act will go now with a coalition government: will tough piracy and copyright measures survive? What of the promise of 2Mbps broadband for all?

The Labour peer, film producer and former CEO of Columbia Pictures Lord Puttnam, who introduced several amendments to the Bill in the Lords debates will be joined in the discussion by Conservative peer, Lord Lucas, who tabled several of the Bill’s most radical amendments. They are joined by Richard Mollet, Director of Public Affairs at the BPI, (which represents the UK recorded music business); Andrew Heaney, Executive Director, Strategy & Regulation, TalkTalk Group and internet copyright lawyer Graham Smith from Bird & Bird.