University of Cambridge

Has parliament taken back control and if so, are MPs about to shed their traditional party loyalties to prevent a no-deal Brexit? Listen to David Howarth, Professor of Law and Public Policy and former Cambridge MP, and Simon Deakin, Professor of Law, discuss what’s likely to happen in the Brexit negotiations in both the short and longer term.

The University Library is delighted to have been given the archive of the satirical TV programme Spitting Image. The first latex puppet to arrive is Margaret Thatcher. In this podcast, by Made For Your Podcasts, Spitting Image creator explains why the archive is coming home, and Mrs Thatcher speaks form beyond the grave...

What does gender equality mean in practice? Is feminism a threat to men or a collective liberation from social stereotypes? A panel discussion will look at the links between equality at work and equality at home and how the move towards gender equality connects to wider issues of social equality. With Jude Browne, Jessica and Peter Frankopan Director of the University of Cambridge Centre for Gender Studies, economist Victoria Bateman, sociologist Manali Desai, film, TV and theatre director Topher Campbell and Duncan Fisher from the Family Initiative. Chaired by psychologist Magdalena Zawisza.

David Reynolds, Professor of International History, reflects on how Western perspectives on Stalin have changed since the end of the Cold War and why the wartime alliance with the Soviet Union remains one of the most challenging problems - both historically and morally - in writing the story of the 20th century.

Many common sayings warn us against being judgmental: “Judge not, lest ye be judged,” is one familiar directive, underscoring the vulnerabilities of human judgments to distortion and bias and reminding us of our own exposure to others’ negative judgments. Nevertheless, we continue to make judgments, both positive and negative, because we have evolved to do so. In this talk psychologist Dr Terri Apter, former Senior Tutor at Newnham College, describes a 'judgment meter' at work in our brains, emerging in infancy and shaping our relationships with parents, children, spouses and colleagues throughout our lives. Rather than trying to suppress judgmental activity, we should respect its power as an inevitable feature of the human mind.

Ever felt your phone vibrate without getting a message? That’s a hallucination. In this talk, Hannah Jongsma will explore the spectrum from normal experiences to mental illness. How helpful is it to think of wellbeing this way? Where and how do we draw a line between being well and being ill?

Will the future of work be one in which jobs become ever more precarious and robots take over or can we regulate to make the gig economy and artificial intelligence work in our favour? With Magdalena Soffia, former UN consultant and researcher in Sociology at the University of Cambridge, Dr Alex Wood, a sociologist of work and employment at the University of Oxford, Dr Hatice Gunes, associate professor in the University of Cambridge's Computer Laboratory, and Laetitia Vitaud, HR specialist and writer on the future of work.

What is the likely impact of trade wars and how has the tension between protectionism and free trade played out in history? A panel discussion with: Dr Marc-William Palen, historian at the University of Exeter and author of 'The 'Conspiracy' of Free Trade: The Anglo-American Struggle over Empire and Economic Globalisation, 1846–1896'; Dr Meredith Crowley, a Reader in International Economics in the Faculty of Economics at the University of Cambridge; Dr Minako Morita-Jaegerand, trade consultant and Associate Fellow at the UK Trade Policy Observatory; and Dr Lorand Bartels, Reader in International Law in the Faculty of Law at the University of Cambridge.

Chaired by Michael Kitson, Judge Business School.

Professor David Runciman, Head of the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Cambridge and author of How Democracy Ends, argues that, far from following the familiar pattern of military takeover or collapse in the rule of law, it is likely that democracy will fail in the 21st century in ways that we are not yet familiar with and that rather than implosion, it may simply fade away, hollowed out by forces of technological progress and social division that we lack the power to understand, never mind to resist.

Read David's feature article: www.festivalofideas.cam.ac.uk/how-democracy-ends

Cooperation and violence are opposite poles of human experience. Some societies, institutions and places are highly violent, while others promote cooperation and mutual respect. Four experts discuss core ideas about the root causes of these differences, and how research can help us to better address different forms of violence.

• What makes some societies more violent than others? Manuel Eisner

• What makes some prisons more violent than others? Alison Liebling

• What makes some neighbourhoods more violent than others? Graham Denyer Willis

• What makes some places more violent than others? Alex Sutherland