At a time of great world turmoil and danger, a podcast series of truly profound conversations with twelve leading minds from across the world dares to reach far deeper than most into the philosophies, contradictions, errors and delusions of the age, and pulls together new strands of hope, amidst the current universal pessimism, gloom and general distrust of all by all. These are the trends which will have far more impact on our lives than any national government of any colour.

· Are our democratic processes being fundamentally weakened by communications technology? Can our nation states hold together? Will the centre hold against polarised division , extremism and abuse? Can democratic capitalism be made to work for everyone?

· Have the international rules-based order, and its supporting institutions, broken down, and what repairs or replaces it?

· Has democracy of the old kind peaked and will the authoritarian methods and illiberal standards of bogus democracy prevail?

· Just where are the new paths of hope and optimism and how do we find and follow them? Can the tide be turned?

First Series Contributors; Baroness Onora O’Neill, Justice Stephen Breyer, Jesse Norman, Lord Robert Skidelsky, Bill Browder, Professor Joe Nye, Matt Ridley, Baroness Cathy Ashton, Sir Ferdinand Mount, Professor Jeremy Black, Professor Parag Khanna, James Vitali. More to come. All in conversation with David Howell.

All enquiries to: howelld@parliament.uk.

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