Today I got an e-mail from Alex Singleton. I asked him if I could put it up here, and had no objection. I asked this because, as I said to him, it reflects very well on the Liberty Club and its activities up there in Saint Andrews University.
On Monday night the Liberty Club had as its speaker Dr Mark Pennington. He was speaking on “Can globalisation be good for the environment?”, and gave a very well structured and well presented talk. There were 45 or 46 in the audience, with many people there belonging to the environmental left.
The after-talk discussion was heated at times, but always courteous to the speaker, and some people said that their views had changed as a result of the talk. (We booked the room 8pm to 9:30, and there were still questions coming at 9:30 when we wrapped things up.) We then moved to Broons, a local bar, where the speaker demolished neo-classical economics and economic forecasting! All in all an excellent evening.
There’s no report on the Liberty Log as yet, but there may be something soon. Meanwhile I’ve nothing to add to Alex’s report, except to say that this is just what intellectual activism and indeed life at a University is, or should be, all about. My congratulations to all concerned.
Is the Liberty Club unique or are there other British Universities with similar groups? If not, why not?!
David
There’s the LSE Hayek Society. I am also in contact with someone at Leeds University who is looking into a setting up a Liberty Club.
It is good to hear that intellectual life is not dead in the institutions of higher education.