Modern Diplomacy: in conversation with Baroness Catherine Ashton
Hear Baroness Catherine Ashton in a fireside conversation providing insights into her long career working at the top of international diplomacy.
Past event: 26th March 2024
So much of modern-day diplomacy still takes place behind closed doors, away from cameras and prying eyes. So what does this vital role really look like in today’s world –and what does it take to do it well?
The David Hume Institute, in partnership with EICC Live were delighted to host Baroness Catherine Ashton for a fireside conversation providing insights into her long career working at the top of international diplomacy.
From 2009 to 2014, Cathy Ashton was the EU’s first High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security, effectively Europe's foreign policy supremo responsible for coordinating the EU's response to international crises. Arriving in Brussels as a relative novice to international diplomacy, she faced the challenge of representing the views and values of 28 nations during one of the most turbulent times in living memory. Decades-old certainties were swept away in days. Hope rose and fell, often in a matter of hours.
From the frozen conflict of Ukraine to the Serbia-Kosovo deal, there were challenges, failures and moments of success. She encountered dictators and war criminals, and witnessed the aftermath of natural disasters, military action, and political instability. Working with US politicians and counterparts including John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, and Bill Burns, she negotiated historic settlements, such as the Iran nuclear deal. An ‘honest broker’, she navigated the needs of opposing politicians to chart a path towards collaboration and stability.
Baroness Ashton took us behind the scenes, sharing what worked and what didn’t, and how it felt to be in ‘the room where it happened’. From Serbia to Somalia, Libya to Haiti, she offers essential insight into how modern diplomacy works, examining the tools needed to find our way through the many challenges we face today.
Further reading:
And then what? Inside Stories of 21st-Century Diplomacy by Catherine Ashton
The Economy in Plain English with Diane Coyle
Hear Professor Diane Coyle discuss “What is economics and what it should be” with journalist Clare English and our Director Susan Murray.
In our fifth conversation of 2024, Journalist Clare English and Director of the David Hume Institute, Susan Murray discuss the Economy in Plain English with Diane Coyle, Professor of Public Policy and Co-Director of the Bennett Institute for Public Policy at the University of Cambridge.
This time we discussed: “What Economics Is and What It Should be”.
The session was streamed live on LinkedIn, X and Youtube.
Understanding Scotland Economy Tracker - February 2024 Insights
Catch up with the February 2024 results from the Understanding Scotland Economy Tracker (USET). Hear the results and reflections from guest panellists and the audience.
Past event: 28th February 2024
This event launched the latest results from the Understanding Scotland Economy Tracker (USET) - a quarterly survey of over 2000 people in Scotland undertaken in partnership with the Diffley partnership.
Mark Diffley, Director of the Diffley Partnership presented the latest findings which track economic confidence and buying intentions over time, as well as helping us to understand and monitor economic attitudes and public opinion.
Mark was joined by Professor Mairi Spowage, Director of the Fraser of Allander Institute and Kevin Havelock, Regional Director Corporate, Commercial and Business Banking at Royal Bank of Scotland to reflect on the results which came a week ahead of the Spring Budget at Westminister.
The event was kindly hosted by the Royal Bank of Scotland.
About the speakers:
Mark Diffley, Director and Founder of the Diffley Partnership
Mark has spent 25 years delivering research, polling and insights for organisations in all sectors, including for governments, the third sector and companies across the business sector.
After working with a number of agencies in the research sector, Mark set up Diffley Partnership in 2017 and works with a brilliant team in Edinburgh to ensure that our research and insights are of the highest quality, enabling his clients to make important decisions with confidence.
Mairi Spowage, Professor of Practice and Director of the Fraser Allander Institute
Mairi’s areas of expertise include economic policy, economic statistics, national accounting, public sector finances, and economic and fiscal forecasting. Mairi leads on the Institute's work with various partners, including those in business, the public and third sector.
Mairi is leading on various projects to improve economic measurement and the use of economic insights to improve policy decisions in Scotland and beyond. She also leads the programme to encourage graduates into careers in analysis through the Economic Futures programme.
Mairi is on the Leadership team of the Centre for Inclusive Trade Policy and the Economics Statistics Centre of Excellence. Previously, Mairi was the Deputy Chief Executive of the Scottish Fiscal Commission and the Head of National Accounts at the Scottish Government, and has over 15 years of experience working in different areas of statistics and analysis, including transport, household surveys and performance measurement.
Kevin Havelock, Regional Director Corporate, Commercial and Business Banking at Royal Bank of Scotland
Kevin joined the Royal Bank of Scotland as a graduate trainee over 25 years ago, working in various teams before specialising in relationship management and moving into Corporate and Business Banking. He has a degree in Politics from the University of Aberdeen and an MBA from Edinburgh Business School at Heriot Watt University. Kevin is also currently a Governing Council Member of the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce and previously served for six years as Treasurer of the charity, Families Outside.
Read more about the research.
The Economy in Plain English with Andrea Barry
Dr Andrea Barry, Principal Economist from the Youth Futures Foundation discusses the Economy in Plain English with journalist Clare English .
Past event: 19th February 2024
In our fourth conversation of 2024, Journalist Clare English and Director of the David Hume Institute, Susan Murray discuss the Economy in Plain English with Dr Andrea Barry, Principal Economist from the Youth Futures Foundation.
- What is a Principal Economist?
- What's their role in a youth organisation?
- And then the big question, does the economy cause intergenerational tension?
The session was streamed live on LinkedIn, X and Youtube. As always we promised you a lively conversation and interesting insights into the economy and economics - and all in plain English!
#economy #youngpeople #economics #intergenerationalwealth
The Economy in Plain English with Arun Advani
Hear Journalist Clare English discuss diversity, economics and tax with Dr Arun Advani.
Past event: 5th February 2024
Hear former BBC Journalist Clare English discuss tax and the economy with Dr Arun Advani. Arun is co-chair of the Discover Economics campaign, aiming to increase the diversity of people who study and work in economics.
He studies issues of inequality, tax compliance, and tax design, with a focus on those with high incomes or wealth. He is a Commissioner at the Wealth Tax Commission and also work on issues of environmental taxation, economic development, migration, and tax in low- and middle-income countries.
A month ahead of the likely tax cuts in the Spring Budget, this is a good opportunity to take time out and hear one the the UK's leading experts on tax systems.
The Economy in Plain English was streamed Live on LinkedIn, X and YouTube.
More Information
David Hume Institute event: Diversity and econmics: what do the data tell us?, 2021
David Hume Institute event: Talking Tax with Dr Arun Advani, Dr Andy Summers and Charlotte Barbour, 8th July 2020
Incubating Success: in conversation with Steven Drost
Steven Drost and Matt Farrugia reflect on global developments in tech incubators and why so many countries are pinning their hopes on tech for economic growth.
Past event: Monday 29th January 2024
Catch up with Steven Drost and Matt Farrugia discussing reflections on Steven’s recent visit to China, kindly hosted by the University of Edinburgh Business School.
Steven was invited to speak in Lingang and visit Shanghai at the World Top-performing Incubator Forum 2023, as well as discussing progress on building the ecosystem in the UK.
While his head was still fizzing with reflections and lessons learned we wanted to provide an opportunity to hear his thoughts first hand.
Some of Steven’s initial observations:
Ecosystem building is a massive global concern; it’s the way most economic development will happen
Everyone he met locally was open, kind, keen to collaborate
He had to rethink / relearn what “build it, and they will come” means
In China lots of creative deeptech thinking and doing going on and my goodness, are things turned around quickly
WeChat is pretty awesome (hot take of 2023, I know..)
With Steven working at the heart of Codebase there is no-one better to find out what is happening at the UK’s largest tech incubator and if we are making progress on the recommendations from the 2021 Logan review.
Steven was reunited with Matt Farugia for the conversation - recreating the successful Startupification podcast.
For anyone interested in economic growth, startups, investments and global development in the tech world - this event is a must!
About Steven Drost
Steven is a two time entrepreneur, once successful, once failed. He has extensive experience of hiring, building revenues, selling companies, fund raising, and more. He has the scars and war stories to prove it.
He is currently the Chief Strategy Officer at CodeBase and sees many startups per year. He loves to help business grow and network founders with peers, customers and investors. He is a former Trustee of the David Hume Institute and current Trustee of the Edinburgh Futures Institute.
About Matt Farrugia
Matt is a 3-time founder with both technology and commercial experience in early stage tech startups.
He is mentor and fractional advisor for a number of Scottish and international startups at the preseed and seed stages - as well as an experienced podcaster.
The Economy in Plain English with Dieter Helm
Professor Sir Dieter Helm discusses the economy with Journalist Clare English and Susan Murray, Director of the David Hume Institute as part of our the Economy in Plain English series.
Past event: Monday 5th February 2024
At the David Hume Institute, we're on a mission to get more people talking and thinking about the economy. That's why we've launched a new series of online live events, where you can ask questions and get answers in plain English.
Hosted by journalist Clare English and Susan Murray, Director of the David Hume Institute we discuss the Economy in Plain English.
Last week with Professor Graeme Roy, Economy in Plain English discussed economics being about the allocation of scarce resources.
This week, Sir Dieter Helm, Professor of Economic Policy at the University of Oxford and Fellow in Economics at New College, Oxford discussed what would a sustainable economy look like and how to build it - and why it matters.
Dieter told us he is not considered a mainstream economist - but what does this mean? Have a listen to the conversation and see if you think these ideas are or should be mainstream.
Key points:
Conventional economists look at the flows of goods, services, expenditures and incomes. The sustainable economy starts with the balance sheet of the assets and asks how well the stocks of these assets are being looked after or stewarded.
What is left to spend now is net of having first made good any damage we have done. If you own a house and have neglected to fix a hole in the roof, you will not pretend that you are better off and can spend more because the money has not been spent on fixing the roof. Your house would be worth less. You would in effect be eating up your capital, mortgaging the future for the benefit of your spending today.
Citizens of the sustainable economy have entitlements and rights, as well as duties and obligations to others now and to the next generation.
"What is not sustainable will not be sustained. The consequences of climate change do not go away because we refuse to address its fundamental causes."
Watch the recording below.
Find out more in Dieter's book Legacy: how to build a sustainable economy is available to download for free here.
The Economy in Plain English with Prof Graeme Roy
Professor Graeme Roy discusses the economy with Journalist Clare English and Susan Murray, Director of the David Hume Institute as part of our the Economy in Plain English series.
Past event: Monday 29th January 2024
Have you ever thought about how would you answer the question, what is the economy? If you are not an economist, the answer is probably, "no, I've never thought about it".
Whether you think about it or not, your decisions to do or not do something have an impact on the economy. And, someone else's decision to do to not do something will also affect you.
At the David Hume Institute, we're on a mission to get more people talking and thinking about the economy. That's why we've launched a new series of online live events, where you can ask questions and get answers in plain English.
Hosted by journalist Clare English and Susan Murray, Director of the David Hume Institute we'll discuss the Economy in Plain English.
To start us off, Professor Graeme Roy from the University of Glasgow joined us to answer the question, what is the economy?
We discussed:
Economics is often misunderstood - lots of people think it is just money and finance but it's really about how society makes choices about the allocation of scarce resources.
Traditional measures of the size of a country's economy like GDP (Gross Domestic Product) counted things that could be easily measured. This means activities that are harder to measure are not included even if they are of great value.
Although the short-term is often front of mind when we hear politicians speak, it is important to think beyond election cycles when considering the economy and how to allocate scarce resources.
Listen to the full discussion:
Understanding Scotland Economy Tracker - November 2023 Insights
The Understanding Scotland Economy Tracker, produced in partnership with the Diffley Partnership, marks its second birthday, showing many Scots continue to take extreme measures to navigate turbulent economic times.
This briefing of the latest results Understanding Scotland Economy Tracker, produced by the David Hume Institute and the Diffley Partnership, marks its second birthday, showing many Scots continue to take extreme measures to navigate turbulent economic times:
Mark Diffley, Director of the Diffley Partnership and Scott Edgar, Senior Research Manager present the top ten insights from the latest tracker results and with reflections on the long term implications of the data:
1 in 6 people (17%) report skipping meals
1 in 5 people are using ‘buy now pay later’ payment plans
2 out of 3 people (67%) are not putting the heating on to reduce costs
For many, the ongoing challenges with the cost of living are dominating their lives with:
3 in 10 (29%) Scots tell us they are losing sleep due to their personal finances
Many Scots are living with severe financial precarity:
3 in 10 people (28%) are not confident of covering a £100 emergency expense – up three percentage points since February 2023.
This rises to 1 in 2 (49%) for an emergency expense of £500.
The survey also shows 8 in 10 Scots perceive the economy as favouring the wealthy (78%), while 53% believe it primarily serves business interests. Only 1 in 10 (10%) believe that the economy works in their own interest.
Corporate Stewardship of the biosphere - what it is and why does it matter for managing future risk?
Global experts Professor Jan Bebbington and Professor Ian Thomson make a compelling case for corporate biosphere stewardship as a critical part of managing current and future risk.
Event: 30th October 2023
This thought-provoking discussion features global expert speakers and in-depth analysis. Professor Jan Bebbington and Professor Ian Thomson who make a compelling case for corporate biosphere stewardship as a critical part of managing current and future risk in a thriving economy.
Are you interested in how climate change is affecting the world’s resources? This event discussed keystone corporate actors working with the earth’s critical systems and the approach some are undertaking to manage the systems more sustainably.
The event was chaired by Dr Owen Kelly and feature reflections from Dr Sarah Ivory of the University of Edinburgh Business School.
Credit: Professor Jan Bebbington presentation slide discussing transnational corporation keystone actors
The event is of interest to anyone wanting to understand more about the future of our economy and society, from economists and policymakers to business leaders and students.
The David Hume Institute would like to thank the University of Edinburgh Business School for supporting this event.