Latest thinking

A Big Society approach to low carbon

Comment

27 Oct 2010

New energy saving community trusts could help us meet our carbon targets while strengthening neighbourhoods, argues John Swinney FRSA.

Mindfulness(3): Doing and Being

Blog

08 Oct 2010

Jonathan Rowson

One of Nietzsche's most resonant remarks was that 'man has no ears for that to which experience has given him no access.' Sometimes you just can't process an idea, because you don't have the mental tools or reference points to make sense  of it.

Being Wrong

Video

04 Oct 2010

Kathryn Schulz, author and journalist

Good and Bad Bureaucracy

Blog

30 Sep 2010

Julian Thompson

The other day I received an interesting idea for a new RSA project. “Sounds promising”, I replied to the sender, “just stick it in the project proposal template we use for such things, so that we can assess it properly, and we’ll take it from there”.

The business of family business

Comment

27 Sep 2010

Governments are always trying to perform a balancing act between what policy promotes and what economic participation requires. But instead of winning here and sinning there, Stefan Kemp argues that a simple adjustment would deliver more sustainable lives without compromising financial security.

Mindfulness(2): What is it?

Blog

24 Sep 2010

Jonathan Rowson

Since our event earlier this month, I've been banging on about mindfulness to anybody who will listen. Nobody has yet asked me for a definition, but I can see in their eyes that they want to.

After New Atheism: Where now for the God debate?

Video

21 Sep 2010

With Marilynne Robinson, Roger Scruton, Jonathan Ree and Laurie Taylor

The politics of TINA

Blog

21 Sep 2010

TINA has been responsible for some of the most far-reaching political decisions of the last two decades or more. You've never heard of her? TINA is the popular abbreviation of ‘There Is No Alternative.’ A political catchphrase made famous by Margaret Thatcher when explaining economic liberalism, which was picked up almost two decades later by Tony Blair when justifying military action in Iraq. As Polly Toynbee has recently pointed out, TINA is being used again – this time when outlining the government approach to the financial crisis. At the Liberal Democrat party conference yesterday, Nick Clegg invoked TINA when trying to ingratiate party members to huge spending cuts.

Mindfulness(1): Teach us to Sit Still

Blog

10 Sep 2010

Jonathan Rowson

The Great Room was packed last night for Mindfulness: The Key to a Healthier Society. The speakers were Ed Haliwell and Dr Jonty Heaversedge, authors of The Mindful Manifesto, and Tim Parks, an author once shortlisted for the booker prize, who recently wrote 'Teach us to Sit Still'- a darkly humorous and profound examination of an embarrassing medical condition, and an improbable journey back to health through meditation.