Audio Downloads from Cumberland Lodge

Shami Chakrabarti discusses Common Values and Human Rights

2011: Rt Hon Sir John Laws, Lord Justice of Appeal, here explains the value of discussing the law with barristers-in-training at Cumberland Lodge.

2011: William Shawcross, the Official Biographer of Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother explains her role in establishing an educational charity at Cumberland Lodge.

2011: Professor Sir Graeme Davies, Trustee of Cumberland Lodge and former Vice-Chancellor of the University of London discusses the key policy decisions that have been taken regarding universities in the UK since 1919.

2011: Professor Sir Deian Hopkin, former Vice-Chancellor of London South Bank University and Interim Chairman of the Student Loans Company, discusses access to higher education.

2011: Claire Fox, Director of the Institute of Ideas, argues that academia has lost its ability and confidence to define the value of Higher Education in its own terms.

2011: Salley Vickers, author of Miss Garnet's Angel, Mr Golighty's Holiday, The Other Side of You and Where Three Roads Meet discusses what we can learn from The Spirit of Stories.

2010: Sir Roger Young, the first resident tutor at Cumberland Lodge in 1948, discusses the purpose the foundation was intended to serve, and the people who shaped it in the 1940s and 50s (18min 30sec).

2010: Katharine Whitehorn, celebrated author of books such as "How to Survive Children" and "Cooking in a Bedsitter" and former columnist for the Observer, on the significance of the final years of life. (19mins 46sec)

2010: Naomi Eisenstadt, Senior Research Fellow at the University of Oxford and former director of the Social Exclusion Task Force, on how the inability to read reinforces other social disadvantages. (19min 33sec)

2010: Douglas Board, founder of the career's advice business Maslow's Attic, offers career advice to early career researchers (19min 11sec).

2010: Bob Flowerdew, Organic Gardener and TV and Radio Broadcaster, discusses the future of gardens and gardening (21min 15sec).

2010: Lord Bichard, Director of the Institute for Government, explores the ethical challenges faced by the state when it obtains sensitive data on its citizens. (19mins 17sec).

2010: Dr Jeff King, CUF Lecturer in the Faculty of Law at Oxford University, here discusses the status of social rights such as the rights to education, housing and welfare. Are these rights legally recognised? Do they have the same status as human rights? If so, how are they enforced in the UK? (50mins 39sec)

2010: Mike Trace, Chair of the International Drugs Policy Consortium, here analyses the global development of drugs policy over the last fifty years. Have the UN conventions on drugs reduced the harms caused by drug abuse and drug traficking? If not, why not? (20mins 19sec).

2009: Vikki Heywood, Executive Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, talks about what makes for an effective arts organisation at our March 2009 conference entitled: Do we have the Arts Funding System we deserve?

2009: Sir John Tusa on: "The Arts: A Suitable Case for Treatment". Sir John is introduced by the chairman of Trustees at Cumberland Lodge, Sir Stephen Wall (43mins 55sec).

1978: An interview between Walter James, former Principal of Cumberland Lodge, and C.D. Curling, an early visitor to the Lodge.

2009: Sir Andrew Motion reads an extract of the poem "Harry Patch", read on the day before the unexpected announcement of Harry Patch's death. This is followed by a reading of "The Mower".

2009: Dr Kai Spiekermann discusses the ethics of carbon offsetting

2003: Dr Tom Shakespeare, research fellow at the Institute for Policy and Practice at Newcastle University, discusses the ethics of pre-natal diagnosis (PND) for disability.

2009: Simon Caney, Professor of Political Theory at the University of Oxford, discusses the philosophical problems involved in developing a principle of justice which applies to the threat of climate change. (29min 51sec)

2009: HH Judge Daniel Pearce-Higgins QC explains the Criminal Justice System and explores some of the challenges it currently faces

2009: Julie Spence, Chief Constable of Cambridgeshire, discusses why people are more afraid of crime than ever when the statistics show that levels of crime are decreasing

2007: The Rt Hon Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, former Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, discusses alternatives to custody

2009: Klaus Dodds, Professor of Geopolitics at Royal Holloway, discusses the creation of the Antarctic Treaty in 1959, its current geopolitical significance and the challenges it faces in the future

2009: Robert Culshaw, Deputy Director of the British Antarctic Survey, talks about how the Antarctic Treaty enables international scientific collaboration

2007: Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, Archbishop Emeritus of Westminster, discusses the religiousity of America in a conference entitled: The World's View of America

2009: Charlie Beckett, Director of POLIS - the journalism thinktank at the London School of Economics, discusses the challenges of reporting on religious matters in the 21st century

2009: Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent for The Times, talks about the nature of religious news (11mins 27sec)

2009: Judge Daniel Pearce-Higgins QC interviews Danny Kushlick, Head of Policy at Transform, about the UK's drug control policy. (10mins 55sec).

2009: Dr Kate Meagher, of the LSE Development Studies Institute, discusses why social organisations which represent marginalised people in Nigeria fail to influence political decisions taken by government. (38min 14sec)

2008: Lynne Berry, Chief Executive of the WRVS, discusses what makes for a cohesive society at a conference entitled "Trumpeting the Voluntary: Social Conscience and the Third Sector".

2009: Anne Power, Professor of Social Policy and Director of Housing and Communities at the LSE discusses the possibilities for tackling social problems through the built environment.

2008: Is the exporting of American culture a new form of imperialism? Professor Christopher Bigsby discusses whether there is any such thing as 'American' culture.

2009: Professor Frank Furedi, Professor of Sociology at the University of Kent discusses the question: "What is fear and what makes communities confident?"

2009: Lord Smith, Chairman of the Environment Agency, discusses ways to improve our buildings to make them more energy efficient and better able to cope with the challenges of climate change. (26mins 42sec).