Festival Focus: Economic freefall?

The economy has been in seeming freefall since 2008 with no resolution in sight. The collapse of well known banks, the overheating of the housing marketing in Ireland and Spain, intractable problems around sovereign debt and the deepening of the eurozone crisis, the seeming powerlessness of our politicians in the face of such crisis are all issues which will be discussed in a series of talks in our third Festival Focus on 27 June.

But financial crises have periodically afflicted us. At 1.15pm in the Ron Cooke Hub, Martin Vander Weyer, journalist and author presents one of the first major banking scandals of the 20th century drawn from his compelling new book, Fortune’s Spear, his acclaimed biography of 1920s City of London fraudster Gerard Lee Bevan — a financier of impeccable credentials who went to the bad when markets turned against him.

At 4.30pm, the focus on finance will then shift gear into the unknown world of financial PR. Tim Burt, a senior PR adviser to some of the world’s largest companies and a former award-winning business journalist, discusses the upheaval in public relations amid a wave of corporate crises; the digital revolution; and the self-doubt of a media industry in turmoil. His diagnosis of the reputational threats facing business, and the changing nature of the world’s $10bn-a-year PR industry coincides with the publication of the first major book in a decade charting the transformation of PR management; Dark Arts – The Changing Face of Public Relations.

Tim is joint managing partner of StockWell Group, a London-based advisory firm providing strategic communications services to companies around the world. Tim joined StockWell from Brunswick, the international advisory firm, where he oversaw sectors including media, technology and automotive. He played a central role in Brunswick’s international expansion in mainland Europe, Asia and North America. In those markets, he advised clients on a number of large transactions.

Tim was formerly an award-winning journalist at the Financial Times, where he spent 16 years in several senior editorial roles including Media Editor, Motor Industry Correspondent and Nordic Bureau Chief.

We will then bring all of these discussions together in a panel discussion chaired by Martin Vander Weyer, to explore the Lessons and Legacies of the Financial Crises. As well as Tim Burt, speakers will include Professor Peter Spencer, University of York and Item Club, and Gervais Wiliams from MAM Funds.

The panelists will present their views on the financial crisis, the future of the eurozone and how it will affect the UK and whether lessons have been learned from what has happened so far.

The Festival Focus on finance concludes on Thursday 28 June with a public lecture by Professor Immanuel Wallerstein asking 'Structural crisis of the capitalist world-system: How serious? How long? Endpoint?'