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Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote on Audible:
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Summary:

Golden Globe-winning actor Michael C. Hall (Dexter, Six Feet Under) performs Truman Capote's provocative, naturalistic masterstroke about a young writer's charmed fascination with his unorthodox neighbor, the "American geisha" Holly Golightly. Holly - a World War II-era society girl in her late teens - survives via socialization, attending parties and restaurants with men from the wealthy upper class who also provide her with money and expensive gifts. Over the course of the novella, the seemingly shallow Holly slowly opens up to the curious protagonist, who eventually gets tossed away as her deepening character emerges.

Breakfast at Tiffany's, Truman Capote's most beloved work of fiction, introduced an independent and complex character who challenged audiences, revived Audrey Hepburn's flagging career in the 1961 film version, and whose name and style has remained in the national idiom since publication. Hall uses his diligent attention to character to bring our unnamed narrator’s emotional vulnerability to the forefront of this American classic.


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Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote, Narrated by Michael C. Hall - Editor's Pick (#1)

The 'rest of HS2' being cancelled has resurfaced questions about the UK's infrastructure and public transport connectivity. Our panel will consider the country's infrastructure needs and discuss what the great civil engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel might build if he was here today.

This Festival of Economics event will combine history, regional development, architecture and economics, as we reflect on the legacy of Brunel on the city of Bristol – and what his vision for the UKin 2050 might have been. 

On the panel, Dr Chris Colvin is an expert on economic history and the interwar economy and Claire Pearce, Director of Planning and Economic Development of Salamanca Group, who leads a portfolio of large scale projects, including Gravity, a 616 acre Enterprise Zone in Somerset. Zoe Metcalfe, Client Director at Atkins Global, and Co-Founder, Ethos Wilder, rounds off our panel to address cities of the future needing to be climate and nature positive. Ed Conway, economics and data editor for Sky News chairs this panel.

Brunel’s contribution to the city of Bristol is unparalleled, designing the Clifton Suspension Bridge and Bristol Temple Meads Station, and working as chief engineer of the Great Western Railway. Over 150 years later, this panel will discuss infrastructure needs of the city and county, how these should be funded and what governments should prioritise  – whether that be transport links, digital networks or building communities.

Part of Festival of Economics 2023, presented by Bristol Ideas: www.bristolideas.co.uk/

Image by Till Lukat

Talking Economics: Brunel’s Vision for 2050 (16 Nov 2023)

With the ever-increasing demand for housing, how do we build enough homes sustainably and quickly?

Carol Lewis, property editor of The Times and The Sunday Times, chairs this Festival of Economics panel discussion on the future of housing, with economist Kate Barker, journalist and author Vicky Spratt, and academics Ed Atkins and Henry Overman.

With soaring housing costs and an enduring cost-of-living crisis, securing a home – whether buying or renting – is a significant worry for many. The government is yet to meet its housebuilding target from its 2019 manifesto and has closed its Green Homes grant scheme. This panel discuss questions around housing supply, affordability and energy efficiency and what some policy solutions might be for both the short and long term.

How Do We Build A Future Where Everyone Has A Home (16 Nov 2023)

Faced with falling fertility rates, a cost-of-living crisis and the enduring impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, we look at what the future looks like for the current generation of children.

While every generation has its challenges, Generation Alpha (those born between 2010 and 2025) has endured the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic as young children, compounded with the ever-increasing domination of technology and social networking. 

What does the future have in store for Generation Alpha? Will they go on to have children? Will they be able to retire? Should they forget about the possibility of home ownership entirely? Our panel of experts mull over these questions and discuss what the lives of the children of millennials might look like. The New York Times economics and business reporter Eshe Nelson is joined by Michael McMahon, Professor of Economics at the University of Oxford, to discuss this. Joining them on the panel is Paul Lindley, founder of Ella’s Kitchen and author of Raising the Nation: How to Build a Better Future for Our Children (and Everyone Else), Olivia Sweeney, former Black and Green Ambassador and consultant at Resource Futures, a sustainable waste consultancy and Sarah O’Connor, columnist, reporter and associate editor at the Financial Times.

What Is The Future For Generation Alpha? (16th Nov 2023)

A toxic combination of 15 years of low growth, and four decades of high inequality, has left Britain poorer and falling behind its peers. Wages today are no higher than they were before the financial crisis, and England’s biggest cities beyond London all have productivity levels below the national average. Britain needs a new economic strategy to lift itself out of stagnation.

In many ways, Bristol reflects the challenges facing the country as a whole. It has long been a hub for high-value aerospace manufacturing and also has considerable strengths in services, including education, creative industries and green technology. But it also faces considerable challenges – from poor public transport to high housing costs – that limits growth and reduces living standards. Harnessing the city’s many strengths will be critical to meeting the economic challenges of the coming years, but Bristol won’t truly thrive unless all its citizens benefit from growth and investment.

The Budget on 6th March was the Government’s last chance to shape the economic agenda before the next election – and rise to the challenge of boosting prosperity. What should a new national economic strategy for Britain include? How will economic change affect the jobs we do, the places we live and the businesses we work for? What are the prospects for cities like Bristol in rising to these daunting but reachable challenges? And has the Budget helped or hindered Britain’s economic prospects?

The Resolution Foundation hosted this event in collaboration with Bristol Ideas and Business West to debate Britain’s future economic strategy, building on the analysis of The Economy 2030 Inquiry – a three-year collaboration between the Resolution Foundation and the LSE, funded by the Nuffield Foundation. We were joined by leading experts from policy and business in the region to discuss how different areas of the UK – particularly in Bristol and the South West – can secure widely shared prosperity.

Boosting Prosperity in Britain: The Role of Cities like Bristol in Ending Stagnation (7 March 2024)

The Coming of Age of Quantum Biology
Does quantum mechanics provide the spark that ignites life? Jim Al-Khalili and Johnjoe McFadden draw on their own experience and ground-breaking experiments from around the world to show how the new field of quantum biology provides insights into life’s dynamics. Could the discovery that photosynthesis relies on the subatomic particles existing in many places at once, while inside enzymes particles vanish and instantly materialize in other point in space, bring us closer to solving the biggest puzzle of all: what is life?

Jim Al - Khalili And Johnjoe McFadden 22 November 2014

Speakers: Damian Whittard, Jessica Lee, Anne Green, Richard Bonner, Jack Newman
Chair: Nick Pearce

We are entering a critical period for the UK with a new government this year and an economy still struggling. It is likely that devolution will continue but arrangements remain fractured and local areas remain starved of resource and with weak powers to deliver. What lessons can be learned from the successful work of northern authorities in securing better devolution? Will the treasury object and oppose further devolution? Can north and south grow together? What can the next government do to secure better and fairer economic growth? And what does this mean for Bristol and the West of England?

These are the first two events in a new national programme led by the Growing Together Alliance. Building on Bristol’s successful biennial Festival of the Future City, it seeks a better future for our places.

Launch of the New Futures West Foundation for Sustainable and Inclusive Economic Growth

Chair: Andrew Kelly
Speakers: Muniya Barua, Diane Coyle, Darren Jones and Henri Murison

We are entering a critical period for the UK with a new government this year and an economy still struggling. It is likely that devolution will continue but arrangements remain fractured and local areas remain starved of resource and with weak powers to deliver. What lessons can be learned from the successful work of northern authorities in securing better devolution? Will the treasury object and oppose further devolution? Can north and south grow together? What can the next government do to secure better and fairer economic growth? And what does this mean for Bristol and the West of England?

These are the first two events in a new national programme led by the Growing Together Alliance. Building on Bristol’s successful biennial Festival of the Future City, it seeks a better future for our places.

How Can The Next Government Spur Economic Growth With Constrained Finances?

Speakers: Andrew Carter, Jane Robinson, Philip Rycroft
Chair: Heather Stewart

We are entering a critical period for the UK with a new government this year and an economy still struggling. It is likely that devolution will continue but arrangements remain fractured and local areas remain starved of resource and with weak powers to deliver. What lessons can be learned from the successful work of northern authorities in securing better devolution? Will the treasury object and oppose further devolution? Can north and south grow together? What can the next government do to secure better and fairer economic growth? And what does this mean for Bristol and the West of England?

These are the first two events in a new national programme led by the Growing Together Alliance. Building on Bristol’s successful biennial Festival of the Future City, it seeks a better future for our places.

Where Are We With Devolution And What Can The Next Government Do Better?

Challenge three: Cleo Lake 
Session four speakers: Leyla Boulton, Gabriella Gomez Mont, Sophie Howe

It is time to think afresh our ability to deliver for citizens. The challenges we face – from an aging population to a faltering health service; from uncertainty about the future of work to climate change – at a time of diminishing public budgets means we must find new ways to plan and deliver services. Often derided, our public bureaucracies are at the forefront of dealing with these challenges. Much good work is done. Many public servants are curious and creative, but suffer from risk-averse cultures. We all need to rethink what is done and how we do it especially in terms of valuing and cultivating imagination for the creation of alternative futures.

This first UK conference on this subject – hosted by Bristol Ideas, in collaboration with the Creative Bureaucracy Festival in Berlin – seeks to find new ways of solving some of these crucial challenges with inspiring people and presentations from a range of international speakers. The conference explores who is doing important work to rethink public administration, both here and elsewhere in Europe and beyond.

The Berlin event – now in its seventh year – has triggered a movement of change with satellite events in other countries. It has become a collective gathering place for creative bureaucrats across the world with 1300 delegates attending its last event in June 2023. We look here at what we can learn for Britain as well for Bristol and the West of England.

How Can We Imagine New Creative Bureaucracies?

Speakers: Tom Burke, Melissa Mean, Cllr Josie Parkhouse, Paul Smith
Host: Andrew Kelly

It is time to think afresh our ability to deliver for citizens. The challenges we face – from an aging population to a faltering health service; from uncertainty about the future of work to climate change – at a time of diminishing public budgets means we must find new ways to plan and deliver services. Often derided, our public bureaucracies are at the forefront of dealing with these challenges. Much good work is done. Many public servants are curious and creative, but suffer from risk-averse cultures. We all need to rethink what is done and how we do it especially in terms of valuing and cultivating imagination for the creation of alternative futures.

This first UK conference on this subject – hosted by Bristol Ideas, in collaboration with the Creative Bureaucracy Festival in Berlin – seeks to find new ways of solving some of these crucial challenges with inspiring people and presentations from a range of international speakers. The conference explores who is doing important work to rethink public administration, both here and elsewhere in Europe and beyond.

The Berlin event – now in its seventh year – has triggered a movement of change with satellite events in other countries. It has become a collective gathering place for creative bureaucrats across the world with 1300 delegates attending its last event in June 2023. We look here at what we can learn for Britain as well for Bristol and the West of England.

Creative Bureaucracy, Housing, And The Environment

Challenge one: Poku Osei on creating a better environment for social mobility
Session one speakers: Johanna Sieben, Robyn Bennett, Tom Burke
Host: Charles Landry

It is time to think afresh our ability to deliver for citizens. The challenges we face – from an aging population to a faltering health service; from uncertainty about the future of work to climate change – at a time of diminishing public budgets means we must find new ways to plan and deliver services. Often derided, our public bureaucracies are at the forefront of dealing with these challenges. Much good work is done. Many public servants are curious and creative, but suffer from risk-averse cultures. We all need to rethink what is done and how we do it especially in terms of valuing and cultivating imagination for the creation of alternative futures.

This first UK conference on this subject – hosted by Bristol Ideas, in collaboration with the Creative Bureaucracy Festival in Berlin – seeks to find new ways of solving some of these crucial challenges with inspiring people and presentations from a range of international speakers. The conference explores who is doing important work to rethink public administration, both here and elsewhere in Europe and beyond.

The Berlin event – now in its seventh year – has triggered a movement of change with satellite events in other countries. It has become a collective gathering place for creative bureaucrats across the world with 1300 delegates attending its last event in June 2023. We look here at what we can learn for Britain as well for Bristol and the West of England.

What Is A Creative Bureaucracy?

This clip from John Michael Greer's fascinating book, DECLINE AND FALL: THE END OF EMPIRE AND THE FUTURE OF DEMOCRACY IN 21ST CENTURY AMERICA, published last year, predicts the current situation in Greece. Have a listen!

Audiobook: "Decline & Fall" by John Michael Greer - austerity

The audio recordings for all Bristol Ideas work have been grouped into sets by programme and year.  Please note that not all events are recorded. If you notice any gremlins, glitches or other errors in the recordings, please let us know at info@bristolideas.co.uk and we will make the correction, if appropriate or possible.

Jim Al - Khalili And Johnjoe McFadden 22 November 2014

Bristol Ideas

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