The City and the Common Good: Good Money – 7th May at St Paul’s Cathedral

Jay OwenReforming Global Finance

Dear Friends,

Thank you to all those who joined us for the first debate in our series, held in conjunction with CCLA, entitled ‘The City and the Common Good: What kind of City do we want?’. The event was attended by around 750 people, and the attached seminar a week later organised with the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants saw a full Wren Suite discussing ethical scenarios in the workplace.

For those who were not able to attend the first debate, the full video of Good People can be viewed here: http://youtu.be/5kb2BDFp2G0

A video of the attached seminar will be available in the near future (You can follow us on Twitter or Facebook to know exactly when!).

We’re off to a very good start, and look forward to the second debate in the series:

Good Money – Tuesday 7 May – 6.30pm
Robert Skidelsky (keynote) with Tarek El Diwany; Ann Pettifor; Paul Sharma
In 2012 the jointly organised St Paul’s Institute, JustShare and LSE ‘What Money Can’t Buy’ debate at St Paul’s generated a vibrant discussion among the 1700+ people present, led by the public philosopher Michael Sandel. The panel addressed the way in which money has come to dominate our relationships and whether some areas should be off-limits. This year, with the Euro crisis and talk of ‘quantitative easing’ continuing to dominate our headlines, we revisit “money” to seek to define its positive role.

It is clear that money is no longer just an objective measure of value and a token of exchange – if it ever was. But what has it become? Is its social purpose in danger of being lost? Do we control money or does it control us? If the influence of money over us is unavoidable, how can we ensure that the results are positive? Does the issue go beyond our attitude to money to the nature of money itself? Is there such a thing as ‘good’ and ‘bad’ money? (Register for Tickets)

Attached to this debate will be a focused seminar:

Good Money seminar – Wednesday 5 June – 6.30pm
In the wake of the 2008 crisis, still ongoing, one area pertinent to this debate is the supply of credit. Despite the creation of new kinds of money by the Bank of England and the new funding for lending scheme, many communities still cannot access fair and affordable financial services.

This seminar will start with a debate on what ‘good money’ could look like in these communities. Panellists will discuss “good supply”, “good demand” and “good interest rate terms” with a closing discussion about how basic values, including especially those expressed in Christian faith, get pushed out when the power of money isn’t reined in.

Speakers will include Peter Selby; Danielle Walker Palmer; Antony Macrow-Wood with more details and speakers to be announced soon.

To register your first-offer place for this seminar, please respond to this email in kind with the subject: ‘Good Money seminar registration’.

We look forward to seeing many of you at one or both of these forthcoming events, and to sharing the results and recordings for those who are unable to make it.

All the best and kind regards,

Robert