Previous Events

Coincidence or Crisis brings together some of the world’s leading experts to discuss the growth of counterfeit pharmaceuticals. It provides a comprehensive analysis of the core issues, while delimiting key strategies to tackle the problem.

Russian energy policy, and its interaction with Russian foreign policy, will dominate European politics for the next fifty years. How should Britain react to this new challenge?

NB Registration is not required for this event. Please turn up on the day.

Amongst Britain's political class there is an emerging consensus: climate change is the challenge of our time. But each party proposes different solutions, and none is more divisive than nuclear power. In the battle to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, nuclear power certainly trumps coal and gas every time. And unlike fossil fuels, uranium can be purchased from friendly and reliable countries. But at what human, environmental and economic cost would such carbon-cutting and "energy security" come? Nuclear fission was itself once considered to be a grave threat to humanity. While some prominent Greens now support nuclear power as the pragmatic answer to global warming, others argue that the associated toxic waste may prove an enduring environmental nightmare. Perhaps the most controversial aspect of the prospective nuclear renaissance lies in the economics of the technology.

7:15 - 8:45 p.m. - Please arrive early

At this provocative Amigo Society debate, tough questions will be asked: Are IPRs superior to competition rules or vice versa? Do IPRs allow the abuse of market position in Europe? Has the European Commission departed from the Magill Principle, and if so why? Should Article 82 be revised? And most importantly, is there a golden path for reconciling the tension between IPRs and competition rules?

Dr. Duncan Curley will address the policy tension between IPRs and competition rules in the information technology sector, and Manuel Campolini will talk about the policy tension between IPRs and competition rules in the pharmaceutical and biomedical sectors.

Tony Blair has transformed British politics, changing the Labour Party from a perennial loser into a formidable general election-winning machine. But what will his legacy in government be? Were the hopes of 1997 - economic stability, higher levels of spending on public services and cleaner politics - fulfilled? The economy has grown steadily since 1997 and spending on public services has shot up. But has New Labour paid too much for too little? Is British politics now cleaner than it was nine years ago? And will Tony Blair be remembered for a huge redistribution of wealth shifting Britain decisively to the left? Or as the prime minister who invaded Iraq and pushed through "Tory" reforms?

Some 98% of the water supply in poor nations is controlled by public institutions. Unfortunately, this translates into gross inefficiency in the management and delivery of water and a distinct lack of property rights and pricing which is politically motivated.

However, there is hope. Markets are increasingly operating with more room for private initiatives, some of which have delivered striking results.

Fredrik Segerfeldt author of Water for Sale (Cato Institute, 2005) will discuss the challenges and benefits of private water management, with a comment by Gérard Payen of AQUAFED.

Is Russia's energy policy a sinister attempt to recreate its old sphere of influence - or even empire - using pipelines instead of tanks? Or is it an overdue, and justifiable, attempt to put relations with its former satellites on a businesslike footing? Should Russia be criticised for a communist-era hangover in its energy policy or praised for behaving like real capitalists. Are western critics of Russia being hypocritical, hysterical or just prudent?

Chair: Edward Lucas, The Economist.