As we reach one of the major Brexit turning points, Sir Jon Day, formerly Chair of the Joint Intelligence Committee, updates the concept of ‘folly’ by governments to explain the extraordinary events we are living through. Register to attend on Eventbrite.
Lecture title: Turning back the march of folly. How can governments be prevented from pursuing perverse policies against their – and our – interests?
Date and time: Wednesday 23 October, 18:00 – 19:00
Venue: Building 67/1037, Highfield Campus
The eminent historian Barbara Tuchman used folly to describe the self-destruction of leaders from the fall of Troy through the Reformation, Britain’s loss of America and America’s defeat in Vietnam. Sir Jon brings the concept into the modern world, starting with the decisions taken by David Cameron’s coalition.
But his main focus is on the decisions any/all British governments will face in tackling the consequences of Brexit in the coming years. And, in doing so, to roll back the march of folly in Whitehall, Westminster and Downing Street.
Sir Jon Day joined the Civil Service in 1979 and spent almost 40 years working for five governments and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) in the fields of defence, security and intelligence.
