This year – and it does feel as if almost a whole year has passed since the Covid-19 pandemic began, even if it is really only half that – has been above all a time for reflection, for thinking not just about what connects us together in our communities, important though that has been, but also about lessons and experiences from the past that feel relevant for what we are living through now. So looking back into the wonderful archive of Trinity Long Room Hub events, it has been conversations of that sort that have caught my eye or rather ear. And conversations are what Hub events really are, conversations between speakers and with audiences but also events that trigger a sort of conversation with oneself.
Behind the Headlines 2020Plagues and Pandemics
A panel discussion with Dr. Ida Milne (Carlow College), Dr. Brendan O’Connell (School of English, TCD), Professor Luke O’Neill (School of Biochemistry and Immunology, TCD), and Dr. Jacob Erickson (School of Religion, TCD).
As a newsman-emeritus I naturally admire quick reactions to events but even more so quick and illuminating explanations.
As a newsman-emeritus I naturally admire quick reactions to events but even more so quick and illuminating explanations. What we all want answers to when big phenomena descend upon us are questions like “What does it all mean?”, “Has anything like this happened before?” and “What might happen next”. Going back to the Hub’s first Zoom “Behind the Headlines”, held just as the lockdown was being imposed, it is good to ask yourself what might be different now if the same topic was put on today. I think the answer is that almost all of it has proved evergreen, though I am sure Luke O’Neill would have some new things to say given the advances in scientific knowledge about the virus that we’ve seen since March.
The Trinity Long Room Hub's Behind the Headlines series is supported by the John Pollard Foundation. Find out more about this discussion here.
TLRHub · TLRH | Behind the Headlines | Plagues and Pandemics
Behind the Headlines 2018The Banking Crisis, a Decade on
A panel discussion with Simon Carswell (Irish Times), Dr. Antonia Hart (School of Histories and Humanities, TCD), Deputy Joan Burton (former Tánaiste, Labour Party), Professor Philip Coleman (School of English), and Ed Sibley (Deputy Governor, Central Bank of Ireland).
The economic shock caused by the pandemic is quite different in its initial shape to that caused by the banking (and property) crisis of 2008...
As well as wanting to hear those very interesting and helpful historical analyses of previous pandemics, there is also much to be learned from previous economic crises. The economic shock caused by the pandemic is quite different in its initial shape to that caused by the banking (and property) crisis of 2008, but we may well find as time goes on that the parallels start to increase. For that reason, listening to the recollections and reflections of this event, held ten years after the 2008 crisis, felt salutary. It also made me wonder: what will be said in the Behind the Headlines discussion of “the pandemic crisis a decade on”, in 2030?
Find out more about this discussion here.
TLRHub · Behind the headlines: The Banking Crisis - a Decade On
Behind the Headlines 2019The Future of Ireland and its Borders
A panel discussion with Jan Carson (author), Dr. David Kenny (School of Law, TCD), Rory Montgomery (Public Policy Fellow at the Trinity Long Room Hub) and Professor Etain Tannam (School of Religion).
I am naturally interested in learning more about the island that I’ve decided to make my home.
It has, nevertheless, been important to remember that there are other issues that matter beyond the pandemic and that won’t go away just because the virus has distracted us. As a “blow-in” to Dublin, I am naturally interested in learning more about the island that I’ve decided to make my home. So it was a pleasure to listen again to the erudite and deeply considered analyses of a former government official involved in negotiating the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, of two Trinity scholars and of a Belfast-based novelist. Jan Carson’s words especially made me stop and think, with her talk of what she had been taught in Bible classes to think about the Republic. As William Faulkner said, “the past is never dead. It’s not even past.”
To find out more about this discussion, click here.
TLRHub · The Future of Ireland and its Borders
About Bill Emmott: Bill Emmott is an independent writer and consultant on international affairs. He was Editor of The Economist, the world’s leading weekly magazine on current affairs and business, from 1993 until 2006, having worked for that publication since 1980. The author of 13 books, on Japan, Asia, Italy and the 20th century, his latest was The Fate of the West: The Battle to Save the World’s Most Successful Political Idea, published in 2017.
Bill's new book Japan’s Far More Female Future (Oxford University Press, 2020) will be launched at the Trinity Long Room Hub with the participation of Ambassador Mari Miyoshi, Ambassador to Ireland 2015-18 at a special online event on 1st December. Details for registration will be available soon at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub
Click here to browse audio recordings of our past events.
Digging into the Archives:
Digging into the Archives with Eve Patten
Digging into the Archives with Meltem Gürle