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Public events

Upcoming public events

  • View from outside a block of flats

    Who is Britain really saving in the fight against modern slavery?
    Hosted by the International Inequalities Institute and LSE Law School

    Wednesday 6 May 2026 6.30pm - 8pm. In-person and online public event. Malaysia Auditorium, LSE Centre Building.

    Speakers:
    Liz Fekete, Director, Institute of Race Relations and Advisory Editor, Race & Class
    Professor Insa Lee Koch, Professor, University of St. Gallen in Switzerland and Visiting Professor, LSE Law School
    Kojo Kyerewaa, National Organiser, Black Lives Matter UK
    Glodi Wabelua, Community advocate and host of the GloTalks podcast

    Chair:
    Professor Coretta Phillips, Professor of Criminology and Social Policy, LSE Department of Social Policy

    As Black Lives Matter has exposed the legacies of transatlantic slavery and empire, Britain has launched a new moral crusade at home: the fight against “modern slavery.” This panel discussion marks the launch of Drugs, Race and the Politics of Modern Slavery Law by Insa Lee Koch and asks what this crusade is really doing.

    Focusing on the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and the policing and prosecution strategies enabled in its wake, the panel examines how young Black and racialised working-class men involved in Britain's street level economy of heroin and crack cocaine — once criminalised under the war on gangs — are now recast as "modern slaves" and their "masters". Central to the discussion is Glodi Wabelua, the first young man convicted under modern slavery laws for a county lines drugs offence. Bringing together ethnographic insights, leading anti-racism campaigners and lived experience, the event interrogates how modern slavery law deepens racial inequality while allowing Britain to deny its imperial past.

    Register here

  • Liam Byrne book cover

    Why populists are winning and how to beat them

    Wednesday 13 May 2026, 6.30 to 8.00pm. In-person and online public event. Old Theatre, LSE Old Building.

    Speakers:
    Liam Byrne, Labour MP for Birmingham Hodge Hill & Solihull North
    Professor Sara Hobolt, Sutherland Chair in European Institutions and the Head of the Department of Government, LSE
    Zoe Williams, Columnist, The Guardian

    Chair:
    Dr Andy Summers, Associate Professor of Law, LSE Law School and Faculty Associate, LSE III

    In 2024, two billion people went to vote – and populism won big. Donald Trump returned to the White House. Marine Le Pen surged in France. Reform UK became Britain’s most successful far-right party in modern history. Across the West, authoritarian populists now govern one-quarter of the world’s democracies. But is this peak populism – or the populists’ tipping point?

    In his latest book, Liam Byrne exposes the forces propelling the populist surge – and reveals how to stop it. He traces the millions flowing into Britain’s populist media-political complex. He maps the rhetoric populists use to weaponise fear and nostalgia. And he warns: democracies rarely collapse in normal times – they fall after the next crisis, when hope collapses. Why Populists Are Winning sets out a bold plan to rebuild the radical centre of Western politics. It is a field manual for democratic renewal – written for anyone who refuses to let fear win. This event will draw connections between growing inequality and the populists’ clarion call for a ‘revolt against elites’. Our speakers will unveil the uncomfortable answers behind – and transformative strategies to tackle – the defining crises of our time.

    Register here

  • Figure on pile of dollars

    The everywhere millionaire: who is really rich in America and how they got there
    Hosted by the Centre for the Analysis of Taxation and the International Inequalities Institute

    Tuesday 2 June 2026, 6.30 to 8.00pm. In-person and online public event. Old Theatre, LSE Old Building.

    Speaker:
    Professor Eric Zwick, Joel F. Gemunder Professor of Economics and Finance, University of Chicago Booth School of Business

    Chair:
    Dr Andy Summers, Director of the Centre for Analysis of Taxation and an associate professor in the Law School at LSE

    The story of wealth in America isn’t just about Wall Street or Silicon Valley—it’s also about the quiet fortunes of Main Street business owners, whose growing economic and political power often escapes the spotlight. For every public company CEO, more than a thousand private business owners hold now transformational wealth. These fortunes have been supercharged by changes to the taxation of business profits in past decades and are quietly rewriting the rules of money and power. Eric Zwick will discuss his forthcoming book The Everywhere Millionaire, co-authored with Owen Zidar. Drawing on novel data and a decade of research, this work sheds light on a class of Americans who have built staggering fortunes in everyday trades whilst largely passing under the radar. He will reveal where “Main Street Millionaires” come from, how they’ve become rich, and how much they make. He will also highlight the increasing power they hold over political processes, often shaping policy to protect what they’ve built. This group is both growing the economic pie and grabbing bigger slices for themselves, necessitating a detailed look at their rapid, yet under-studied rise.

    Register here

Previous public events

Catch up on all of our past events here.