By the start of the 2016 series on Games we had seven of our eight speakers in place. So it was with some relief, and some surprise, that the Master informed us in February that she had mentioned our series to one of her neighbours, the then-Home Secretary Theresa May, and that Mrs May had agreed to give a talk on ‘Dealing with Extremism’. This raised the stakes. Having a serving Home Secretary on the roster would raise security issues that would need to be ironed out with the University as soon as possible. Such a high profile speaker might also change the complexion of the series. One of the few things that would raise the stakes even further would be a visit from a serving Prime Minister. And this was precisely the prospect we faced when Mrs May succeeded David Cameron as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland on 13 July 2016, following the Brexit referendum. Surely the Prime Minister would have more pressing concerns than our lecture series? Apparently not. Our enquiries to No. 10 were met with the reply that Mrs May was a woman of her word and as we have subsequently learned on Brexit, a promise is a promise (so far, at least). This led to much scratching of heads and conclaving in the Newnham Grange Seminar Room. Who would need to be involved in a Prime Ministerial visit? What level of security would be required? Would this fundamentally change the nature of the series? Fortunately, as well as the Domestic Bursar (whom, with ample military experience of security issues, I have rarely seen so animated), we had the University’s Junior Proctor (and Ceremonial Officer) Tim Milner, recently elected to the Fellowship, to guide us. But before we got too involved in the minutiae, the call came through from No. 10. The Prime Minister would be busy invoking Article 50 in March 2017 and we should start thinking about a replacement. Thankfully, Professor David Runciman, head of the Department of Politics and International Relations here in Cambridge, stepped in at very short notice to give a wonderful talk on Mrs May’s original topic ‘Dealing with Extremism’. In some respects, once the speakers have confirmed, the co-conveners take a step back (albeit a temporary one – there is still a book to be edited). The Darwin lectures are some of the best-attended events in the Cambridge calendar and nothing is left to chance. We are extremely fortunate, therefore, in the number of College staff and fellows who, like Andy Fabian, have been running the series for years. Crucial to the smooth running of the process (as with so much within College) is College Registrar Janet Gibson who makes all the detailed arrangements with the speakers. There are posters to be designed, printed, and put up around town in the weeks before Christmas. There is equipment to be assembled by Computer Officer Espen Koht. There is film to be shot by Dr Tony Cox and his willing band of student camerafolk. There are audiences to be ushered under the watchful eye of another former Vice-Master, Dr Roger Whitehead – very important when we regularly attract crowds of over 600. There are distinguished guests to be
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fed and watered by our talented catering team. Finally, there are guests to be introduced and thanked by our Master, Professor Mary Fowler. Despite all this highly professional organization, the first night of the series reminded me of hosting a teenage party. The invitations have gone out and the drinks have been procured. But will anyone turn up? Having attended numerous Darwin lectures, I knew how well attended they were and dreaded letting the side down. We need not have worried. The first lecture featured Darwin’s own Dr Emily Shuckburgh, fresh from publishing her latest volume with HRH the Prince of Wales, entertaining a full house with some rather gloomy climatic prophesies delivered atop a very large map of the Arctic. The second lecture saw Professor Nicholas Taleb entertaining an even fuller house (including two overspill lecture theatres) on ‘Extreme Risk Engineering’. Professor Taleb is one of the few individuals that can credibly claim to have predicted the 2007 financial meltdown. His provocative talk went down particularly well with the younger audience that week, and we enjoyed a lively discussion over dinner afterwards in College. Our third lecture could not have been more topical, as Professor Runciman outlined the different outcomes when conspiracy theorists (like President Trump) assume power as opposed to extremists (like Sinn Fein). The answer, in what was becoming a theme of the series, was sobering. Power usually softens the edges of extremists. But it confirms conspiracy theorists in their existing prejudices and patterns of behaviour. We were upon the ocean wave for our fourth lecture as Extreme Rower Roz Savage, accompanied by a series of video clips of varying intimacy, described her voyages around the world, alone, in a row boat. In week five we ventured even further, into space, as Andy Fabian bowed out with a marvelous lecture on ‘Extremes of the Universe’. We saw stars being born, merging, growing old and dying. The following week we were back in the political arena as Professor Matthew Goodwin of the University of Kent described the recent resurgence of the Far Right in European politics. Professor Goodwin explained why those of us who focus on the economy failed to predict the outcome of the Brexit referendum. It wasn’t the economy, stupid. It was cultural, more particularly the cultural impact of recent immigration on formerly settled communities (some not so far from us here in Cambridge). Either way, the Far Right does not appears to be going anywhere soon. The gloom lifted the next week with Professor Sarah Harper of the Oxford Institute of Population Ageing. As Professor Harper pointed out, more than half of British girls born today can expect to live beyond a hundred. This comes with serious consequences for our economy and the duration of our working lives, but confirmation that we are all living longer brought a collective smile to what felt like a slightly older audience that week. If Sarah Harper had managed to cheer us up for a week, the