all BBC Newsnight business climate change communications digital economics election energy Google Hothouse Foresight Internet media Net Neutrality Paul Mason Peak Oil politics reputation Richard Branson Science society sustainability technology Telecoms UC Expo UK Taskforce x-factor
Welcome to the Epoch Hothouse blog. What drives the agency is our curiosity about the future. Our Epoch Hothouse initiative is what drives our thinking, our approach and our ideas. It consists of events, research and an expert panel that allows us to question and challenge conventional thinking.
Posted by Chris on Tue Apr 27, 2010 12:15pm
Yesterday, I was interviewed by Paul Mason, economics editor of BBC Newsnight, on why politicians are failing to connect with voters; the impact of social media and whether or not the current volatility in the British political system is a short term blip or will have lasting impact.
It was on the back of Paul's theory that the Blackberry world (that of politicians and those in power) is clashing with the iPhone world (society at large).
Posted by Nick on Mon Mar 08, 2010 11:59am
Last week I attended a Hansard Society event to mark the launch of their annual Audit of Political Engagement. The Hansard Society is a not for profit organisation concerned with promoting understanding of the role of parliament and politics. It was a good line up of speakers including the Right Honourable David Blunkett MP, Lord Rennard MBE, Shailesh Vara MP and Dr Ruth Fox from the Hansard Society.
Posted by Chris on Thu Dec 03, 2009 17:39pm
This morning, we launched our Hothouse Foresight 2010 research with a breakfast salon at the Royal Society of Arts, London.
We had a prestigious line-up of speakers including Adam Boulton, political editor, Sky News; Paul Mason, economics editor, BBC Newsnight; Bronwen Maddox, chief correspondent, The Times; and Professor James Woudhuysen. Speakers shared their perspectives on the issues and trends likely to shape the coming twelve months and beyond.
Trust and integrity have come to the forefront of debate in the last few weeks. What is common to the MP expenses scandal, the Iranian presidential election and the elections to the European Parliament is that trust, or the lack thereof, is responsible for the difficulties.
It is clear that for political systems and democracy to function, trust needs to be present. The difficulty with this is that trust is inherently intangible, something emotional and something that cannot easily be measured.