Nigel Biggar on Deconstructing Decolonisation, and In Conversation with Kemi Badenoch and Ali Ansari

Professor Nigel Biggar, CBE, is Regius Professor Emeritus of Moral Theology and Director of the McDonald Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Life at the University of Oxford. Described as “one of the leading living Western ethicists” (John Gray, New Statesman, 25 November 2020), he is the author of In Defence of War (Oxford, 2013) and What’s Wrong with Rights? (Oxford, 2020). William Collins will publish his next book, Colonialism: A Moral Reckoning, in February 2023.

The Rt Hon Kemi Badenoch is the MP for Saffron Walden and Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade. She was formerly Minister of State at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and Minister of State for Equalities.

Professor Ali Ansari FRSE is Professor in Modern and Iranian History and Founding Director of the Institute for Iranian Studies at the University of St Andrews. He is also a Senior Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, President of the British Institute of Persian Studies and Director of the Westphalia for the Middle East project at the Centre for Geopolitics at Cambridge. He is the author of eight books including Iran: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford, 2014) and Iran, Islam and Democracy: The Politics of Managing Change (3rd Edition, Gingko/Chatham House, 2019).

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Peter Hitchens on After Conservatism, and In Conversation with Daniel Hannan and Noel Malcolm

Peter Hitchens is one of Britain's most accomplished journalists, debaters and conservative thinkers. He currently writes for The Mail on Sunday, contributes regularly to most major British newspapers, is a former foreign correspondent for the Daily Express, and has won the Orwell Prize for his political journalism. He is the author of numerous books, including The Abolition of Britain: From Winston Churchill To Theresa May (Bloomsbury, 2018) and The Phoney Victory: The World War II Illusion (I.B. Tauris, 2018).

Daniel Hannan, Lord Hannan of Kingsclere, is a celebrated journalist, author and Conservative politician. Formerly a Member of the European Parliament, he was a leading figure in the campaign to leave the European Union. He serves on the UK Board of Trade, is a Vice-Chairman of the Conservative Party responsible for its international relations, and teaches at the University of Buckingham and the University of Francisco Marroquín.

Professor Sir Noel Malcolm is a Senior Research Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford where he specialises in early modern intellectual history and relations between Western Europe and the Ottoman/Islamic world in the early modern period. He is a distinguished journalist and the author of many acclaimed books including Agents of Empire: Knights, Corsairs, Jesuits and Spies in the Late Sixteenth-Century Mediterranean World (Allen Lane, 2015) and Useful Enemies: Islam and The Ottoman Empire in Western Political Thought, 1450-1750 (Oxford, 2019).

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Andrew Roberts on History and Statesmanship, and In Conversation with Robert Tombs

Professor Andrew Roberts is one of Britain's most distinguished historians, journalists and broadcasters. He is the author of nineteen books, the most recent of which are his world-renowned biographies of Winston Churchill, Churchill: Walking With Destiny (Allen Lane, 2018) and King George III, George III: The Life and Reign of Britain's Most Misunderstood Monarch (Allen Lane, 2021). He is presently the Roger and Martha Mertz Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, a Visiting Professor at the War Studies Department at King’s College, London, and the Lehrman Institute Lecturer at the New-York Historical Society.

Professor Robert Tombs is Professor Emeritus of French History at the University of Cambridge and the author of the bestselling books, The English and Their History (Penguin, 2014) and This Sovereign Isle (Penguin, 2021).

This lecture will be introduced by Professor Dame Louise Richardson, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford, the next president of the Carnegie Corporation of New York, and an eminent political scientist specialising in the study of terrorism.

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Katharine Birbalsingh on Education, Race & Conservatism, and In Conversation with Helena Morrissey and Marie Daouda

Katharine Birbalsingh CBE is the Chair of the Social Mobility Commission and Headmistress and co-founder of Michaela Community School in Wembley, London. She has a lifetime of distinguished service in the UK education system, is a celebrated author and broadcaster, and is often referred to as 'Britain's strictest headteacher'.

Baroness Helena Morrissey is a Fellow (Governor) of Eton College and was Lead Non-Executive Director of the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office from 2020-22. She has over three decades of experience in the financial services sector and founded the 30% Club, a business-led campaign for better gender-balanced boards.

Dr Marie Daouda is a distinguished literary scholar and Stipendiary Lecturer in French at Oriel College, Oxford where she teaches both literature and language.

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In May 2022, the Roger Scruton Legacy Foundation partnered with New Direction and the Foreningen for alle konservative studenter (FAKS) to present the first Nostos Conference in Oslo. The conference brought together students and scholars from across Scandinavia to discuss what it means to be a conservative. The event focused on the life and legacy of the late English philosopher Sir Roger Scruton, who for many years served as the intellectual backbone of the European conservative movement.

Nostos in Ancient Greek storytelling was the principle of homecoming—the return of a hero to his home, his Oikos, at the end of a long journey. The modern political landscape is dominated by the consequences of alienation–from family, from community, from tradition. However, the work of Roger Scruton emphasizes our fundamental human need for belonging and, thus, for nostos. At the core of his political philosophy is his notion of our shared home; the Nostos Conference is a part of our journey there. Through exploring relevant aspects of Scruton’s thinking, like Oikos, Green Philosophy, Beauty and the Nation, the conference sought to build a constructive vision for the future of conservatism in Europe.

CONFERENCE RECORDINGS

INTRODUCTION

Tomasz Poręba MEP

PANEL: SEXUALITY, COURTSHIP & MARRIAGE

Andreas Masvie, Journalist, Minerva and editor, Mentsch Magazine

Dag August Dramer, Philosopher and writer, Sivilisasjonen

Øyvind J.V. Evenstad, Philosopher and former president FAKS Oslo

Moderator: Jarl-Roar Simonsen, Vice President FAKS, President FAKS Tromsø

KEYNOTE SPEECH: WESTERN CIVILIZATION

Öde Nerdrum, Classical figurative painter

PANEL: THE CRISIS OF MODERN ARCHITECTURE IN EUROPE

Carl Korsnes, Philosopher and Editor, Sivilisasjonen

Eric Norin, Architect and Vice President, Arkitekturrupproret

Professor Robert Adam PhD, Architect and Urban Designer and member of the Advisory Board of the Roger Scruton Legacy Foundation

Moderator: Alexander Zlatanos Ibsen PhD, Political commentator, Minerva and senior advisor, The Conservative Party

INTERVIEW: GREEN CONSERVATISM

Johan Wennström, Writer, PhD Political Science

Moderator: Haakon Teig, President, FAKS and editor, Føniks

PANEL: NORDIC CONSERVATISM

Hannes Gissurarson PhD, Scholar and writer

Jakob Söderbaum, Master of Laws, Author and member of the Advisory Board of the Roger Scruton Legacy Foundation

Kasper Støvring PhD, Literary scholar and author

Moderator: Øyvind J.V. Evenstad, Philosopher, Former president FAKS Oslo

PANEL: SOVEREIGNTY AND THE NATION STATE FROM AN EUROPEAN PERSPECTIVE

Kasper Støvring PhD, Literary scholar and author

Jorge Hernandez, Co-host of the Uncommon Decency podcast & associate researcher at Fundación Civismo

Christian Anton Smedshaug PhD, Manager AgriAnalyse, Associate Professor NMBU, member of the EEA Joint committee

Hannes Gissurarson PhD, Scholar and writer

Moderator: Robert Tyler, Senior Policy Adviser at New Direction

KEYNOTE SPEECH: LIFE AND LEGACY OF SIR ROGER SCRUTON

Professor Ferenc Hörcher PhD, Historian of political thought, poet and member of the Academic Advisory Board of the Roger Scruton Legacy Foundation

On May 11, the Brazilian Ambassador to the US, Nestor Forster Jr., has opened up his beautiful residence in Washington, DC, for a special evening of conversation. The program will feature Douglas Murray in a wide-ranging conversation with Andrew Balio exploring Scruton's work on humane culture and his legacy in the States, Brazil, the United Kingdom, and beyond with the help of moderator Dan McCarthy. It will be an intimate evening at the Ambassador's residence that will include such guests as the new Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, Winsome Earle-Sears, among others.

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2022 Conference & Gala Highlights

Conference Program Recordings