Latest 100 | LSE Public lectures and events | Audio

Truth and Lies about Poverty [Audio]

Latest 100 | LSE Public lectures and events | Audio

Speaker(s): Stephen Armstrong, Alex Wheatle, Ros Taylor, Ros Wynne-Jones | In this event, aimed at school children aged 13-18, a panel of speakers discuss how we tell the truth about the people struggling to get by in modern Britain. Stephen Armstrong (@SArmstrong1984) is a journalist and author of The New Poverty. He writes extensively for the Sunday Times, the Daily Telegraph and the Guardian. He also appears occasionally on BBC Radio 4 and Radio 2. His other books include War PLC, The Super-Rich Shall Inherit the Earth and The Road to Wigan Pier Revisited. Born in 1963 to Jamaican parents living in Brixton, Alex Wheatle (@brixtonbard) spent most of his childhood in a Surrey children's home. He spent a short stint in prison following the Brixton uprising of 1981. Following his release from, he continued to write poems and lyrics and became known as the Brixton Bard. Alex's first novel, Brixton Rock, was published to critical acclaim in 1999; his books now feature widely on school reading lists. Alex is representing English PEN, and tours the country with his one-man show, Uprising. He was awarded an MBE in for services to literature in 2008. His first YA novels include Liccle Bit; Crongton Knights, which won the Guardian Children’s Fiction Award 2016; and most recently Straight Outta Crongton. Ros Taylor (@rosamundmtaylor) is Research Manager at the Truth, Trust & Technology Commission in the Department of Media & Communications at LSE and Managing Editor of LSE Brexit. Ros Wynne-Jones (@roswynnejones) is a journalist and author. She writes the Real Britain column every Friday in the Daily Mirror campaigning against government cuts and standing up for ordinary people. She is author of the novel Something is Going to Fall Like Rain. She has spent the last year retracing George Orwell’s steps on the Road to Wigan Pier 80 Years On stopping in the places he did and talking to ordinary people about their lives as part of the Daily Mirror's Wigan Pier Project. The Orwell Youth Prize (@OrwellYouthPriz) is a registered charity which aims to inspire and support the next generation of politically engaged young writers. The OYP run workshops in schools, regional workshops, a writing prize and an annual Celebration Day. The writing prize for young people aged 13 – 18, is open now open for entries! Supported by LSE Library, which holds unique material relating to social, economic and political history and ideas. We welcome school visits and can tailor sessions for schools in areas of key stage 3 & 4 history and citizenship, areas of A level history and A level government & politics and sociology as well as supporting Extended Project Qualification (EPQ). More information and free online resources.

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