I’m finally back in Cornwall after more than 3 weeks away, though not quite back to my usual self thanks to a pretty awful case of jet lag. So please be forgiving if the typos in this piece are more numerous than usual…
Despite my exhaustion, I had an absolutely fantastic trip. The highlight was definitely delivering the Ellen Meiksins Wood lecture to a packed hall at Toronto Metropolitan University. You can watch the full lecture here. The prize is awarded by the Broadbent Institute, a progressive Canadian think tank, founded by Ed Broadbent (Ellen’s husband) and run by the inimitable Jen Hassum.
As anyone who has read Vulture Capitalism will know, Ellen Meiksins Wood is one of my intellectual heroes and her work greatly inspired the book. So it was genuinely one of the highlights of my career to receive the award in her name. I would encourage everyone who considers themselves a democratic socialist to read her extraordinary book Democracy Against Capitalism.
The lecture was moderated by the brilliant Luke Savage, who also interviewed me for the Broadbent Institute podcast while I was in Toronto (I’ll post it on here when it’s live). A few years ago, Luke was part of the team that published Seeking Social Democracy, a book on Ed Broadbent’s legacy described as ‘part memoir, part history, part political manifesto’ - he very kindly gave me a copy so I’ll read that and review it on here soon. I was also excited to learn that he’s working on another book about Ed’s life and work – in the meantime, you can follow Luke on here.
Books
Your Life Is Manufactured: How We Make Things, Why It Matters and How We Can Do It Better, by Tim Minshall
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