British Academy: The UK's National Academy for the Humanities and Social Sciences

News of Fellows 2009 E-M

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Eagleton

• Professor Terry Eagleton wrote on the nature of liberty in a review of What Price Liberty? How Freedom Was Won and Is Being Lost by Ben Wilson ('Leave me alone', London Review of Books, 30 April 2009 )

Evans

• Professor Richard Evans' Third Reich Trilogy, concluding with The Third Reich at War, has been selected as one of the top five books of the year by the Atlantic Monthly (Books of the Year, Atlantic Monthly , December 2009 issue)

Freedman

• Professor Sir Lawrence Freedman has been appointed by the Prime Minister as a member of the inquiry into the Iraq war (Inquiry launched into Iraq conflict, Number10.gov.uk, 15 June 2009)
• Sir Lawrence Freedman has been awarded the Lionel Gelber Prize for his book, A Choice of Enemies: America confronts the Middle East. The prize is awarded for ‘the world's best non-fiction book in English that seeks to deepen public debate on significant global issues’. Sir Lawrence will be delivering the Prize lecture on 31 March 2009. (Announced 10 March 2009)

Frith

• Professor Christopher Frith discussed his recent research on the neural underpinnings of choice, and explained how the experience of free will is critical for cultural understanding, moral frameworks and responsibility to the self and others as part of the Royal Society of Arts' Social Brain project (RSA Thursday: Neuroscience, Free Will and Responsibility, 23 April 2009)

Gallie

• Professor Duncan Gallie, Foreign Secretary of the Academy, has been appointed a member of the French Ministry of Work’s ‘Expert Group on Psychosocial Risks at Work’ (reported 20 May 2009)
• Professor Duncan Gallie, Foreign Secretary of the Academy, took part in a UK Cabinet Office Seminar on ‘Economic Downturn and Social Exclusion’ on 19 May 2009.
• Professor Duncan Gallie was appointed CBE in the 2008 New Year’s Honours list.

Gamble

• Professor Andrew Gamble explains how J M Keynes understood better than most that the self-regulating market economy is a dangerous fiction and asks if the crash of 2008 vindicated him in a review of Professor Lord Robert Skidelsky’s biography, Keynes, Return of the Master (Keynes: The Return of the Master by Robert Skidelsky, New Statesman, 3 September 2009)
• Professor Andrew Gamble was interviewed on the seriousness of the current economic situation, and whether it is a recession or a 'crisis', following publication of his latest book The Spectre at the Feast: Capitalist Crisis and the Politics of Recession (The Books Interview, New Statesman, 18 June 2009)
• Professor Andrew Gamble’s latest book, The Spectre at the Feast: Capitalist Crisis and the Politics of Recession, was reviewed by Professor David Marquand (also a Fellow) in the New Statesman (‘The Spectre at the Feast: Capitalist Crisis and the Politics of Recession By Andrew Gamble’ New Statesman, 11 June 2009)

Goodhart

• Professor Charles Goodhart urged the Bank of England to press ahead with plans to penalise high street lenders by cutting the interest it pays on cash held by them in its reserve accounts; Martin Weale opposed the proposal ('Bank of England urged to punish high-street lenders', The Times, 10 September 2009)

Hale

• Baroness (Brenda) Hale has been sworn in as a Justice of the UK Supreme Court. She is the first lawyer in British history to transfer from the academic world to the Courts. ('Supreme court: Britain's October revolution', Guardian, 1 October 2009)

Heaney

• Professor Seamus Heaney was honoured on the occasion of his 70th birthday by an evening of words and music at the 2009 Belfast Festival (17 October 2009)
• Professor Seamus Heaney has been awarded the David Cohen Prize for Literature, awarded to a writer who has contributed a significant amount to British literature, so much so that their work warrants recognition for a lifetime’s achievement (Heaney wins top literary award, BBC News Northern Ireland, 19 March 2009 )

Hennessy

• Professor Peter Hennessy appeared on BBC Radio 4's The World this Weekend discussing the Chilcot Enquiry, and what it may uncover (The World the Weekend, BBC Radio 4, 22 November 2009)
• Professor Peter Hennessy appeared on BBCR4's Today programme following the publication of the government 'War Book', explaining what it contains and how came to be published. ('Rehearsing the end of the world', BBC Today programme, 23 June 2009)
• Professor Peter Hennessey appeared on BBCR4's Broadcasting House, discussing whether people are any good with power when they have it (31 May 2009)
• Professor Peter Hennessy wrote on the change in standards of living and social attitudes in the UK between the 1950s and the beginning of the 1970s in a review of Seeking a Role by Professor Sir Brian Harrison ('Good times', TLS, 8 May 2009)
• Professor Peter Hennessey appeared on 'Reasons to be Cheerful' an examination of the prevailing atmosphere of doom and a challenge to its listeners to be more optimistic ('Reasons to be Cheerful', BBC R4, 18 April 2009)
• Professor Peter Hennessey appeared on BBC R4’s obituary programme, Last Word, to assess the career of Sir Michael Quinlan, the former Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Defence, who briefed successive Prime Ministers on nuclear policy, and who, in retirement, published extensively on the ethics of warfare. (Last Word, BBCR4, 6 March 2009 )
• Professor Peter Hennessey appeared on BBCR4's Today programme with Michael Howard, former leader of the Conservative party discussing whether Cabinet minutes relating to the Iraq War should be published (Today, 28 January 2009, 7.32am)

Higgins

• Dame Rosalyn Higgins, former president of the International Court of Justice and 2007 Balzan Prize winner, has been appointed as an adviser to the Chilcot Inquiry into the Iraq War ('Chilcot inquiry may consider legality of Iraq war', Independent, 15 October 2009 )

Hillenbrand

• Professor Robert Hillenbrand wrote on the post-Ottoman history of Iran in a review of the exhibition on Shah 'Abbas and the Making of Iran in the TLS ('Wealth, piety and panache', TLS, 8 May 2009)
• Professor Carole Hillenbrand was appointed OBE in the 2008 New Year’s Honours List.

Himmelfarb

• Professor Gertrude Himmelfarb defended the reputation of Lionel Trilling as both a critic and an intellectual (Underrated: Lionel Trilling, Standpoint, April 2009)

Hobsbawn

• Professor Eric Hobsbawm reviewed Bomb, Book and Compass: Joseph Needham and the Great Secrets of China, a biography of Sir Joseph Needham, FBA, the celebrated historian of Chinese science (‘Era of Wonders’, London Review of Books, 26 February 2009 )

Hood

• Professor Christopher Hood contributed to a discussion on how best Downing Street can deal with budget restraints (BBC Today programme, 10 September 2009, 7.38am)

Houndwood

• Lord Sutherland of Houndwood took part in a discussion entitled ‘The Enlightenment and the Academies’ as part of a series of events on ‘The Enlightenment: An 18th Century Revolution of Thought’ organised by the Royal Society of Edinburgh in parallel with the Edinburgh Festival (1 September 2009, details available via Royal Society of Edinburgh website)

Howard

• Professor Sir Michael Howard assessed the military history of the D-Day landings of 1944 in a review of D-Day: The Battle for Normandy by Antony Beevor (D-Day’s Divided Divisions, Standpoint, May 2009)

Jenkins

• Geraint H Jenkins gave the J E Caerwyn Williams FBA Memorial Lecture at Aberystwyth in December 2009, and has been elected Honorary Fellow of Swansea Metropolitan University.

Jones

• Professor Colin Jones has been elected President of the Royal Historical Society with effect from May 2009 (reported 28 August 2009)

Judt

• Professor Tony Judt considered the nature of the left in American politics in an article in the New York Review of Books adapted from a lecture he gave at New York University on 19 October 2009 ('What Is Living and What Is Dead in Social Democracy?' New York Review of Books , 17 December 2009)
• Professor Sir Isaiah Berlin was the subject of an examination of the role of the intellectual during the Cold War; Professor Tony Judt participated. (Hearts and Minds, BBCR4, 25 May and 1 June); the annual British Academy Isaiah Berlin lecture was given on 6 June 2009 by Librarian of Congress James Billington at Wolfson College, Oxford, of which Isaiah Berlin was the founding President. The President of the Academy, Onora O'Neill, spoke at a dinner in his honour.
• Professor Tony Judt received a Special Award from the judges of the Orwell Prizes for Lifetime Achievement (awarded at the 2009 prize ceremony and further covered by the New York Review of Books, to which Professor Judt is a frequent contributor, 28 May 2009)

Kay

• Professor John Kay appeared on BBC Radio 4's Money Box programme discussing City salaries and the sources of the money used to pay them (Money Box, BBC Radio 4, 28 November 2009, audio available via the BBC iPlayer).
• Professor John Kay considered the causes of the collapse of a number of financial institutions in 2007-08 and the implications this has for the future of the banking infrastructure and regulation ('"Too big to fail" is too dumb an idea to keep', Financial Times, 27 October 2009 (requires free registration))
• Professor John Kay, in his regular column for the Financial Times, wrote on business strategy and the art and science of decision making (History vindicates the science of muddling through, Financial Times, 14 April 2009 )
• Professors John Kay and Hector MacQueen, members of the Academy’s Copyright Review, Professor Paul Klemperer, and Professor Nicholas Cook were co-signatories to a letter to the editor of the Times expressing concern about the Government’s change in position on the term for copyright in sound recordings, noting that it runs counter to the recommendations of the Gower Review (‘No case for copyright extension’, letter to the Times, 23 March 2009)
• Professor John Kay examined rationality and perversity among investors, drawing on his new book 'The Long and the Short of it: Finance and Investment for Normally Intelligent People' in his Financial Times column (An averaging system to pile up the pounds, Financial Times, 23 January 2009)
• Professor John Kay suggested a division of regulation of the financial sector between borrowing and lending functions ('Making banks boring again' Prospect magazine, January 2009)

Kermode

• Professor Frank Kermode's Clark Lectures on E M Forster, published as Concerning EM Forster, were reviewed in the Sunday Times (Concerning EM Forster by Frank Kermode, Sunday Times, 13 December 2009)
• Professor Frank Kermode appeared on BBC Radio 4's Open Book, discussing his admiration for - and reservations about - the works of E M Forster (Open Book, BBC Radio 4, 29 November 2009)
• Professor Frank Kermode reassesses the career of Muriel Spark in a review of a new biography of the novelist (‘Mistress of Disappearances’, London Review of Books, 10 September 2009)
• Professor Frank Kermode reviewed two new books on Jane Austen in the London Review of Books ('Too good and too silly', London Review of Books, 30 April 2009)
• Sir Frank Kermode reviewed Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall by Kazuo Ishiguro in the latest issue of the London Review of Books (Exercises and Excesses, LRB, 14 May 2009)

King

• Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, has raised hopes that the UK has reached a turning-point in the recession while recognising that full recovery is still some way off yet ('The worst is over, says Bank of England Governor', The Times, 12 November 2009; the full text of the November 2009 Inflation Report is available from the Bank of England website)
• Professor Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, announced that Sir James Watt and Matthew Boulton will be the new faces on the newly redesigned £50 bank note when he opened a new exhibition at the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery: ‘Matthew Boulton: Selling what all the world desires’. (29 May 2009. News release from the Bank of England: Boulton and Watt: the New Faces on £50 Banknotes; text of Professor King's speech also available)
• Professor Mervyn King attacked the delays in reform of the UK banking system and called for the break-up of the major banks to prevent them being 'too big to fail' ('Mervyn King calls for banks to split as public finances take record hit', The Times, 21 October 2009; text of speech available from the Bank of England's website)
• Professor Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, in his Mansion House speech, called for change in the Bank's regulatory powers (King tells City change is necessary, Financial Times, 17 June 2009)
• Professor Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, warned that the recession may be deeper and recovery longer than had previously been expected (Quarterly Inflation Report, May 2009, Bank of England, 13 May 2009)
• Professor Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, was profiled in the Financial Times (‘Man in the News: Mervyn King, Financial Times, 27 March 2009)
• Professor Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, appeared before the Treasury Select Committee on 24 March 2009, where he was questioned about a range of current issues relating to the economy (King bids to rein in Budget spending, Financial Times, 25 March 2009)

Layard

• Professor Richard Layard has published 'Good Childhood? A Question for Our Times', the report of a national inquiry he chaired on behalf of the Children's Society (2 February 2009; launch report available to download from the Children's Society website, book version available shortly)
• Professor Lord Richard Layard wrote on the importance of developing new ways of measuring social progress rather than relying on economic metrics such as GDP ('This is the greatest good', Observer, 13 September 2009)
• Professor Lord Richard Layard will participate in a debate on benefits or otherwise of psychotherapy where he will speak against the motion: ‘Psychotherapy has done more harm than good’ (Intelligence2 debate, 17 June 2009)

Lee

• Professor Hermione Lee wrote on the pantheon of American women writers and why they are frequently overlooked in academic study in a review of A Jury of Her Peers by Elaine Showalter ('Sylvia's basket', TLS, 8 May 2009)

Leighton

• Professor Angela Leighton wrote on the role of music in the Irish literary imagination in a review of Music and the Irish Literary Imagination by Professor Harry White ('At the Dublin opera', TLS, 8 May 2009)

Lieven

• Professor Dominic Lieven's latest book, Russia against Napoleon: The Battle for Europe, 1807 to 1814, was reviewed by Professor Geoffrey Hosking (also a Fellow) in the London Review of Books ('Peasants in Arms', Geoffrey Hosking, London Review of Books, 12 December 2009)

MacCulloch

• Professor Diarmuid MacCulloch considered the role of the Tudor monarchy in the creation of 'England' as a political entity ('Paraphernalia' Diarmaid MacCulloch, London Review of Books, 19 November 2009)
• Professor Diarmaid MacCullouch is presenting a major new series on the history of Christianity, starting 5 November 2009, to accompany the publication of his latest book A History of Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years (Allen Lane, 2009) (A History of Christianity, BBC4, from 5 November)
• Professor Diarmaid MacCullouch appeared on BBCR4's Start the Week discussing the thoughts and traditions that have shaped Christianity, its ability to adapt as it took hold in a range of cultures, and how disputes throughout the history of Christianity have created a plural Church that continues to attract new members around the globe. (Start the Week, BBCR4, 26 October 2009)
• Professor Diarmaid MacCullouch's latest book, A History of Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years, was reviewed by Dr Rowan Wiliams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who hailed it as 'a triumphantly executed achievement'. ('A History of Christianity by Diarmaid MacCulloch', Rowan Williams, Guardian, 19 September 2009)

Mace

• Professor Ruth Mace participated in a discussion of the different social and cultural attitudes towards siblings, and the affect it has on one's life. (Brother Mine, BBC Radio 4, 22 November 2009)
• Professor Ruth Mace's research on sibling rivalry and the effect of 'laterborn disadvantage' discussed ('Sibling rivalry has made me what I am', Evening Standard, 18 February 2009)

MacGregor

• Neil MacGregor delivered a speech on '250 years on: What does it mean to be a world museum?' to mark the 250th anniversary of the opening of the British Museum (available to listen from the British Museum's website, extracted in the Sunday Times: British museum director talking collections, 25 January 2009)
• Sir Neil MacGregor, an Honorary Fellow, will be presenting a landmark BBCR4 series, ‘A History of the World in 100 Objects’ in which he will focus on an object from the British Museum's collection, examining how it was made, its political, economic and cultural significance, and how it came to be in the collection. The series starts on 18 January 2010.('100-part global history series to take Radio 4's Book of the Week slot', The Guardian, 25 November 2009))

MacIntyre

• Professor Alasdair MacIntyre was honoured on the occasion of his 80th birthday by a lecture at the Royal Irish Academy surveying his ‘Achievements and Challenges’, and at a conference, at which Professor John Morrill was a participant. ('Keeping Philosophy Relevant: the Achievements and Challenges of Alasdair MacIntyre', RIA, 9 March 2009)

Malcolm

• Dr Noel Malcolm wrote on the friendship between Jean-Jacques Rousseau and David Hume, and how it broke down, in a review of The Philosophers' Quarrel: Rousseau, Hume, and the Limits of Human Understanding by Robert Zaretsky and John T. Scott (The Odd Couple, Standpoint, May 2009)

Mann

• Professor Nico Mann has been re-elected as Vice President of All European Academies (ALLEA). He will serve until spring 2012 (announced 7 April 2009)

Marmor

• Professor Theodore R Marmor, elected to the Corresponding Fellowship this year, critiqued Barack Obama's efforts to secure healthcare reform in the USA and considered the likelihood of him succeeding in passing legislation on this issue in 2009 (‘Health Reform: The Fateful Moment’, New York Review of Books, 13 August 2009)

Marmot

• Professor Sir Michael Marmot has co-authored an editorial article (unusually published simultaneously in the BMJ and the Lancet) on the impact climate change may have on human health, specifically the incidence of tropical and water-borne diseases ('Climate change will damage your health' Michael McCarthy, Independent, 16 September 2009; article available via the Guardian: 'What we urgently need is a new mindset on climate change’, Guardian, 16 September 2009)
• Professor Sir Michael Marmot has chaired a panel of 23 international experts looking into the link between obesity and cancer for the World Cancer Research Fund's Policy and Action for Cancer Prevention report ('Cancer deaths "to double in next 40 years"', Observer, 22 February 2009; audio interview with Sir Michael also available)

Marquand

• Professor David Marquand presented a two-part examination of the roots of liberalism as part of the 'Sunday Supplement' strand of BBC Radio 4's Westminster Hour (Westminster Hour, BBC Radio 4, 29 November and 6 December 2009).

Mellars

• Professor Paul Mellars published an article in the science journal Nature on the 'Venus of Hohle Fehls' (a female figurine, carved from mammoth ivory, dated to 35,000 years ago and found in a cave in southern Germany) which may be the oldest known example of figurative art. ('Ancient Venus rewrites history books', Nature, 13 May 2009; also reported in The Times: Prehistoric female figure ‘earliest piece of erotic art uncovered’, The Times, 14 May 2009)
• Professor Paul Mellars called for commercially competitive 'scientific' TV journalism to be viewed with caution ('Evidence for the dispersal of Man', letter to The Times, 3 May 2009)

Mendus

• Professor Susan Mendus presented the first session in the University of Chicago's Law and Philosophy workshop on 'Religious Violence and the Rise of Liberalism' (Susan Mendus, 'Religious Violence and the Rise of Liberalism', University of Chicago Law School blog, 23 April 2009)

McGowan

• Professor Margaret McGowan was a joint recipient of the Wolfson History Prize for 2008 for her book Dance in the Renaissance: European Fashion, French Obsession (Yale University Press). The Wolfson History Prizes were established in 1972 and are awarded annually to promote and encourage standards of excellence in the writing of history for the general public (announced 10 June 2009)

McKibbin

• Professor Ross McKibbin reported from the Conservative Party conference, and discussed to what extent the party can now be considered the 'real party of the poor' ('At the Tory Conference', London Review of Books, 22 October 2009)
• Dr Ross McKibbin wrote on Conservative Party's spending plans, should they win the next election, and whether they are so different from Labour's. ('Will we notice when the Tories have won?', Ross McKibbin, London Review of Books, 24 September 2009)
• Professor Ross McKibbin wrote on the government’s management of the economic crisis, and how the Conservative Party’s approach might differ (‘Will We Care When Labour Loses?’, London Review of Books, 26 March 2009)

Mirrlees

• Professor Sir James Mirrlees has devised an innovative use of tax breaks to encourage the super-rich to make philanthropic donations (‘Philanthropy: please can I have £500,000 cashback?’, Independent on Sunday, 22 February 2009)

Moore

• Professor Henrietta Moore has taken up her appointment as William Wyse Professor of Social Anthropology, University of Cambridge, and Professorial Fellow, Jesus College, Cambridge (reported to the Academy 7 October 2009)

Morrill

• Professor John Morrill delivered a series of lectures on ‘Living with Revolution: Rethinking 17th-Century Britain and Ireland’ as part of his residence as Distinguished Scholar at the Center for Historical Studies, Northwestern University, Chicago (16-23 April 2009).
• Professor John Morrill gave the Robert Southwell Memorial Lecture at Fordham University on ‘The Dilemmas of Religious Liberty in the English Revolution’ (12 March 2009)
• Professor John Morrill gave the 2009 Honeyman Lectures at Tyndale University College, Toronto, on ‘Toleration and its limits: the early modern experience’ and ‘The Faith of Oliver Cromwell’ (10 March 2009)

Murray

• Alexander Murray wrote on gang culture in the Middle Ages in a review of The Crisis of the 12th Century: Power, Lordship and the Origins of European Government by Thomas Bisson (Protection Rackets, London Review of Books, 30 April 2009 )