Comments for Phoenix Society

Comment on “Science & Freedom of Speech” – Thursday 25th February, 6pm by President

President — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 09:35:59 +0000

Simon’s talk was insightful and thoroughly enjoyable. The case against him was dropped on 15 April 2010 – a resounding personal success for SImon and for libel reform campaigners: bit.ly/singh-case-dropped.

Comment on “Climate Change After Copenhagen” – Thursday 14 January, 6pm by President

President — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 10:26:07 +0000

Lord Lawson’s talk was a resounding success and set a high benchmark for the remainder of the term. Whilst not everyone agreed with his views, there was a general consensus that it was refreshing to hear a well-informed sceptic. Conversation continued over dinner, and well over 30 fellows and some students stayed to discuss more. By far the best attended talk in some time, I’m sure it was a good advert for the high quality and interesting talks the society hosts.

Thanks must of course go to Nigel, for coming, Allen Packwood, for hosting and chairing questions and founding Fellow, Professor Anthony Kelly for his vote of thanks.

Comment on “Building the Corpus Clock” – Thursday 5 November, 6pm by President

President — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 15:00:45 +0000

Though I was away at the time, I am reliably informed that ‘The guy who was talking about the Corpus Clock really cool!’… as recounted to me late the evening after. Competing with the annual fireworks had a noticeable impact on numbers, but thank you to those who who came to hear about the quirky design and background to Dr Taylor that lead to its creation.

My thanks must go to Allen Cruickshank, who was kind enough to chair the talk in my absence.

Harry, President

PS: Some interesting facts from the night:

- The clock actually has two pendulums
- The lights are always on and the effect of moving lights is created using plates with slits in them which move (vernier slits)
- During the war, the americans never bombed at night, only because their heated suits were too noisy and so they would have been spotted, wheras the english suits ran at a lower voltage and so could be on all the time and were silent.
[Quite how this came up, I don't know]
- Dr Taylor’s father had over 300 patents [Allen thinks]; he has almost as many.
- The shape of the face was made by detonating explosives under water.

Comment on “The Road to Afghanistan” – Thursday 29 October, 6pm by President

President — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 21:25:57 +0000

It was a pleasure to host Jamie recently for his first public talk on the subject of Afghanistan. The turnout was particularly good, in part, perhaps because of the very ‘current’ nature of the talk. Jamie gave an interesting perspective on our military strategy in Afghanistan, whilst highlighting the complexities of the relationship between politicians and the MoD.

It was also great to see a wide variety of College and University members at the talk including porters, students and a couple of guests on secondment with the US Army.

Thanks again go to Jamie for his enjoyable talk and to Allen for introducing us.

Harry, President

Comment on “Rethinking Churchill and the Second World War” – Thursday 15 October, 6pm by President

President — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 16:33:37 +0000

Unsurprisingly, Sir Max gave an interesting talk, which was well attended by the common rooms and the fellowship in particular. Though much has been written about our founder, Max used new sources to give a different and unique perspective. Discussion over dinner was wide-reaching and engaging, though challenging for the host to follow!

Thanks again go to Sir Max and Allen Packwood for acting as the main contact.

Harry, President