If the influence of money over us is unavoidable, how can we ensure that the results are positive? Does the issue go beyond our attitude to money to the nature of money itself? Is there such a thing as ‘good’ and ‘bad’ money? Is it just the ‘love of money’ we must guard against, or has something happened to money itself?
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About The City and the Common Good: What kind of City do we want?
“What life have you if you have not life together?
There is no life that is not in community…” TS Eliot
The response to on-going financial instability has moved well beyond regulatory reform and is increasingly focusing on issues of culture, purpose, identity and meaning. We know we are about more than making money, but why does it so often not seem that way?
After four years of discussion about what has gone wrong and who might be responsible, and an unprecedented level of regulatory reform, there is now a call for step changes that will reinforce a culture of integrity and prudence and ensure that we do not repeat the mistakes of the recent past. But if we are to discuss the individual steps, do we not first need to talk about our objectives: what kind of ‘City’ do we want?
Held in conjunction with CCLA, this significant series of three debates under the dome at St Paul’s will probe key issues that underlie the report of the Parliamentary Inquiry into Banking and the wider financial sector.
The Most Reverend and Right Honourable Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, adds that: “In the end, what will make the most difference to the impact of the financial services sector on our society and our economy are the decisions people working in them make. So we need to work to develop good habits, patterns of virtue that serve the rest of society, in our banks.”
This series of events will be Chaired by Stephanie Flanders, BBC Economics Editor.
For more information, please visit www.stpaulsinstitute.org.uk