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Is economic growth sustainable, are we obsessed with growth at the expense of quality of life, and does it bring happiness? How do we help the poor in the advanced West out of poverty? Is there an over-reliance on the state and social security and what should the balance be between state benefits and self dependance? Are there any lessons for the poor in the wider world?

All these questions will be debated by our speakers John Bird, Nadhim Zahawi and Andrew Simms. Bird is a former rough sleeper and founder of The Big Issue magazine. In The Necessity of Poverty, he argues the rich exploit poverty and enable and encourage the rest of us to live off the poor. Zahawi was elected Conservative MP for Stratford-on- Avon in 2010. He founded business information service YouGov in 2000 and co-wrote the bestselling Masters of Nothing: The Crash, which argues that the crash will happen again if we do not understand human nature. Simms is a fellow of nef, the New Economics Foundation, and an original organiser of the campaign to cancel poor country debt. He is author of Cancel the Apocalypse, a radical look at a world that he says has become obsessed with growth at the expense of quality of life.