Whitehall Group
The Whitehall Group, a forum of CULS is a high level, influential policy discussion forum of well-connected Cambridge alumni, who are mainly members of the Cambridge University Land Society. It pulls together a previous legacy of high quality events over the last decade which is outside the mainstream of CULS activities. The Whitehall Group operates through a series of focused lunches and dinners for up to 25 attendees per meeting in order to maintain an exclusive, intimate and senior level gathering under the Chatham House Rule. The Whitehall Group also runs a distinguished series of policy lectures – The Whitehall Lectures. This series was inaugurated by Professor Sir Malcolm Grant CBE at the Royal Institution of Great Britain in March 2014.
Whitehall Group events cover a wide range of macro-economic business, social and educational issues of the day – The Economy, Foreign Affairs, Social and Health Policies, Infrastructure, Transport, Energy, Climate Change, Finance and Investment, Environment, Housing, Technology, Real Estate Investment and Finance, Urban Planning, Education and Politics.
For further information please contact the Group Secretary at: fionajones.wg@culandsoc.com.
Whitehall Group Events Diary (from September 2024)
Whitehall Group dinner – Wednesday, 18th September 2024 (7 – 9.30pm)
Speaker: The Lord Bew, House of Lords / A Northern Irish Historian
Subject: “Northern Ireland, the Northern Ireland Windsor Agreement and the broader post-Brexit Anglo-Irish relationship”
11th Whitehall Group Lecture – Thursday, 24th October, 2024 (6 – 8.30pm)
Speaker: Dr. Gillian Tett OBE, Provost of Kings College / Financial Times Editorial Board
Subject: “1919 or 1945? The warnings from Keynes for geopolitics today”
Panel discussion members: Professor Michael Puett, Professor of Chinese History, Harvard University; Professor Patricia Clavin, Professor of Modern History, Oxford University; Dr. Gemma Tetlow, Chief Economist IfG (moderator)
Whitehall Group lunch – Wednesday, 27th November, 2024
Speaker: John Myers, Co-founder, Yimby Alliance
Subject: TBC – housing and urban policy
Whitehall Group Christmas Drinks – Wednesday, 4th December, 2024
Whitehall Group lunch – Wednesday, 15th January, 2025
Speaker: Professor Guy Standing FAcSS
Subject: TBC
Whitehall Group lunch – Wednesday, 26th February, 2025
Speaker: Professor Sriya Iyer, Professor of Economics and Social Science, Fellow of St Catharine’s College
Subject: TBC (Economics of Religion)
Whitehall Group lunch – Thursday, 20th March 2025 (12.30 – 2.30pm)
Speaker: Dr. Shaun Fitzgerald FREng OBE, Centre for Climate Repair / Director of Research, Cambridge Zero, Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge
Subject: ‘Can we freeze the Arctic?’
Whitehall Group lunch – Wednesday, 9th April 2025 (12.30 – 2.30pm) Speaker: Andrew Carter, Chief Executive, Centre for Cities Subject: National policy challenges that affect the UK’s largest cities and towns / the work of the Centre for Cities