{"id":5189,"date":"2019-05-23T14:10:41","date_gmt":"2019-05-23T14:10:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/progressiveeconomyforum.com\/development\/?post_type=event&#038;p=5189"},"modified":"2020-01-07T12:32:34","modified_gmt":"2020-01-07T12:32:34","slug":"the-lies-we-were-told-a-lecture-by-simon-wren-lewis","status":"publish","type":"events","link":"https:\/\/progressiveeconomyforum.com\/development\/events\/the-lies-we-were-told-a-lecture-by-simon-wren-lewis\/","title":{"rendered":"The Lies We Were Told: A Lecture by Simon Wren-Lewis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Professor Simon Wren-Lewis: The Lies We Were Told\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/6drQPpQ5XQU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" class=\"lazyload\" data-load-mode=\"1\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><em>This event has now passed.<\/em> <em>You can watch the video recording above or on our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=6drQPpQ5XQU\">YouTube channel<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The last decade in the UK has been extraordinary. <a href=\"https:\/\/progressiveeconomyforum.com\/development\/author\/prof-simon-wren-lewis\/\">Professor&nbsp;Simon Wren-Lewis<\/a>, Emeritus Professor of Economics at Oxford University and member of the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/progressiveeconomyforum.com\/development\/council-members\/\">PEF Council<\/a>, posits that it has been shaped by three big lies in which the mainstream media were complicit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The first was austerity, where most of the media ignored mainstream economics and pushed the nonsensical idea that we should reduce the deficit in the middle of a recession. The second was the 2015 election, where the slowest recovery for centuries and unprecedented falling real wages were sold as a strong economy. The third was Brexit, where one part of the media acted as propagandists and the other part balanced truth with lies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In this special public lecture, hosted by the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/progressiveeconomyforum.com\/development\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Progressive Economy Forum<\/a>, Professor Wren-Lewis explored the phenomena behind these lies, building on the themes in his most recent book&nbsp;<em><a href=\"https:\/\/bristoluniversitypress.co.uk\/the-lies-we-were-told-1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Lies We Were Told<\/a>&nbsp;<\/em>(Bristol University Press). His argument is that much can by explained by the idea of \u2018neoliberal overreach\u2019: attempts to pursue neoliberal goals that are no longer popular by deceiving the public, e.g. by lying about the need to eliminate the deficit and\/or reduce immigration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Simon\u2019s lecture was followed by comment from&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.progressiveeconomyforum.com\/patrick-allen\/\">Maya Goodfellow<\/a>, researcher, writer for the Guardian and author of the upcoming book&nbsp;<em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.versobooks.com\/books\/3064-hostile-environment\">Hostile Environment<\/a>&nbsp;<\/em>(Verso);&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.progressiveeconomyforum.com\/ann-pettifor\/\">Ann Pettifor<\/a>, member of the PEF Council and&nbsp;Director of&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.primeeconomics.org\/\">PRIME<\/a>&nbsp;\u2013 Policy Research in Macroeconomics -and&nbsp;Professor&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.gold.ac.uk\/media-communications\/staff\/davis\/\">Aeron Davis,<\/a>&nbsp;Deputy Head of Media, Communications and Cultural Studies at&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.gold.ac.uk\/\">Goldsmiths University of London&nbsp;<\/a>and author of&nbsp;<em>Reckless Opportunists&nbsp;<\/em>(Manchester University Press).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The lecture was introduced and chaired by&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/progressiveeconomyforum.com\/development\/author\/patrick-allen\/\">Patrick Allen<\/a>, Chair and founder of PEF, who argued that Simon Wren-Lewis\u2019 writing has been indispensable in debunking austerity economics and pursuing economic justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>View <em>a full album of photos from the event on Flickr <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/pef_online\/albums\/72157708800228986\">here<\/a>.<\/em> <em>Banner image: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/23148289@N05\/7032256075\/in\/photolist-bHq9Jp-24AHVcx-Pobgg1-9Q45PU-e9btC3-fpXjUL-eaTBog-dVfHdz-prgAVa-2RpKoC-dEJ15P-5dZqGy-T9Rzju-8dBGx8-FpTjAD-dzciMM-pXAkAt-FpH2yo-26Mm5Lv-7YRzxN-uFMntJ-pi2bDS-FV3HCq-7KkpNB-qf1vmp-GeiXmR-pXAdMD-pXyKFt-pi29iE-ahM4qb-9zJ4RQ-SMXuhx-DZH4qA-anWEfk-2fjuAv4-pXAfCc-nPeg5o-23DKyZu-qf1k8Z-2dKZJ8R-po1Zz-7NspNa-8qHUp5-DEVfr4-pXAcbx-dPiktj-pi21sE-dPiju1-VstMjt-pXyWu2\">wandererwandering \/ Flickr<\/a><\/em>.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Neoliberal overreach has led to a series of lies which have fundamentally shaped UK politics over the last decade.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":5197,"template":"","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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