Book Launch—Five Ideas to Fight For: How Our Freedom Is Under Threat and Why It Matters

Human rights. Equality. Free speech. Privacy. The rule of law. These five ideas are vitally important to the way of life we enjoy today, and the battle to establish them in law was long and difficult. Today, however, our society is at risk of becoming less equal, and our civil liberties are under threat like never before.

Leading human rights lawyer Anthony Lester was at the heart of both the 30-year campaign that resulted in the UK’s Human Rights Act and the struggle for race and gender equality that culminated in the Equality Act of 2010. Lester’s new book, Five Ideas to Fight For: How Our Freedom Is Under Threat and Why It Matters, provides an in­sider account of how important political and legal reforms were achieved, and presents a fierce argument for why we must act now to ensure the survival of the ideals which enable us to live freely.

“Reading this book is like holding a conversation with (Anthony Lester). His opinions and his arguments are bracing and challenging and the entire experience is intellectually exciting,” says Aryeh Neier, president emeritus of the Open Society Foundations.

Speakers

• Anthony Lester is Britain’s most eminent human rights lawyer. He is a recipient of the Judges’ Award for a Lifetime of Achievement in the service of human rights, and is a frequent commentator for the Guardian on legal matters.
• Chris Stone (moderator) is president of the Open Society Foundations.