Canterbury Christ Church politics students were invited to take part in a special debate at Parliament on Monday 19 January, led by Harvard Professor of Government Michael Sandel exploring the nature and limits of democracy.

The recording of the Public Philosopher took place in the Speaker’s House in the Palace of Westminster and five politics and international relations students, led by Senior Politics lecturer Mark Bennister took part. The event was part of Democracy Day, a day of live programmes, discussions and debates broadcast from both inside Westminster and from the BBC Radio Theatre on Tuesday 20^th January 2015 to commemorate the 750^th anniversary of England’s first Parliament, the Simon de Montfort Parliament. The debate was broadcast in the Radio 4 Today programme and is available at http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/r4sandel, where you can hear our own Bronwen Edwards making a point about the lack of representation of women in Parliament.

Dr Bennister said ‘This was a fantastic opportunity for Canterbury Christ Church University students to engage with senior politicians at the heart of Westminster. The students took an active role in the debate and engaged in some robust discussion with politicians on the nature and challenges of democracy. Our students were a credit to the university’.