Lunch 2: Sunday 18th May 2014 Topics for Discussion

The guests have been confirmed for this Sunday's Lunch. 

As before, each guest has submitted their chosen topics for discussion. I've edited them slightly for sense in the context of this list but otherwise have reproduced them as directly as possible from each guest's submission.

They are:

1. The world as we know it is going to change in our lifetime, and while we can see it coming, are we prepared for what it means for us and our children?
2. How can we engage young people to make good choices when contemporary culture promotes celebrity and a warped sense of beauty?
3. When is optimism appropriate? When inappropriate? When is it a mindless Panglossian attempt to ignore reality, and when a useful approach to addressing the world and its problems? And how can we tell the difference?
4. What effect does it have on us when our parents are gone? What counsel can I give my recently bereaved friend?
5. What do you love doing?

It's a massively broad field of topics and I'm looking forward to hearing the guest's thoughts. It's also interesting to see the first 'practical advice' question - I wonder how the shape and tone of the discussion might differ between topics focussed on broad abstract concepts and those with a specific and immediate practical application for any conclusions we reach.

Watch this space...