People

web and computer technology consultant; founder, Simply Better IT; founder, Manchester Salon

Simon helps small businesses punch above their weight by deploying market leading technologies to truly take on the challenges of a global market on equal terms with larger businesses and institutions through his Managed IT Services company, Simply Better IT. Having begun his working life within the very structured practises of the civil service and thereafter enjoying the opportunities available within the international outsourcing world, he now relishes the challenges small businesses present as they try and blend market demands with technologies available and business processes.

Born and brought up in Yorkshire, he moved to Lancashire on a civilising mission some 30 plus years ago. After some success there, he’s moved out to the High Peak, Derbyshire where he enjoys business networking through golf with the dramatic backdrop of Kinder Scout. When he has the time he also tries to provide engaging debate through the Manchester Salon discussion forum.

Follow Simon on Twitter @SimonBelt

Classics student, Durham University.

Frank Hudson is second year Classics student at Durham University with an interest in Athenian democracy. He has recently applied to be part of a university research project examining Athenian curse tablets: what they might reveal about social history and how they might be incorporated into the UK secondary school curriculum. 

Frank is advocate of public as well as private freedom and believes that an open public realm of ideas is the cornerstone of any democratic society. He enjoys watching films as well as watching and playing football, having represented Collingwood College for two years running at Durham.

lecturer in US political history, University of Liverpool; author, Citizenship in Chicago: race, culture and the remaking of American identity

Cheryl Hudson is a lecturer in US political history at the University of Liverpool and a former director of the academic programme at the Rothermere American Institute, University of Oxford. Her research focuses on the histories of citizenship and political culture in the US and on the philosophy of history. She has published in academic and popular journals, is co-editor of Ronald Reagan and the 1980s (Palgrave MacMillan, 2008) and Why Academic Freedom Matters (Civitas, 2016). Her forthcoming book is titled Citizenship in Chicago: Race, Culture and the Remaking of American Identity.

Follow Cheryl on Twitter @HudsCheryl

Senior Research Fellow, Border Security and Immigration Center

Simon Hankinson is a Senior Research Fellow in the Border Security and Immigration Center at The Heritage Foundation.

From 1999–2022, he was a Foreign Service Officer serving in India, Fiji, Ghana, Slovakia, Togo, Washington, D.C., Marseille, and Nairobi. Prior to entering the State Department, Hankinson worked as a lawyer in London, and then taught history, English, and drama at a private school in Miami.

Hankinson holds a master’s degree in modern history from St. Andrews, Scotland, a degree from the College of Law in London, and a master’s degree in international security affairs from the National Defense University in Washington, D.C.

Assistant Professor of Creative Writing

Dr. Jessica Temple is an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing, teaching creative writing and composition classes. She holds an MA in English from Mississippi State University and a PhD in Creative Writing—Poetry from Georgia State University. She is the author of Daughters of Bone (Madville Publishing, 2021) and Seamless and Other Legends (Finishing Line Press, 2013).

She serves as managing editor of Blackwater Review and faculty advisor for the Raider Writers. She is a QEP Scholar, Faculty Fellow, Learning Commons Scholar, and graduate of the President’s Leadership Academy. She also coordinates Red Cross blood drives on campus, leads weekly beach cleanups, fosters animals, and volunteers with several environmental organizations.

Sarah Tucker is an editor, broadcaster, author, columnist, lecturer and academic lead with the British Guild of Travel Writers (BGTW).

As a broadcaster, Sarah has won several awards including the BGTW best radio programmes in 1996, 1998 and 1999, as well as the best TV report award in 1999. She has also produced award winning reports on tracing the gold rush from Skagway Alaska to Dawon City for the Discovery Channel in 1999, ViaRail trip across Canada for Classic FM, the inaugural Celtic Colours festival in 1996 and for an exclusive interview with Kiri Te Kanaway, Opera in the Outback for Classic FM in 1997.  In addition, she has won a number of Sony Broadcast Awards for a range of outlets across TV and radio.

Sarah is the author of nine best-selling fictional novels bringing awareness to emotional abuse in the playground, including the 2006 novel The Playground Mafia which was runner-up to Sebastian Faulk’s Birdsong in the Good Housekeeping Novel of the Year.

Sarah devised, produced and presented the highly acclaimed travel series on Sky TV, Who’s been sleeping in my bad and sourced exclusive interviews with Sir David Frost, Lord Yehudi Menuhin, Anita Roddick and Dai Llewellyn in a series that, in the pre-Hello and OK! magazine era, was ground breaking in that it opened up celebrity lifestyles to the wider public

In publishing, Sarah is the author of the authorised biography of Edward de Bono Love Laterally which was published in September 2024.  After a chance meeting with de Bono in Malta 12 years earlier, the imminent physician invited Sara to write his biography with the first-time full cooperatino of his family, friends and colleagues which included a range of famous voices including HRH Prince Phillip, Sir Tony Blair, Annie Lennox and Baroness Helena Kennedy who wrote the introduction.

In addition to her creative work, Sarah is a lecturer, Changemaker Ambassador, a school speaker, a workshop leader and a corporate speaker. In what little spare time she has left, she is an avid yoga and meditation instructor.

John Connor was raised in Leeds, and was a frequent participant in public speaking and debating competitions whilst at school. He moved to London to study law at Queen Mary’s College, University of London, where he took up mooting and won the University’s mooting competition in 1994.

John qualified as a solicitor in 2002 and is currently the national head of Womble Bond Dickinson’s banking practice. He has spent the majority of his professional career in Leeds, and applies elements of his debating skills daily in negotiating contracts for his clients, dealing with tenders and managing the members of his team.

John is a regular judge at the Leeds Salon Annual Years 10&11 Debating Competition, and recently judged the final of the Royal Armouries Sixth Form Debating Competition at the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds.

solicitor and legal advisor

David Isaacs is a solicitor specialising in intellectual property, commercial property and commercial litigation. For 20 years he was he was legal advisor to Match Healthcare Group.  Admitted as a solicitor in 1981, David has been practicing law since then and has been a Partner at MyLegalCase online legal services since 2019.

David is a member and trustee of the European Atlantic Group  – a non-party debating society meeting in Parliament. In his spare time he is a member of a Greek and Latin reading group. David also writes comedy with a good friend and is in the process of finishing his first novel. He attended Manchester Grammar School until 1970 and went on to study Politics, Philosophy and Economics (PPE) at Exeter College, Oxford where he was awarded an MA (Oxon) in 1973.

Charlotte Vere (Baroness Vere of Norbiton) is a Conservative politician and member of the House of Lords. She was Parliamentary Secretary at HM Treasury between 14 November 2023 and 5 July 2024. Prior to that, Charlotte was Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Transport and Government Whip (Baroness is Waiting).

Before entering politics, Charlotte spent 4 years as the Executive Director of the Girls’ Schools Association, including 6 months as the General Secretary of the Independent Schools Council. Prior to that she was the CEO of Big White Wall, an online mental health service, and Finance Director at Recruit Media, a digital recruitment agency. Her early career was spent in investment banking.

Charlotte studied Biochemical Engineering at University College London (BSc Eng) and completed a MBA at The Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University.

Dr. Richard C. Harris is a Professor of Communication at Southerastern University in Florida, USA, where he is the Lead Speech Professor and faculty advisor for the Speech and Debate Team. He is also a TEDx speaker, a pastor, and an award-winning author. He is a Certified World-class Speaker Coach, and holds graduate degrees both in communication and pastoral ministry, as well as a doctorate in adult higher education.