Click the video to watch the replay of our Meet the Leaders event with British-Israeli political advisor and author of The Centre Must Hold, Yair Zivan, in conversation with broadcaster and writer, Jo Phillips, to discuss important questions about centrism, what it is and how the world might again become more pragmatic and moderate.
The world is witnessing a resurgence of extremism, nationalism and populism – can the voice of reason re-emerge?
Yair Zivan is the author and editor of ‘The Centre Must Hold – Why Centrism is the answer to extremism and polarisation‘ which was released this summer and makes the case for political centrism through a series of essays from leading politicians, journalists, thinkers and policy-makers. Yair is senior foreign policy advisor to Yair Lapid, the leader of Israel’s largest centrist political party and current Leader of the Opposition. He has been working with Mr. Lapid since 2014 throughout his tenures as Finance Minister, leader of the opposition, Foreign Minister and Prime Minister of Israel. Before working for Mr. Lapid, Yair was international media spokesperson for President Shimon Peres.
Award winning journalist and former Director of Communications in the corporate and not for profit sectors, Jo Phillips’ career spans politics, public affairs and media. She was Paddy Ashdown’s Press Secretary when he was Leader of the Liberal Democrats and has acted as professional lead for a range of organisations on strategic policy and communications, lobbying and stakeholder relations. A regular political commentator on national and international broadcast media, she writes for The Guardian, The Independent, Total Politics and other national publications. She was Editor of the award-winning current affairs show Sunday Service for Radio 5 Live and Editor of live TV coverage of political party conferences for the BBC.