In association with the Adam Smith Institute, I have proudly sponsored the Ayn Rand Special Lecture for the last seven years. The Lecture in London on November 23rd was a grand and successful event, held in a spectacular hall with a great audience.
Afterward, Eamonn Butler, a Founder of the Adam Smith Institute, sent me a nice letter:
Carl,
With over 300 people at the Ayn Rand Lecture last night, it was standing room only in the magnificent Drapers’ Hall in the oldest part of the City of London. Everyone in jackets and ties too—a very upmarket occasion, just as you would want.
Our speaker of course was Luke Johnson, one of Britain’s leading entrepreneurs. He does not claim to be a Rand scholar, but as I explained in my introduction, he is the living embodiment of Rand’s idea of the independent, free-thinking, driven entrepreneur who creates value—for the whole of the society.
He gave a very lively talk, getting inside the mind of the entrepreneur and explaining how capitalism really works. There were lots of well-focused questions (and answers) and the warmest round of applause I can remember.
I attach a few photos from the event.
As usual we had a lot of young people there among the big-wigs, and Luke was gracious enough to speak with and encourage nearly all of them.
Tom Walker had a very good display of The Objective Standard and I think the majority of what he had brought along all went. And we gave everyone copies of my introduction to Ayn Rand published by Cato/IEA.
Afterwards we had nothing but praise from everyone there.
So thank you once again for making this event possible. It was a credit to all involved.
Best wishes,
Eamonn Butler MA PhD Hon DLitt
Director, Adam Smith Institute
