Professor David Feldman gives a guest lecture in the Human Rights and Democracy Forum

Professor David Feldman QC (Hon.), Rouse Ball Professor of English Law at the University of Cambridge, was invited to the Human Rights and Democracy Forum on 22nd March and closed the first two terms of the Forum’s activities with a lecture entitled 'Democracy and Human Rights in a Changing Constitution'.

Professor Feldman’s outline of his paper underlined the significance of this topic: ‘It is a challenging time for both democracy and human rights. Democracy is threatened by foreign interference and domestic attacks on freedom of speech; human rights are politically contentious, and uncomfortable, politically inspired compromises are being made. In the UK, which used to have parliamentary democracy uncontroversially at the constitution's heart, international and domestic pressures are weakening power-centres and making it harder to give effect to important values. To overcome these problems, we need to be clear about core values and must be prepared to stand up to attacks on them.’

The lecture thus discussed some of the issues which academics and lawyers have a special responsibility to address for the public good.