David Cameron has subsequently agreed to EU sanctions and travel bans have been imposed on Russian officials. But would our response have been stronger were it not for the importance of Russian money to London?

Russians are granted more investor visas than any other nationality; Russians buy London property, send their children to British schools and hire British lawyers and bankers. For some, Britain has become a shamelessly mercenary country, putting financial gain before morality.

Others argue that the government is right to put growth first; its obligations are to the British people, who are interested in their livelihoods, not the legality of a referendum in Crimea. Are sanctions even the best approach? With them comes the risk of isolating Putin, making a diplomatic solution to the Ukraine crisis less likely.

Standpoint magazine brings together a distinguished panel to debate Britain’s response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea.

Chaired by Daniel Johnson, the founding editor of Standpoint. He covered the end of the Cold War for The Daily Telegraph and is the author of White King and Red Queen: How the Cold War was Fought on a Chess Board.

The panel:

Ben Judah has reported for Standpoint from Russia and Ukraine. He is the author of Fragile Empire: How Russian Fell In And Out Of Love With Vladimir Putin.

Tony Brenton worked for 30 years for the Foreign Office and was British Ambassador in Russia from 2004 to 2008. In 2007 he was awarded a KCMG. He is now extraordinary fellow of Wolfson College, Cambridge.

Roger Boyes is diplomatic editor at The Times. Previously he has worked as a foreign correspondent in Eastern Europe, Berlin and Rome.

Peter Hitchens is a journalist, broadcaster and author. He is a columnist on the Mail on Sunday and has worked as a foreign correspondent in Moscow and Washington.

Your ticket will include a copy of Standpoint magazine.

Is the Western world reaching an epochal shift? New documentary Four Horsemen argues that it is – and that in order to produce a fairer, less dysfunctional world we need to understand the systems that govern us and begin to question them.

The film presents the many problems we face – “a rampageous financial system, escalating organised violence, abject poverty for billions and a looming environmental fallout”. But what emerges is not a doomsday scenario but the suggestion that although change is urgent, the conditions for it have never been more favourable.

Join us for this special event bringing together the film’s director Ross Ashcroft, co-author of the accompanying book Four Horsemen: The Survival Manual, Mark Braund, contributors and others to map out the argument for change and ask whether we have reached the age of consequence.

Chaired by Phillip Blond, a British political thinker, theologian, philosopher, and director of the think tank ResPublica. He is the author of Red Tory and research fellow at NESTA.

With:

Victoria Chick, Emeritus professor of economics at University College London, where she has taught for nearly 40 years. She has written on the economics of Keynes, money and economic method.

Ross Ashcroft, co-founder of the London based independent production company Motherlode and the website Renegade Economist. Four Horsemen is his feature debut.

Mark Braund, a freelance writer and an economic philosopher. He has a specific interest in the prospects for transformative social change towards a more just, inclusive and sustainable society. He has worked in the private, public and voluntary sectors, and spent three years as an advisor to the government of Mozambique. He also is regular contributor to the Renegade Economist and the Guardian.

Daniel Ben-Ami, journalist and author, he has contributed to numerous national, specialist and international publications. An extended edition of Ferraris For All, his book defending economic progress, has just come out in paperback and on Kindle.

Join us for what should prove to be a fascinating discussion between BBC Newsnight’s Paul Mason and acclaimed playwright Sir David Hare, whose recent play The Power of Yes wrestled with the causes of the 2008 financial crisis.

From his "ringside seat" as economics editor Paul Mason‘s book Meltdown: The End of the Age of Greed is a blow by blow account that begins with the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the bailout package of October 2008, seeking to explain how we got there.

In an updated edition Paul Mason explores the impact of this development on capitalist ideology and politics. We are delighted that Sir David Hare who carried out meticulous research for his play on the financial crisis will be with us to discuss the events of 2008 and seek to make sense of the state of capitalism today.

View in iTunes

There’s no shortage of news around at the moment, but is anyone making anyone any money from it?

As the print-based media come to terms with a shrinking advertising market and a promiscuous digital audience, many are looking to high-end devices such as Apple’s iPhone and iPad, which touches down in Britain on May 28, as a way to charge readers.

But is Apple’s tightly controlled app economy really the great hope that newspaper and magazine publishers hope it is, or just another false dawn?

At the same time, Rupert Murdoch’s Times and Sunday Times are about to launch paid-for premium websites featuring exclusive text and video content any day now — yet consumer research has consistently shown that readers are reluctant to cough up for web news. Will Murdoch have the last laugh?

With an expert panel we investigate the prospects for news publishers to recoup revenue lost to the digital revolution. Panelists include:

• Special guest Gurtej Sandhu, digital director of The Times, which this month will (re)launch two paid-for, paywalled sites, thetimes.co.uk and thesundaytimes.co.uk.
• Douglas McCabe from Enders Analysis, an expert in online publishing, new media business models and the impact of new media on existing markets,
• Ewan McLeod, founder and editor of Mobile Industry Review and entrepreneur
• Marybeth Christie, head of product management at FT.com,
• Chaired by Steve Hewlett, journalist, consultant and presenter of BBC Radio 4’s Media Show

This event is in partnership with the BBC College of Journalism.

Pic credit: acaben, via a cc licence

Paul Mason talks about the ongoing financial crisis that has brough the global economy to the brink of depression. Gordon Brown hailed the result of deregulation as the ‘golden age’ of banking in the UK. Mason will give insights into how deregulation is at the heart of the collapse of the banking system in September and October 2008 and how it led to expanded subprime mortgage lending, an uncontrollable derivatives market, and the lethal fusion of banking and insurance.

In his latest book Financial Meltdown and the end of the Age of Greed Mason goes on a journey from the trading floors of the New York and London stock exchange, to the meeting rooms of HBOS and Lehman Brothers and the minds of senior government officials. Meltdown explores the roots of the US and UK’s financial hubris, documenting the real-world causes and consequences, from the Ford factory, to Wall Street to the City of London.

Paul Mason is the economics editor of BBC’s Newsnight.

Meltdown, pubished by Verso, will be on sale after the talk, price tbc

In recent weeks, increasing criticism has been leveled at the media over failure to provide adequate warning of the impending economic turmoil, as well as accusations of sensationalist coverage. Did the media fail in its scrutiny? Or are the workings of international finance now so complex and secretive that the media can no longer provide effective oversight?

We ask some of the journalists and commentators who have been credited with providing early warning of the collapse of the markets for their assessment of where the global economy will be in twelve months as well as asking them to reflect on the media’s role in the crisis.

Paul Lashmar is an investigative journalist and is currently undertaking a research project into the reporting in the UK of the sub-prime market prior to August 2007 for publication in Journalism Practice. He writes for various newspapers including the Independent on Sunday, The Guardian and The Evening Standard, and his specialist areas include terrorism, intelligence, organised crime, offshore crime, business fraud and the Cold War.

Our panel discusses how a global recession would affect the UK, the western world as a whole and the developing world.

Vincent Cable MP – Deputy leader of the British Liberal Democrats and MP for Twickenham.

Chris Giles – Economics Editor, Financial Times.

Steven Bell – Chief economist of hedge fund GLC.

Moderated by Andrew Walker – BBC Economics Correspondent.