Peter Hennessy

Why did nobody notice it coming? It took eight months to get an answer.

On July 22nd, 2009, Professors Tim Besley and Peter Hennessy wrote to her on behalf of a British Academy forum.

They concluded the failure was principally a failure of the collective imagination of many bright people to understand the risks to the system as a whole.

So what was the mainstream by then? It was a fusion, usually called the New Keynesian Synthesis.

Welcome to the Lord Speaker's podcast.

The Lord Speaker's Corner is actually in North London because we have the great pleasure of being able to talk to Peter Hennessy, who just before the summer recess retired from the House of Lords.

He is, as everyone will know, our leading contemporary historian by a mile.

And he's the go-to person if you want to know about how the Constitution works, how Whitehall works, what ministers do, and how various prime ministers have set about the task of trying to govern the country.

And his leaving the House of Lords was a matter of great regret to everyone, including me.

And the reason for that was because he was diagnosed five or six years ago with Parkinson's disease.

Peter, when you got that diagnosis, it must have been a terrible shock and you don't know how quickly it will progress.

You know that it can be treated, but you know that it can't be cured.

Knowing when to stop is a plotline for all of us.

Recently, Peter Hennessy told us he'd stop broadcasting.

Rod Stewart said he'd stop touring.

And now Jeffrey Archer is going to make this new title, Adam and Eve, his last.