Upcoming Events
Pi brings to its members an exceptional and uniquely broad programme of events throughout the year with the world’s most authoritative and exciting speakers. The Mayfair based events are a mix of breakfasts, lunches and dinners with virtual events when the speaker is based overseas.
Pi speakers span the range from established global leaders — past Presidents of the United States and General Secretaries of the United Nations — to top cultural, economic and scientific figures. We identify trends as they emerge and always ensure that our members are informed on the most pressing issues of the day.
March 2024
Hala Gorani
Anchor and Correspondent
Tales from an Emmy Award winning international journalist
Hala weaves stories from her time as a globe-trotting anchor and correspondent travelling to some of the most dangerous places in the world, with her own lifelong search for identity as the daughter of Syrian immigrants.
Tom Athron
CEO of Fortum & Mason
Fortnum's - the home of extraordinary food and drink
Tom is quietly leading the reinvention of Fortnum’s, British retail institution and grocer to the Royal Family since 1707, into a modern, relevant, forward-looking luxury brand centred on extraordinary food and drink. Over breakfast in the innovative Food and Drink Studio on the newly revamped 3rd Floor, Tom will join us to talk about what it takes to transform a heritage brand and put it squarely at the heart of London’s thriving food scene.
Sir Robin Niblett
Distinguished Fellow and former CEO of Chatham House
The New Cold War: How the Contest Between the US and China Will Shape Our Century
The contest between America and China is global and unbridgeable, and it encompasses all major instruments of statecraft: diplomacy, technology, military power, intelligence, trade and investment. How we manage this contest will determine not only whether there is still space for international cooperation to deal with our many global challenges, from the climate emergency to the technological revolution, but also who gets to dominate the twenty-first century and, quite simply, the course of all our futures.
April 2024
Dr. Aron D'Souza
President of the Enhanced Games
Enhanced Games, the Olympics of the future
The Enhanced Games is a new international sporting organization that aims to be the 21st Century Olympics by removing all forms of drug testing, replacing this with clinically supervised “health testing”, and offering multi-million dollar prize purses for world records.
Prof Andrew Tutt
Consultant Oncologist and Professor of Breast Oncology
The detection and treatment of secondary cancer
With breast cancer touching the lives of so many people we know, yet so little known about recognising secondary cancer, we felt it essential that we highlight the critical importance of detecting the early signs. In numbers, there are currently 600,000 women in the UK who have survived 5+ years after primary breast cancer; less well known is that 20-30% of them will get incurable secondary cancer. Early diagnosis is pivotal in life expectancy and quality of life for this group.
Emile Hokayem
Director of Regional Security and Senior Fellow for Middle East Security at the IISS
Conflict and competition in the Middle East: How bad can it get?
The Israel-Hamas war has shattered the relative optimism that emerged in preceding years. Reconciliation among the Middle East’s main rivals, the Abraham Accords, the Gulf states’ “prosperity first” agenda seemed to have ended a decade of intense rivalry and opened tantalizing prospects for regional cooperation. Instead, the current war has exposed the illusion that unresolved conflicts can be kept frozen and carries serious risks for regional stability.
Niall Ferguson
Historian, author, opinion writer
The World in 2024: Crisis, Conflict and Consequences (in collaboration with Intelligence Squared)
How can the West deal with the geopolitical and ideological threats posed by what Ferguson calls the axis of ill will – Russia, China and Iran? With localised wars in Ukraine and the Middle East and the threat of a crisis next year over Taiwan, are we sleepwalking towards a Third World War? And what are the likely consequences of the ongoing conflicts for the world economy?
May 2024
Joseph Stiglitz
Economist and Nobel Laureate
Do free markets truly bring freedom? (in collaboration with How To Academy)
Stiglitz will reveal how unbridled capitalism reduces economic opportunities, siphons wealth from the many to the few, and impacts our legal and social freedoms – from property and intellectual rights to education to social media. In turn he will share a new vision of true human flourishing, offering an alternative to the neoliberal consensus and a powerful re-evaluation of democracy, economics, and the good society – along with a roadmap for how we can achieve it.
Duncan Clark OBE
A Tale of Two Cities: Tokyo and Beijing
After three decades of deflation and stagnation, Japan is showing new signs of vigour, including price and wage hikes and a stock market hitting heights not seen since the late 1980s. Meanwhile China is experiencing a ‘Japanication’, with deflation, massive debt overhang from a real estate crisis and drops in FDI, employment and consumer sentiment not to mention trade and geo-political friction with the U.S. With an aging and shrinking population is China headed for its own lost decades? Can Japan shake off its past and sustain its current recovery?
Scott Galloway
Professor, serial entrepreneur, author
The Algebra of Wealth: A Simple Formula for Success
Today’s workers have more opportunities and mobility than any previous generation. They also face unprecedented challenges, including inflation, labour and housing shortages, and climate volatility. Even the notion of ‘retirement’ is undergoing a profound rethink, as our lifespans extend and our relationship with work evolves. In The Algebra of Wealth, Scott lays bare the rules of financial success in today’s economy, explaining what you need to know in order to improve your chances of achieving economic security no matter what.
Fragile Beauty: Photographs from the Sir Elton John and David Furnish Collection
Victoria and Albert Museum
Join us for a curator led tour of the V&A’s new exhibition, Fragile Beauty: Photographs from the Sir Elton John and David Furnish Collection. Elton John and his husband David Furnish have been collecting photography since the 1990s. Their collection, comprising over 10,000 items, spans the history of photography and includes masters of the medium such as Richard Avedon, Nan Goldin, Cindy Sherman, Zanele Muholi, Tracey Moffat and Robert Mapplethorpe.
Please note the timing of this event: 9-10am.
June 2024
Salman Khan
Founder of the Khan Academy
Brave New Words: How AI will Revolutionise Education
In Brave New Words, Salman explores how artificial intelligence and GPT technology will transform learning, offering a roadmap for teachers, parents, and students to navigate this exciting new world. Khan will also delve into the ethical and social implications of AI and GPT, offering thoughtful insights into how we can use these tools to build a more accessible education system for students around the world.