Our sixth Fforestfach Colloquium was held in the House of Lords on Thursday, 16th April, 2026. We had the pleasure of listening and responding to three excellent speakers addressing the question, ‘How Much Love, To Which Neighbours? Our Duties Within the Nation and Beyond.’
Our lead presenter was Dr Nick Spencer, Senior Fellow at Theos, a Christian think tank. He argued for an approach to the question that balances awareness of human need with the principle of subsidiarity, so that responsibility is exercised first at the most local, competent level, while still recognising that we have moral duties to aid those beyond the nation, particularly when their local structures fail.
Nick Spencer’s respondents were Daniel Johnson, journalist, founding Editor of TheArticle, an online journalism platform, and a former senior editor, editorial writer and columnist for The Times and The Daily Telegraph; and by Dr David Miller, Professor of Political Theory at the University of Oxford and author of On Nationality and National Responsibility and Global Justice (2007).
The audience of about 20 invited guests listened intently and responded readily with questions and comments that ranged freely across the speakers’ remarks. Our speakers have kindly provided us with the text of their presentations, which can be accessed below.
Presentation 1:
What are our Moral Duties as a Nation? by Nick Spencer
Dr Nick Spencer is Senior Fellow at Theos. He is the author of a number of books and reports, including Magisteria: The Entangled Histories of Science and Religion (Oneworld, 2023), The Political Samaritan: How Power Hijacked a Parable (Bloomsbury, 2017), The Evolution of the West (SPCK, 2016) and Atheists: The Origin of the Species (Bloomsbury, 2014). He is host of the podcast Reading Our Times.
Presentation 2:
How Much Love, to Which Neighbours? Our Duties Within the Nation and Beyond, by Daniel Johnson
Daniel Johnson is a British journalist and author who was the founding editor of Standpoint magazine and a former senior editor, editorial writer and columnist for The Times and The Daily Telegraph. Since 2018, he has been founding editor of the online journalism platform TheArticle, as well as being an associate editor of The Critic magazine and commentator for The Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday and The Daily Telegraph.
Presentation 3:
And Who is My Neighbour? Moral Duties at Home and Abroad, by David Miller
David Miller is an English political theorist. He is Professor of Political Theory at the University of Oxford and an Official Fellow of Nuffield College, Oxford. He previously lectured at the University of Lancaster and the University of East Anglia. He is the author of a number of publications, including Social Justice, On Nationality (Clarendon Press, 1995) and Citizenship and National Identity (Polity, 2000).