For this Tuesday Talks/DwD, Reuben College received a very special guest: the newly admitted 160th Chancellor of the University of Oxford, Lord Hague of Richmond. Over dinner, surrounded by around 150 students, Fellows, and guests, we had the rare opportunity to hear reflections from someone who has spent decades at the heart of UK and global political life.
Following a first-class PPE degree at Magdalen College and a stint as President of the Oxford Union, Lord Hague went on to lead the Conservative Party and later serve as the UK’s Foreign Secretary. His political career spanned over two decades, during which he interacted with the most powerful people in the world. The clarity and confidence this requires became apparent as soon as he began his talk, titled The Next Chapter of the History of the World. He skilfully outlined the broad currents shaping both recent history and the near future, drawing attention to sweeping changes not only in the geopolitical landscape but in our personal and civic lives.
Considering recent history and our current era
He divided recent history into three chapters:
- Chapter 1 (1945–1989) was defined by the Cold War, a time of ever-present nuclear threat and sharp ideological divisions.
- Chapter 2 (1989–2015) brought a wave of globalisation, liberal optimism, and rising living standards - though not without setbacks, including 9/11 and the Iraq War. For a time, it felt like many of the big problems had been solved. The UK, he noted, enjoyed a moment of particular soft-power influence, exemplified by the 2012 London Olympics. Lord Hague met Putin in 2011, which seems unimaginable now.
- Chapter 3 (2015–present)—the period we are now living through—is, in his view, both more dangerous than the Cold War and more exciting than the post-Cold War era.
What makes our current era so complex is the convergence of five global "super-cycles": economic, geopolitical, climate, demographic, and technological. Each on its own would be transformative; taken together, they are reshaping the world at breakneck speed. The shift to a post-industrial economy, the rise of China and return of assertive Russia, the climate emergency, population imbalances, and the rapid advances in AI and biotechnology all create a sense of unpredictability, but also of opportunity. Pandemics will likely happen more often, and universities, he urged, must position themselves at the forefront of scientific preparedness. AI will drastically change how we work, how we make scientific discoveries, and how we fight. Since AI is unlikely to get regulated, we have to find a way to deal with technologies like lethal autonomous weapons.
It is both a more dangerous and a more exciting time than ever before. Lord Hague returned again and again to two key ideas that will help us deal with new challenges and make the most of opportunities: resilience and reinvention. These, he argued, are the qualities that individuals, institutions, and nations alike must embrace if they are to thrive in such a volatile era.
Reflections
During the Q&A, Lord Hague spoke with clarity and conviction on the need to reimagine education—not just to prepare students for today's careers, but to help them adapt continuously. Jobs and tools will change, but core human values—empathy, identity, emotional stability—must anchor us. He cautioned against mistaking digital convenience for genuine connection: we may use software to make our lives better, but it cannot replace human connections.
My takeaways from the evening were that we need to recognise that we are living through unprecedented times and respond by becoming more resilient and developing our ability to continually adapt and reinvent ourselves. Universities like ours should be at the forefront of the advancements that will be crucial in meeting new challenges, whilst keeping human values at the core of what we do.
