Topic: Politics

Tim Willcox

One of the most recognisable and trusted faces in UK and international news, after many years as a BBC Anchor - also, a Moderator, Event MC, Keynote Speaker.

Tim Willcox is best known as a professional TV presenter - versatile and relaxed in even the most challenging and sensitive situations. As a BBC News Anchor for more than 20 years, Tim brought clarity to international audiences during some of the biggest breaking stories in recent history. Now as an independent journalist and broadcaster, his ability to encapsulate and explain the essence of complicated and fast moving events is as relevant as ever.

Tim frequently chairs, moderates and is a keynote speaker at major corporate conferences and festivals in the UK and around the world. He is adept at handling key interviews and panel discussions, and brings organisational skill, fluency, personality and energy to his role .

Beginning his career on London’s Fleet Street in the 1980s, Tim has written for leading UK papers including the Times, Telegraph, Mirror Group, FT and Spectator.

Tim’s TV career started at ITN as a correspondent and presenter, followed by the BBC where he anchored BBC flagship news programmes from London and around the world. Working in the field and the studio he has covered some of the most tumultuous events in modern history.

A born storyteller and communicator, Tim has brought sensitivity and global attention to people’s darkest and also happiest moments. He is equally at home interviewing leaders from the business, cultural, military and political communities.

Tim has produced and presented several highly acclaimed documentaries on a wide range of subjects.

As a practising trumpeter, a published author and Spanish speaker, the fields of music and literature are of particular interest.

Andres Oppenheimer

Andres Oppenheimer is the Latin American editor and syndicated foreign affairs columnist with The Miami Herald. His column, The Oppenheimer Report, appears twice a week in The Miami Herald and more than 60 U.S. and foreign newspapers. He is the author of “Saving the Americas” (Random House, 2007) and four other best-selling books, is a regular political analyst with “CNN en Espanol”, and anchors his own Spanish-language television show, “Oppenheimer Presenta” which airs in the United States and 19 countries.

His previous jobs at The Miami Herald included Mexico City bureau chief, foreign correspondent, and business writer. He previously worked for five years with The Associated Press in New York, and has contributed on a free-lance basis to The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New Republic, the BBC, and CBS’ “60 Minutes.”

He is the co-winner of the 1987 Pulitzer Prize as a member of The Miami Herald team that uncovered the Iran-Contra scandal. He won the Inter-American Press Association Award twice (1989 and 1994), and the 1997 award of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists. He is the winner of 1993 Ortega y Gasset Award of Spain’s daily El País, 1998 Maria Moors Cabot Award of Columbia University, 2001 King of Spain Award, given out by the Spanish news agency EFE and King Juan Carlos I of Spain, 2002 Overseas Press Club Award and the Suncoast Emmy award from the National Academy of Television, Arts and Sciences in 2006.

He was selected by the Forbes Media Guide as one of the “500 most important journalists” of the United States in 1993, and by Poder Magazine as one of the “100 most powerful people” in Latin America in 2002 and 2008.

Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, he studied law, and moved to the United States in 1976 with a fellowship from the World Press Institute. After a year at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, he obtained a Master’s degree in Journalism from Columbia University in New York in 1978.

Oppenheimer’s latest book, “Saving the Americas: Latin America’s dangerous decline, and what the United States must do,” was described by New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson and former Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso as a “must-read.” Costa Rica President Oscar Arias called it “a landmark work” and “an engaging study that politicians, academics, journalists and other leaders will be citing for years to come.”

His previous book, “Ojos Vendados: Estados Unidos y el negocio de la corrupcion en America Latina”, on the role of U.S. corporations in recent Latin American corruption scandals, topped Argentina’s list of best-sellers in May, 2001, and was on the best-sellers’ list in Mexico and several other Latin American countries in 2001 and 2002.

Oppenheimer’s best-selling book, “Bordering on Chaos: Guerrillas, Stockbrokers, politicians and Mexico’s road to prosperity” was profiled by CBS’ “60 Minutes” in June, 1996, and by PBS’ Frontline in May, 1997. The book was described by Mike Wallace of “60 Minutes” as “A fascinating account of political and financial corruption in Mexico,” and was selected by The Los Angeles Times’ Book Review as one of the “best books” of that year. The Los Angeles Times review concluded, “Not only a must read, a great read.”

Oppenheimer’s first book, “Castro’s Final Hour: An eyewitness account of the disintegration of Castro’s Cuba” was described by Bob Woodward, of The Washington Post, as “a spectacular job of reporting, investigating and observing,” and by The Dallas Morning News as “the definitive book on Cuba in the past decade.”
Oppenheimer has also written “Cronicas de Heroes y Bandidos”, a collection of reports from various Latin American countries over the past two decades, was a best-seller in Mexico and several other Latin American countries.

Alastair Campbell

The amateur triathlete, columnist and one-time spin doctor never had parliamentary aspirations of his own but was dubbed 'the real PM'. Alastair throws light on the relationship between government, the press and the people.

Alastair Campbell was born in Yorkshire in 1957, the son of a vet. His family moved to Leicester in 1968, and he went to school there until going to Cambridge University in 1975. He graduated four years later with a degree in modern languages. His university education included a year in France when he had his first "journalism" published, articles on sex in Forum magazine. He also busked around the world with his bagpipes. Finally he decided to become a journalist and trained with the Mirror Group on local papers in the West Country before joining the Mirror itself in 1982. He left in the mid 80s to work for Eddy Shah's Today newspaper as news editor but had a nervous breakdown and left to return to the Mirror after convalescence.

He rose to become political editor and the paper's chief political columnist. He then worked briefly for Today under new ownership in 1994 before being asked by Tony Blair to be his press secretary when Mr Blair became leader of the Labour Party. He did this for three years, and played a key role helping to create New Labour and return the Party to power. After the 1997 election he became the Prime Minister's Chief Press Secretary and Official Spokesman, which entailed the co-ordination of Government communications and twice daily briefings of the press. He did this job for Labour's first term but after helping Mr Blair win a second landslide election victory, he became Director of Communications and Strategy. He did this until he resigned in September 2003, saying it had been enormous privilege but he wanted more of a life with his partner Fiona and their three children, then aged 18, 16 and 11.

Campbell worked again for the Labour Party in the run-up to the May 2005 general election. Sir Clive Woodward recruited Campbell to manage relations with the press for the British and Irish Lions tour to New Zealand in 2005. Campbell wrote a column for The Times during the tour.

Throughout his time in Downing Street, Campbell kept a diary which reportedly totaled some two million words. Selected extracts, titled The Blair Years, were published on 9 July 2007. Subsequent press coverage of the book's release included coverage of what Campbell had chosen to leave out, particularly in respect of the relationship between Blair and his Chancellor and successor, Gordon Brown. Campbell expressed an intention to one day publish the diaries in fuller form, and indicated in the introduction to the book that he did not wish to make matters harder for Brown in his new role as prime minister, or to damage the Labour Party.

In May 2012, Campbell took a job at PR agency Portland Communications, at the invitation of Tim Allan, a former adviser to Tony Blair. Along with Tony Blair, Campbell has also provided consultancy services to the government of Kazakhstan on "questions of social economic modernisation."

His main hobbies are running, bagpipes and following Burnley FC. He took up running 15 years ago at the instigation of his sons and he has since run the London Marathon, the Great North Run, and the Great Ethiopian Run, and completed the London Triathlon, all for Leukemia Research Fund, his best friend having been killed by the disease. Since resigning he has been spending his time making speeches, writing, working for his charity, and continues to advise the Prime Minister informally. He returned to the Labour Party for six months prior to the 2005 general election. Campbell has presented a series of TV interviews for Channel Five, whose subjects included President Clinton, Peter Mandelson and US cyclist Lance Armstrong. He also writes on sport for The Times, the Irish Times and Esquire magazine. He has also conducted a tour of UK regional theatres to talk about, and be quizzed on, his time with Tony Blair. Campbell was also communications adviser to the British and Irish Lions rugby tour of New Zealand last year. In his time in Downing St he was involved in all the major policy issues and international crises. He has said that in ten years in the media, and a decade in politics, he has seen his respect for the media fall and his respect for politics rise.