Compared to the politics of today, the spring of 1968 seems like a period of unbridled optimism: young people took to the streets for a better world and 'utopian' and 'radical' were not yet dirty words. But while many of those young radicals are now establishment figures in politics, media and business, the world they sought has not come about.

So was it all just hopeless naiveté and youthful extravagance? Or is the world we live in a better place for the dreamers of 1968? Could we learn from the sixties spirit of humanist optimism? Or should we just get real and explore the possibilities of our own time?

Speakers (from the '68 generation and the up-and-coming generations) include:

Frank Furedi, Manifesto Club member, former student radical and agitator in 1968, now agitated radical humanist and professor of sociology at the University of Kent.

Maria Grasso, Manifesto Club member, chair of the Institute of Ideas Post-Grad Forum and doctoral student investigating the decline of political engagement in Italy and the UK.

Lee Jones, doctoral student in International Relations at Nuffield College, Oxford, who has argued that the '68ers were possibly the most disappointing generation ever produced by Western Society.

If you're interested in debating these issues please come along :

Date: Tuesday 22 April
Venue: The Evangelist (Downstairs), 33 Blackfriars Lane, London EC4V 6EP (Map)
Time: Doors open 7pm; discussion begins 8pm.
Cost: Free to Manifesto Club Members; £5 non-members.