## **Report of the Trustees for the period ending 28 February 2025**
The Trustees of Keele World Affairs present their annual report and accounts for the period ended 28 February 2025 and confirm they comply with the requirements of the Charity Commission and the constitution of Keele World Affairs.
## **1 OUR AIMS**
The charitable aims of Keele World Affairs are
(1) To advance education for the public benefit through lectures and other forms of learning in fields of international politics, economics, and global issues;
(2) To create an environment that encourages lifelong learning through the programmes it organises;
(3) To share the knowledge gained during its programme with the wider community.
Since the foundation of Keele World Affairs in 1980 as an informal community association, its primary focus has been on international politics, economics, and global issues. This remained the aim of the trustees following the registration of Keele World Affairs as a charity and has continued in the latest year.
It is increasingly recognised that a unique feature of Keele World Affairs, appreciated by speakers and members alike, is the lengthy Q & A session in which over 300 members can raise thoughtful questions about the speaker’s analysis and opinions. A two way process unlike a traditional lecture. In our website and materials, we have renamed lectures as ‘talks’ (preferred by most guest speakers) and now describe Keele World Affairs as the UK’s leading Forum for International Politics and Global Issues.
## **2 OUR ETHOS AND OUR ACCESS POLICY**
Keele World Affairs serves the region and society more widely (by for example bringing public figures into contact with our members) and as a charitable trust it seeks to benefit the public through the pursuit of the above aims. Our policy is for subscriptions to be affordable by any member of the community whatever their economic status.
In return for the voluntary effort that is made to sustain the efforts of the charity, we expect subscribing members to follow our guiding principles of lifelong learning by
regular attendance during the season, engagement in the questioning of speakers on the topics covered, and support that leads to a good learning environment.
Applications to join Keele World Affairs are considered in the light of these principles and we are committed to maintaining a membership that is free from any form of discrimination on the grounds of colour, race, ethnicity, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, or disability. We believe that our members benefit from learning within a diverse community and that a great deal of learning occurs through social interaction, conversation and shared experiences during our meetings.
## **3 STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT**
The Committee of charity trustees are responsible for the policies and overall management of Keele World Affairs activities. They meet during the season and the summer recess as required. With the longer term in mind, teams of member volunteers have been formed to help implement policies and manage activities. During 2024 some were invited to attend Committee meetings in order to gain experience of its deliberations.
All trustees and team members give of their time freely and no remuneration or expenses (other than out of pocket expenses) were paid in the accounting period.
In January 2025, Bill Boynton announced that he would remain the Chair but would not be responsible for organising speaker programmes after Season 45 ending in March 2026.
During the period two Trustees, Fiona Sparkes and Tony Berry, announced that they would step down during the first half of 2025 after the current reporting period.
A campaign, led by the Chair, was launched starting 30 January 2025 to encourage and recruit successors to the Committee, was ongoing at 28 February and reached a conclusion on 1 May 2025
## **4 OUR FINANCES**
Our financial accounts are shown at the bottom of this report.
## **5 REVIEW OF ACTIVITIES AND ACHIEVEMENTS**
## **5.1 Programme of meetings**
During the period, 20 meetings took place.
## **5.2 Speakers**
The following speakers addressed Keele World Affairs meeting during the period covered by the report. They include academics, historians, scientists, diplomats, journalists, and politicians.
Daniel Bruce Chief Executive, Transparency International UK Corruption: Counting the Cost Roger Mosey Master, Selwyn College, Cambridge What Chance for Broadcasters in a Digital World? Shashank Joshi Defence Editor, The Economist Ukraine’ s Future: Strategies, Resources and Political Will Alastair Morgan CMG
former British Ambassador to North Korea, Senior Research Fellow, King’s College London The Enigma of North Korea and its Geopolitics Philip Collins Journalist, editor, author, political advisor The State of British Politics Baroness Catherine Ashton GCMG Former EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, House of Lords And Then What? Inside Stories of 21st Century Diplomacy Professor Jonnie Penn
Professor of AI Ethics and Society, Leverhulme Centre, University of Cambridge The Hand that Grips AI Professor Rebecca Willis Professor in Energy and Climate Governance, Lancaster University Too Hot to Handle?: The Democratic Challenge of Climate Change Dr Jonathan Parker Senior Lecturer & National Teaching Fellow, Keele University US Elections in 2024: Voting, Rigging, the Struggle for Democracy Professor Julia Buxton British Academy Global Professor, Criminology, University of Manchester The Curse of Latin America: Seeking a Global Drugs Policy Sir John Jenkins KCMG LVO former UK Ambassador to Burma, Syria, Iraq, Libya, and Saudi Arabia The Changing Geopolitics of the Middle East Professor Margaret MacMillan OM CH Professor of History, University of Toronto, Emeritus Professor of International History, Oxford War and the Modern World Sir Roderic Lyne KBE CMG former UK Ambassador to Russia What Future for Russia? Paul Madden CMG Former UK Ambassador to Japan, Australia and Singapore Japan's Role in the Indo-Pacific Professor Kate Sullivan de Estrada Associate Professor, International Relations of South Asia, University of Oxford India and the Politics of the Indian Ocean Sir John Sawers GCMG Former Chief of MI6 and Ambassador, Visiting Prof, King’s College London National Security: Living in an Age of Uncertainty Lord Simon McDonald former Head of the Diplomatic Service, Master, Christ's College Cambridge Beyond Britannia: Reshaping UK Foreign Policy Lord Adair Turner Chair, Energy Transitions Commission, Senior Fellow, INET, former Chairman FSA Technological answers and political barriers in a zero-carbon world Professor Kerry Brown Director, Lau China Institute, King’s College London Inside the CCP: Who Influences President Xi? Fintan O'Toole columnist and writer, The Irish Times A United Ireland: Problem or Possibility?
## **5.3 Attendances**
Attendances in the Westminster during the period was 6,249, an increase of 14% on the previous period and evidence of further recovery in support since Covid.
## **5.4 Communications**
We communicate frequently with all World Affairs members by email and this encourages commitment to the programme that is the basis of their educational experience. There is a preview of each meeting and guidance on how to benefit most from attendance at our meetings.
## **5.5 Our Systems**
Our current website is well-maintained and there is a long-term intention to move to another platform that will be easier to update.
For cloud storage we continue with our secure Tresorit platform under advantageous terms as a charity agreed with Tresorit by our late Systems Trustee.
## **5.6 Our Website**
Information about Keele World Affairs and its aims is available to subscribing members and to the public at www. http://kwaku.org.uk/. To make our educational activities widely available, we maintain an archive of our meetings published whenever we have the consent of the speaker. In January 2025 we launched our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/@KeeleWorldAffairs where the latest videos can now be viewed. Our archive for 2024 and earlier remains available at at http://kwaku.org.uk/Video.html.
## **5.7 Member Feedback and Opinion**
Keele World Affairs is run by the trustees on the Foundation Model in which they take the decisions, so regular surveys of subscribing members are important to provide feedback about their educational experience. Following our return to face-to-face meetings, we again see high levels of satisfaction in the survey conducted for the season to spring 2024 shown as MS24 in the chart below.
For the first time, members are able to rate the range of topics as distinct from the speakers they encountered. This dimension will be reported in future years.
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Extremely & Very Satisfied % 2015-2025
100% Extremely & Very Satisfied % 2014-2023
100%
95% Speakers/ Lectures Q&A Sessions
95%
Pre-meeting Communications Lifelong Learning Experience
90%
90% Social Environment
85%
85%
80%
80%
75%
75%
70%
70%
65%
65%
60%
60% Speakers
55%55% Q&A Sessions
Pre-meeting
50%50% Communications
Lifelong Learning
45%45% Experience
Social Environment
40%40%
35%35%
2015-2016MS15 2016-2017MS16 2017-2018MS17 2018-2019MS182019-2020MS192020-2021MS202021-2022MS212022-2023MS222023-2024MS232024-2025
**----- End of picture text -----**
## **5.8 Engagement with our educational programme**
During the period covered by this report, books by the following speakers were available at book signings at our meetings. We invite local booksellers to organise them and we seek no profit:
Baroness Catherine Ashton GCMG Professor Rebecca Willis Professor Margaret MacMillan OM CH Paul Madden CMG Lord Simon McDonald Professor Kerry Brown Fintan O'Toole
## **6 ADVISORY PANEL** .
At the end of 2023 our Honorary President Lord Peter Hennessy was succeeded by another distinguished figure on our Advisory Panel, Prof Margaret MacMillan OM CH. Due to a late change in our programme for Season 44, we were fortunate that Prof MacMillan was able to speak at Keele World Affairs on 21 November 2024.
In January and February 2025 our guest speakers included Lord Simon McDonald, former Head of the Diplomatic Service, and Lord Adair Turner, Chair of the Energy Transmissions Commission, and former Chair, Financial Services Authority. Both have kindly agreed to serve on our Advisory Panel as can now be seen on our website.
## **7 RELATIONSHIP WITH KEELE UNIVERSITY**
Our relationship with the university remains strong and we are grateful for access to its excellent facilities. The Vice-Chancellor and Dean of Humanities & Social Sciences are ex-officio members of Keele World Affairs. The Vice-Chancellor, whose mid-2025 retirement was announced during the current period is invited annually to address our members about developments at Keele University, an occasion planned for 20 March 2025.
## **8 CONCLUDING REMARKS**
Outstanding speakers and in-depth discussion of a wide range of international issues enabled us to fulfil our aims once more.
Signed: Date:
Bill Boynton Chair
Website www.kwaku.org.uk
Registered Charity No. 1164457
## **Keele World Affairs CIO**
## **Statement of Financial Activities for the year ended 28 February 2025**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Receipts and Payments
2025 2024
£ £
Receipts
Course enrolment fees 19,272 15,022
Donations 126 43
Other Receipts 340 0
Total receipts 19,738 15,022
Payments
Speaker expenses 6,519 5.892
Other meeting expenses 1,802 1,745
Internet and audio visual 3,631 3,436
services
Other IT costs 2,691 3,095
Membership administration 429 720
Insurance and legal 375 362
Total payments 15,447 15,250
Net surplus/(Deficit) 4,291 (185)
Reserves brought forward 26,295 26,480
Reserves carried forward 30,586 26,295
**----- End of picture text -----**
Registered charity number 1164457
http://kwaku.org.uk
## **Keele World Affairs CIO**
||**Balance Sheet as at 28 February 2025**|**Balance Sheet as at 28 February 2025**|**Balance Sheet as at 28 February 2025**|
|---|---|---|---|
|||**2025**|**2024**|
|||**£**|**£**|
|Bank accounts||27,586|23,295|
|Computers|and equipment|3,000|3,000|
|Reserves||30586|26295|
## **Accounting policies**
## 1.Basis of accounting
The financial statements have been prepared on a receipts and payments basis. Receipts from course enrolment fees are collected and recognized in the year to which they relate. Expenses are recognized in the year in which they are paid including VAT which cannot be recovered.
## 2. Charitable status
Keele World Affairs CIO is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation registered number 1164457. As a result of its charitable status, no liability to tax arises on its income.
## 3. Computers and equipment
The computers and equipment include laptops and equipment used during meetings and are stated at Trustees’ valuation.
Signed on behalf of the Trustees
_J W Boynton_
J W Boynton Date: 8 July 2025 Trustee
_R M Arkle_
R M Arkle Date: 8 July 2025 Trustee
Registered charity number 1164457
http://kwaku.org.uk
Registered charity number 1164457
http://kwaku.org.uk