The 2026 Henry Grattan Lecture was delivered by Tom Fletcher in London on Monday. The Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator for the United Nations addressed immigration, cuts to humanitarian funding, and the changing international order in his address. Drawing on first-hand experience in Gaza, Darfur, Kabul, Haiti and the Democratic Republic of Congo, he offered a stark assessment of the moment in which we live. For millions of people, he argued, the international order is not on the cusp of collapse, it has already collapsed. “What we are going through right now is not a drill,” he said, urging honesty about the scale of global upheaval and the need for renewed seriousness in public life.
The Lecture was attended by Martin Fraser, Ambassador of Ireland to the United Kingdom, and moderated by Prof Gail McElroy. Prof McElroy is an expert in comparative politics who has previously served as Head of Department (2013-2015), Head of School (2015-2019) and Dean of the Faculty (2019-2024).
