A.C. Grayling is Master of the New College of the Humanities, London, and a Supernumerary Fellow of St Anne's College, Oxford. Until 2011 he was Professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck College, University of London. He believes that philosophy should take an active, useful role in society. He is the author of many books, including The Meaning of Things and Towards the Light: The Story of the Struggles for Liberty in the Modern West, and has been a regular contributor to The Times, Financial Times, Observer, Independent on Sunday, Economist, Literary Review, New Statesman and Prospect. He has been a Booker Prize judge and is a frequent and popular contributor to radio and television programmes, including Newsnight, Today, In Our Time, Start the Week and CNN news.