Highlights include a debate involving comedian, actor and activist Stephen Fry, American politician Sarah Palin, leader of feminist movement FEMEN Inna Shevchenko and journalist Jon Snow.

Stephen Fry, alumnus of Queens’ College, will participate in a debate on Thursday 29th January. He is best known for his appearance in Black Adder II, Jeeves and Wooster, and more recently as the long-running presenter of the BBC television quiz show QI.

Fry has also publically supported various protest movements, including a boycott of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics and the ‘Hacked Off’ campaign regarding press self-regulation.

The Union will also continue to host impressive female speakers this upcoming term, with Inna Shevchenko featuring in a debate on Thursday 26th February.

As a leader of radical Ukrainian feminist protest group FEMEN, in 2011 Schevchenko was allegedly kidnapped and threatened by the Belarus KGB.

She continues to be a prominent member of the international FEMEN movement as a political asylum in France. FEMEN have gained publicity for demonstrating (often topless) against the sex industry, sexism, homophobia, and religious institutions.

In week seven, American politician Sarah Palin will be speaking at the Union. Palin is a trailblazer for women in American politics, as the first woman to have been elected governor of Alaska, and the first female Republican to be nominated for Vice Presidency, when she ran alongside John McCain in 2008.

She has since published a successful political memoir and starred in her own reality television show. 

Palin is a prominent figure in the Tea Party movement and has yet to disclose her plans for the next presidential election.

Finally, speaking right at the end of term, on Friday 13th March, is the English journalist Jon Snow and the longest running presenter of Channel 4 news. 

One of the most acclaimed journalists of our time, Snow has won five Royal Television Society Awards, presented an award-winning documentary and turned down an OBE.

In 2014, Jon Snow made headlines over his heated interview with Russell Brand.