Clay Shirky has beaten the blizzards and will speak tonight at the LSE, in the Old Theatre, Houghton Street, at 6.30pm. Admission is free, but get there on time as it is a hot ticket in a cold climate.

The time for gurus is past. The snow swirling in to the country just confirms the feeling that a bleak season is upon us. But good ideas are still a sound currency and Clay Shirky has plenty.

Shirky’s Here Comes Everybody is a best-selling book that charts how the Internet enables collaborative working to boost business and socail enterprise. I have written about how these ideas can appy to journalism. But in the teeth of an economic gale are they are luxury or a necessity?

Listen to Clay at the LSE on Tuesday. I will be chairing his lecture at 6.30pm in the Old Theatre, Houghton Street.