There was much in the content of the MSc that could be directly applied to the work that I do in South Africa. In the carbon sphere, the lectures on environmental policy and on rational choice theory helped in moulding my thinking on these issues; in the HIV-prevention sphere, where I work for a campaign that is essentially an exercise in social engineering, I was given much to think about in our studies of utilitarianism, Kant, Kamm’s non-consequentialism, and in the work I did on Peter Singer for my dissertation. But for me this wasn’t the best thing about the MSc at all. What I have really had opportunity to apply was the slow and careful approach to examining moral and political issues that we employed in our seminars. I had grown accustomed (in the context of a country where public debate is lively to the extent of being rough) to forming an opinion on an issue quickly, and then spending time vigorously defending it. What really challenged me during my year at the LSE was having to examine all the premises I held which I had never before bothered to think about properly. I cannot claim that my thinking has been ‘fixed’ – one year is too short a time to do this – but it certainly has set me on a path to being more careful in my thinking, more rigorous in my analysis, slower to pass judgment on the opinions of others, and in general better able to make the case for particular courses of action.