The debate about the global financial crisis in the lead up to the London Summit.

In the run up to the London Summit, we provided a variety of ways for you to engage in debate and discussion online.

As well as generating our own debate issues, we offered people - students, politicians, academics, bankers, chief executives, lawyers and mums - the chance to express their opinions, through written articles or filmed interviews.

The London Summit website itself received more than 400,000 unique visitors and over 2.5 million pages views between January and April, with many more visiting our partner sites, or engaging in the debate elsewhere.

VoxEU: Global crisis debate

A partnership with VoxEU, an online economics policy debate website, collected the views of economists around the world - views that were fed directly into those preparing for the London Summit.

The Global Crisis Debate organised debates around six central themes related to the London Summit, each moderated by a well-known economist.  By April,  160 commentaries had been posted to the site, which had resulted in 300,000 page views.

The debate continues, and VoxEU is now posting appraisals and analysis of the summit decisions. And senior economists from the UK government have responded to the debate on VoxEU:

• Jonathan Portes - The outcome of the London Summit: A view from the Cabinet Office
• L Alan Winders - The London Summit and development: A view from the UK's development agency L Alan Winters
  
• Vicky Pryce - The London Summit: Open markets and trade finance

Question and answer

Our partnership with Yoosk, the online interactive interview magazine, allowed viewers the opportunity to submit questions to leading politicians, commentators and celebrities.

More than 350 questions were submitted by members of the public to interviewees, including Lord Mandelson, Oxfam chief Barbara Stocking and TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber.

The questions were wide-ranging, some of them about hopes for the London Summit, some UK-focused, and some, understandably, asking what it all means for the individual. Questions included:

'Charity begins at home. Isn't that especially true at times of financial crisis, such as now? How can governments commit to helping the poor of other countries when the poor in their own countries are crying out for help?'

'You stress the risk of deglobalisation and the importance of openness in the face of the economic downturn. As a Chinese national, I would like your thoughts on the stimulus actions proposed by the Chinese Government.'

'Should the UK invest in an economic stimulus package, such as the one developed by the Obama administration, which includes the key components of education and training in order to lessen the impact of the financial crisis?'

A compilation of the answers:

Academics' forum

We also worked with the Open University on their London Summit Academics' Forum, set up to provoke debate amongst students and academics.

The top-ranked themes were the challenges of the economic crisis, the need for financial stability and the future of the environment. With questions such as:

• 'Is globalisation still desirable?'
• 'Quantitative Easing. What’s going on here?'
• 'Is the Anglo-American concept of "year on year economic growth" an unsustainable concept for the future?'

Youth debate

Youth voices played an active part in the debate. including interviews by youth reporters from DFID's 'Eliminating Poverty' conference - young people keen to discuss their priorities for the  London Summit.

Student Vox-pops:

Debate issues

Our own debate issues articles stimulated interest - particularly on issues such as fiscal stimuli, low carbon recovery, regulatory improvements and IMF reform - andcomment.

• Debate issues

Off platform debate

We also aggregated the best of the debate from elsewhere, including the 50 bloggers G20 Voice who attended the summit itself, We20, and the Korean debate on Chosun.com among others.