The mood of excited anticipation in the crowd is one more usually associated with a pop concert than with a lecture by an octogenarian political philosopher. And yet the scenes outside London School of Economics’ (LSE) main lecture theatre, repeated days later at Imperial College, London and Queens University, Belfast, are testament to the enduring popularity of Professor Noam Chomsky in Europe at the end of 2009 on what some called his “final international speaking tour”. When tickets went on sale the LSE computer system crashed under weight of traffic and, on the night LSE’s 460-seater lecture theatre as well as two other halls screening a live video feed, are full to capacity.