In the first of a 2 part discussion, Professor John MIlbank and Dr Simon Oliver introduce the notion of 'the Gift'. Beginning with the French Anthropologist, Marcel Mauss (1872 - 1950) they discuss how Mauss argued that a gift is never free, rather it is a reciprocal exchange between the parties, before moving on to more recent Philosophical theories and discussion including the work of Jacques Derrida (1930-2004).