Academy of Ideas

#LockdownDebates: Has Covid-19 killed globalism?

LOCKDOWN DEBATE: What lessons should we draw from the pandemic response? Is China turning from a ‘status quo’ power to one that will become more disruptive and active in pursuit of global influence? To what extent will the international order and its institutions continue to fray? Are we seeing the return of the nation state, or will realpolitik in the face of the pandemic likely encourage renewal of cooperation and new institutions? What is the likely impact of the inevitable economic restructuring? In short, where next for geopolitics - and is the future one of international disorder? Dr Philip Cunliffe, Mary Dejevsky, Lord Maurice Glasman and Joan Hoey discuss.

#EconomyForum: Covid-19 and the US economy

ECONOMY FORUM: When members of the US Federal Reserve met in late January, they expressed confidence in the country’s ability to stretch a record run of economic growth and job gains well into 2020. Indeed, 2019 had seen strong performance in certain indicators, including rising real incomes among lower-earners. Two months later, the US was in a coronavirus lockdown, and the economy was in freefall. Some 34million jobs have been lost, and GDP is expected to decline by 35% or more in the second quarter. What are the prospects for the US economy to recover? Pre-Covid, was the economy as robust as commentators claimed? Does the crisis provide an opportunity for the US to address its weaknesses? Will government spending have a positive effect, or will a debt overhang be an obstacle to recovery? Will the Fed’s easy money policy work? And, what will the US’s economic problems mean for the world economy? James Matthews introduces.

#LockdownDebates: Is ‘gotcha’ journalism the new normal?

LOCKDOWN DEBATE: What is behind this seeming media crisis and what are the implications? With the press already having taken a beating in some quarters for their failures over reporting Brexit, how worried should we be over the collapse of press standards, and the way the ‘media class’ seems to stand apart from the rest of society? Are we shooting the messenger for the failings of others, such as government mismanagement, even misinformation? What is the news and commentary we need during this period, and how do we go about ensuring the survival and prospering of a free, critical press? Claire Fox, Jodie Ginsberg, Daisy McAndrew and Freddie Sayers discuss.

#EconomyForum: China, Covid-19 and the West

ECONOMY FORUM: Earlier this year, as what would become known as Covid-19 struck Wuhan, there was some discussion about how China’s GDP might temporarily fall and what impact that fall might have on the world economy. There was little sense that the disease might become a pandemic and affect the whole world. Now, with most Western countries facing unprecedented falls in economic output, China appears to have ridden the storm remarkably well. Like it or not, the UK, EU and US are remarkably dependent upon on China – and not just for PPE. Beyond the tempers on all sides, what real cleavages – China vs the West, China vs its neighbours, and among Western allies over tactics toward Beijing – can we expect to develop in 2020-21? Austin Williams and James Woudhuysen discuss.

#BookClub: The moral dilemma of Ian McEwen’s Machines Like Me

BOOK CLUB: Machines Like Me occurs in an alternative 1980s London. Charlie, drifting through life and dodging full-time employment, is in love with Miranda, a bright student who lives with a terrible secret. When Charlie comes into money, he buys Adam, one of the first batch of synthetic humans. With Miranda’s assistance, he co-designs Adam’s personality. This near-perfect human is beautiful, strong and clever - a love triangle soon forms. These three beings will confront a profound moral dilemma. Ian McEwan’s subversive and entertaining new novel poses fundamental questions: what makes us human? Our outward deeds or our inner lives? Could a machine understand the human heart? This provocative and thrilling tale warns of the power to invent things beyond our control. Max Sanderson introduces.

#Arts&SocietyForum: How Salman Rushdie changed everything

ARTS & SOCIETY FORUM: Kate Abley’s first novel, Changing the Subject, is an entertaining narrative about ordinary people in an extraordinary situation. She says ‘You don’t have to have read any Salman Rushdie to engage with this talk: I will make it my job to inspire you to try him. Under the feeble cover of having written a novel myself, I would like to make the experimental assertion that it is possible to describe novels in English as Pre-Rushdie and Post-Rushdie. Of course, there were rumblings of change before 1981 and the publication of Midnight’s Children. But it was that book which delivered the fatal blow to literarty-farties grumbling since the 1930s that the “The novel is dead”.’ Kate Abley and Wendy Earle discuss.

#LockdownDebates: How much should we listen to experts?

LOCKDOWN DEBATE: In the past few years, the idea that we should do what the experts tell us has lost some of its power. Some experts admit that there was, perhaps, a belief that the science was more definitive than it actually is. Even on the core advisory group, SAGE, there are significant differences of view amongst scientists, from the core understanding of the biology of the new coronavirus to estimates of how far it has spread, and over the rules informing social distancing and the efficacy of facemasks. But to what extent is or should our response to this threat be regarded as a scientific question, or as moral or political choices? What is the place of expertise in politics? How will the relationship between politics, expertise and democracy change in the future? Dr Clare Gerada, Timandra Harkness, Jill Rutter and Karol Sikora discuss.

#EducationForum: Is it time to reopen our schools?

EDUCATION FORUM: When should schools reopen and what does this debate tell us about what we value most about schools? Is it their role as engines of social mobility, as safeguarders of vulnerable children, as an unofficial child-minding service, exams or something else? Is it really a big deal if children miss a few months at school? David Perks and Joanna Williams discuss.