Academy of Ideas

#BattleFest2019: A waste of a good crisis? A decade after the crash, with Larry Elliott

Debate recorded at the Battle of Ideas festival on Saturday 2 November 2019.
Critics argue that relatively little has been done since the financial crisis to fix the underlying problems that precipitated it. Have we failed to take the old advice to ‘never waste a good crisis’? Extraordinary monetary measures are still mostly in place, but there are heated debates about whether the major developed economies are healthier or weaker than in 2008. Acclaimed Guardian economics editor Larry Elliott explores what can be done to pull the west out of its economic malaise. How can we challenge the ‘new normal’ of low growth, poor productivity and stagnating living standards?
PHIL MULLANeconomist and business manager; author, Creative Destruction: how to start an economic renaissance
IN CONVERSATION WITH:
LARRY ELLIOTTeconomics editor, Guardian; co-author, Europe Isn’t Working and The Gods That Failed: how the financial elite have gambled away our futures

#BattleFest2019: What is the future of the Union?

Listen to the debate from the Battle of Ideas Festival 2019.
The result of the Scottish independence referendum in 2014 seemed to put paid for the foreseeable future to the most significant threat to the Union, but the result of the EU referendum in 2016 has put the cat amongst the pigeons once more. The future of Northern Ireland has also been a constant bone of contention since the Brexit vote. In September, a shock opinion poll suggested that a quarter of Welsh voters would vote for independence. Is the Union really in imminent danger? Is there a positive case for the UK today, whether economic, political or even emotional?
**SPEAKERS**MEV BROWNspokesperson, SDP Scotland; former spokesperson, Business for Britain in Scotland; campaigner, Better Together
DR RUTH DUDLEY EDWARDSjournalist, historian and broadcaster; award-winning author, The Seven and Patrick Pearse: the triumph of failure
LINDA MURDOCHcampaigner for rights and democracy in Scotland; director of careers, University of Glasgow
AKASH PAUNsenior fellow, Institute for Government; associate fellow, Centre on Constitutional Change, Edinburgh University
DR GLYNNE WILLIAMSassociate professor, School of Business, University of Leicester
CHAIR: JUSTINE BRIAN director, Civitas Schools
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#BattleFest2019: Caster Semenya running into controversy - genes, gender and sport

Listen to the debate from the Battle of Ideas Festival 2019.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport has ruled women with naturally higher levels of testosterone cannot compete in women’s sport events unless they reduce their testosterone with medication. CAS was hearing an appeal by a South African runner, Caster Semenya, against a ruling by the governing body of athletics, the IAAF, that she cannot compete in certain events having been born with a condition leading to unusually high testosterone levels. What does this mean for elite sport? And can we separate sports from other areas of society in which discrimination against people with different sexual developments is taboo?
DR CARLTON BRICK lecturer in sociology, School of Media, Culture and Society, University of the West of Scotland
DR SILVIA CAMPORESIdirector of bioethics and society postgraduate programme, King’s College London; co-author, Bioethics, Genetics and Sport
GEORGINA NEWCOMBE student, Durham University; athlete and footballer; Living Freedom alumnus
DR JOEL NATHAN ROSEN associate professor of sociology and anthropology, Moravian College; author, The Erosion of the American Sporting Ethos
DR EMILY RYALL reader in applied philosophy, University of Gloucestershire; author, Philosophy of Sport: key questions
CHAIR: GEOFF KIDDER
director, membership and events, Academy of Ideas; convenor, AoI Book Club
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#PodcastOfIdeas: first thoughts on General Election 2019

The results of yesterday's UK General Election throw up many different issues. Why did the Conservatives end up winning comfortably? Why did the Labour vote collapse, with seats that had voted Labour for decades switching to the Tories? Does the success of the SNP in Scotland mean there will be another independence referendum? What does it all mean for Brexit?
Discussing these issues and more are Alastair Donald, Claire Fox, Rob Lyons, Jacob Reynolds and Ella Whelan.

#BattleFest2019: Assisted dying - a doctor’s poisoned chalice?

Listen to the debate from the Battle of Ideas Festival 2019.
Thanks to Living and Dying Well for their partnership on this debate.
The question of whether assisted suicide (often known as assisted dying) is morally defensible, or should be legally permitted, is a familiar issue of medical ethics. Polls suggest that most people in Britain support a change in the law to allow it. By contrast, the British medical establishment has a longstanding record of opposition to legalisation – though there are suggestions that this may be changing. Should the law look leniently on relatives who help a patient to die? What if the patient would suffer more harm by staying alive? Indeed, should the idea of ‘harm’ be redefined and, if so, how? What would be the role of doctors, and ‘conscientious objection’, were the law to change?
Dr Jacky Davisconsultant radiologist, Whittington Hospital; member, BMA Council, chair, Healthcare Professionals for Assisted Dying; board member, Dignity in Dying
Dr Carol Davispalliative medicine consultant and clinical lead for end of life care, University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust; board member, Living and Dying Well
John Harrisprofessor emeritus, University of Manchester; author, How to be Good; former member, United Kingdom Human Genetics Commission
Dr Kevin Yuillassociate professor of history, University of Sunderland; author, Assisted Suicide: the liberal, humanist case against legalization and The Second Amendment and Gun Control: freedom, fear, and the American constitution
Chair: Dr Piers Bennvisiting lecturer and adjunct professor; author, Freedom of Speech and the Flight from Reason
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#BattleFest2019: The rise of toxic politics - can we be civil?

A recording of a debate at the Battle of Ideas festival on Sunday 3 November 2019.
The angry exchanges in parliament after the Supreme Court ruled against prorogation were typical of the ill-tempered discourse around Brexit. This year it was also deemed acceptable to ‘milkshake’ those you disagree with. Looking at a world seemingly filled with slurs, angry social-media comments, inflammatory remarks about migrants and nasty jibes about ‘gammons’ and ‘TERFs’, many commentators have called this an age of ‘toxic politics’. Should we lament a lost civility, or is the emergence of more forthright and angry disagreements in fact a good thing? What is the line between passionate disagreement and toxic bile? How can we fi nd ways to disagree with other people constructively?
DOLAN CUMMINGS associate fellow, Academy of Ideas; co- founder, Manifesto Club; author, That Existential Leap: a crime story
TIMANDRA HARKNESS journalist, writer and broadcaster; presenter, Radio 4’s FutureProofi ng and How to Disagree: a beginner’s guide to having better arguments
DR DEBORAH E LIPSTADT professor of Holocaust Studies, Emory University, Atlanta; author, Antisemitism: here and now
JACOB MCHANGAMA executive director, Justitia, a Copenhagen based human-rights think tank; host and narrator, Clear and Present Danger: a history of free speech podcast
JAMES TOOLEY professor of educational entrepreneurship and policy, University of Buckingham; author, The Beautiful TreeCHAIR: ALASTAIR DONALD co-convenor, Battle of Ideas festival; convenor, Living Freedom

#BattleFest2019: Woke corporations - responsible capitalism or virtue signalling?

Listen to the debate from the Battle of Ideas Festival 2019.
Earlier this year, Gillette produced an advert aimed at challenging ‘toxic masculinity’. Although somewhat frivolous, the example illustrates a growing trend among the world’s biggest companies to weigh in on social issues. In perhaps the most infamous example of all, in 2017, Pepsi released an advert with Kylie Jenner healing divisions at a protest march. The advert was widely condemned for appropriating the legacy of the civil-rights movement. But many companies seem to genuinely care about social causes. Unilever, one of the world’s biggest companies, has made ambitious environmental commitments that are priorities at all levels of the company. For some observers, this is evidence of a genuine shift in how businesses think about their role, often underpinned by new generations of employees demanding change. But critics have condemned what’s been called ‘woke capitalism’ or even ‘wokewashing’. Are 'woke' corporations a cynical attempt to curry favour with the lucrative millennial market, or should we celebrate demonstrations of corporate conscience? What does the rise of woke capitalism tell us about the prospects and possibilities for more radical change today?
Asad Dhunnafounder, The Unmistakables; commentator; former director of communications, Pride in London
Dr Eliane Glaserwriter; radio producer; reader, Bath Spa University; author, Anti-Politics: on the demonisation of ideology, authority, and the state
Dr Norman Lewisdirector, Futures-Diagnosis Ltd; co-author, Big Potatoes: the London manifesto for innovation
Dan Mobleyglobal corporate relations director, Diageo
Toby Youngco-founder, West London Free School; author, How to Lose Friends & Alienate People; associate editor, Spectator and Quillette
CHAIR: Patrick Hayesdirector, British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA); director, EdTech Exchange
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#BattleFest2019: What does it mean to be normal?

Listen to the debate from the Battle of Ideas Festival 2019. There is something of an obsession with ‘normality’ today. Sally Rooney’s novel, Normal People, was widely acclaimed for its sensitive portrayal of everyday contemporary relationships. The TV smash hit Fleabag was likewise praised for its unflinching portrayal of ‘normal’ British middle-class sexual mores. But attitudes towards ‘normality’ seem difficult to get a handle on today. On the one hand, campaigns to raise awareness for a variety of social or psychological ills seek to show it is not ‘abnormal’, for example, to experience depression and that such people ‘are not alone’. But on the other hand, the proliferation of identity characteristics encourage people to be celebrate difference, uniqueness and not being ‘normal’. What are we to make of this shifting understanding of what it is to be normal? Should we just accept that everything is unstable, that we can’t expect a single category of ‘normal’ to be helpful? Does society need a concept of normality, if only to define common sets of beliefs and values or does it enforce conformity? Should we celebrate being normal? DR FRANKIE ANDERSONpsychiatry trainee; co-founder, Sheffield Salon
DR ASHLEY FRAWLEYsenior lecturer in sociology and social policy, Swansea University; author, Significant Emotions and Semiotics of Happiness
DR BETH GUILDINGacademic, Goldsmiths, University of London; co-editor, Narrating the Passions: new perspectives from modern and contemporary literature; columnist, Times Higher Education
VANITY VON GLOWinternationally ignored superstar; cabaret performer; host, The Vanity Project
CHAIR: JANE SANDEMANchief operating officer, The Passage; convenor, AoI Parents Forum; contributor, Standing up to Supernanny
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