Academy of Ideas

#BattleFest2018: Does our DNA define us?

A recording of a debate at the Battle of Ideas Festival 2018 at The Barbican, London on Sunday 14 October. 
In Blueprint: how DNA makes us who we are, the world’s leading behavioural geneticist, Robert Plomin, argues that our inherited DNA differences make us who we are as individuals. This conclusion is at odds with the importance ascribed to our education and the environment in which we grow up in shaping the person we become. But are there scientific or other good reasons to doubt Plomin’s conclusions? If we start making predictions about people’s lives and potential on the basis of their DNA, does this risk reducing their autonomy? How much can our DNA tell us about who we are?
DR PHILIP BALLscience writer; broadcaster; author; presenter, BBC Radio 4, Science Stories
ROBERT PLOMINprofessor of behavioural genetics, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience; author, Blueprint: how DNA makes us who we are

#BattleFest2018: Democracy under siege?

A recording of a debate at the Battle of Ideas festival at the Barbican in London on 14 October 2018.
Over the past year, debates about democracy and its woes have been ubiquitous. There are fears tech giants and algorithms are undermining elections. Liberal democratic values such as free speech and universalism are questioned, even by liberals. Populism is variously claimed to be a threat to democracy or its very embodiment. Some claim undereducated voters were conned into voting for Brexit or Donald Trump and argue citizens should have to earn the right to vote by passing a test. Elected governments in Poland and Hungary have been censured by the EU. But managerial style of rule suggests anti-democratic tendencies have been developing for decades, excluding and ultimately angering voters. Many government powers are now exercised by unelected experts and quangos. Is it time to give more power to The People? What is democracy and what threatens it today? Can liberalism renew itself sufficiently to save democracy?
ZANNY MINTON BEDDOESeditor-in-chief, The Economist
DANIEL MOYLANformer deputy chairman, Transport for London; co-chairman, Urban Design London
STEVE RICHARDSbroadcaster; political commentator; presenter, BBC Radio 4’s Week in Westminster; author, The Rise of the Outsiders
BRUNO WATERFIELDBrussels correspondent, The Times; co-author, No Means No

#BattleFest2018: What is a woman anyway?

A recording of a debate at the Battle of Ideas festival 2018 in London on Saturday 13 October.
What does it mean to be a woman? For some it’s about motherhood, others femininity, and some reject the whole idea of ‘womanhood’ outright. The Conservative Party’s proposed changes to the law around gender recognition have caused a fair amount of controversy around the question of what gender means and what it takes to be a woman. Is it about experience? Is it simply an identity which can be picked up by anyone? And, beyond the trans debate, is there anything worth defending in the idea of ‘womanhood’? Do women share a collective identity? What is a woman anyway?
SPEAKERS
HEATHER BRUNSKELL-EVANSacademic and writer; co-editor, Transgender Children and Young People
CHRISSIE DAZschoolteacher; cabaret performer; writer on transgender and gender variant identity
KATHY GYNGELLco-editor, The Conservative Woman
JOANNA WILLIAMShead of education and culture, Policy Exchange; author, Women vs Feminism; associate editor, spiked

#PodcastOfIdeas: the 2018 culture wars

In the third of our end-of-year round-ups for 2018, the Academy of Ideas team - Claire Fox, Alastair Donald, Geoff Kidder, Rob Lyons, Jacob Reynolds and Ella Whelan - discuss everything non-Brexit in 2018. Is there a populist revolt spreading across Europe? What has happened in the gender wars of 2018? And is free speech still under threat?

#PodcastOfIdeas: Brexit special

In the second of our end-of-year round-ups for 2018, the Academy of Ideas team - Claire Fox, Alastair Donald, Geoff Kidder, Rob Lyons, Jacob Reynolds and Ella Whelan - discuss a year of Brexit battles, the prospect of a second referendum and what the future holds for British democracy.

#PodcastOfIdeas: the World Cup, Luka Modric and Lewis Hamilton

In the first of our end-of-year round-ups for 2018, the Academy of Ideas team - Alastair Donald, Geoff Kidder, Rob Lyons and Declan Rooney - discuss England's World Cup run, whether Luka Modric is the best footballer in the world, where Lewis Hamilton sits among the all-time great English sportsmen and what make's a 'people's champion'.

#BattleFest2018: All change - navigating the new political disruption

Listen to the debate from the Battle of Ideas 2018.
Whatever way we read today’s political disruptions, change is in the air. Mainstream political parties internationally, from Italy to Sweden, are being thrown into disarray by new challengers. Democratic votes, from Brexit to Trump, are seemingly giving two fingers to establishment norms. This turbulent atmosphere is undoubtedly unsettling. It is understandable that we can be tempted to resist change because of the risks associated with it. But can we transform today’s turbulence as an opportunity to shape the future, grasp the moment with hope, be inspired by a period that is resonant with possibilities? Can we create a climate in which people will embrace new experiences and exhibit a willingness to take risks?
SPEAKERSProfessor Frank Furedi sociologist and social commentator; author, How Fear Works: culture of fear in the 21st century and Populism and the European Culture Wars
Dr Eliane Glaser writer; radio producer; senior lecturer, Bath Spa University; author, Anti-Politics: on the demonization of ideology, authority, and the state
Matthew Goodwin professor of political science, University of Kent; senior fellow, Chatham House; author, National Populism: the revolt against liberal democracy and Revolt on the Right
Stephen Kinnock MP Labour MP for Aberavon; member, Exiting the EU Select Committee and EU Scrutiny Committee; co-editor Spirit of Britain, Purpose of Labour: building a whole nation politics to reunite our divided country
CHAIR Claire Fox director, Academy of Ideas; author, I STILL Find That Offensive!

#BattleFest2018: Rule Book Britain -are we in love with legislation?

A recording of a debate at the Battle of Ideas 2018 festival at the Barbican on Sunday 14 October, produced in partnership with Diageo (full details here).
Almost every aspect of life in the UK is heavily regulated, from housing and transport to food and energy. Public health authorities have extended the reach of government intervention into our personal consumption of cigarettes, alcohol, salt, sugar and fat. While many critics of the EU look forward to Brexit as a means of cutting regulation, most of the ‘red tape’ and ‘nanny state’ rules we face are homegrown. Why has Britain become such an intensively regulated society? Is state intrusion the price we must pay to keep big business in check – or does it simply mean higher costs and more limits on choice?
ROB KILLICKCEO, Clerkswell; author, The UK After The Recession
MARK LITTLEWOODDirector General, Institute of Economic Affairs
DAN MOBLEYglobal corporate relations director, Diageo
JO-ANNE NADLERcommentator; author, Too Nice to be a Tory