Academy of Ideas

#BattleFest2018: Advertising: all-powerful or over-rated?

On Friday 23 November, the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, announced a ban on adverts for junk food on London's transport network. Posters for food and drink high in fat, salt and sugar will disappear from the Underground, Overground, buses and bus shelters. But just how effective is advertising? That was the topic of this debate at the Battle of Ideas 2018 festival, produced in partnership with Diageo. (More details here.)
INTRODUCTION
Advertising has become a familiar target of hostile campaigners. Public health campaigners and quangos want bans or restrictions on adverts for foods and drinks that are high in sugar, salt or fat. Campaigns around alcohol, gambling and ‘payday’ loans demand bans on the promotion of these activities. Others seek to suppress adverts featuring models who are excessively thin – or, indeed, models who are overweight. Why are all these campaigners so convinced by the manipulative power of advertising? What is the evidence that advertising can control behaviour? Can it really do any more than influence consumers to choose one brand over another?
SPEAKERS
DR SHIRLEY DENTcommunications specialist and PR lecturer; co-author, Radical Blake
CARL MILLERresearch director, Centre for the Analysis of Social Media, Demos; author, The Death of the Gods: the new global power grab
CHRISTOPHER SNOWDONhead of lifestyle economics, Institute of Economic Affairs; editor, Nanny State Index; author, Selfishness, Greed and Capitalism
STEVE SODENdirector, Best Interests Ltd

#BattleFest2018: From SJW to gammon: weaponising political language

A recording of the debate at the Battle of Ideas 2018 festival on Saturday 13 October at the Barbican in London.
Language has always been a source of political controversy as much as a medium for discussing politics. Terms like ‘terrorist’ and ‘freedom fighter’ reveal the politics of the speaker as much as the nature of those described. But recent years have seen the proliferation of completely new terms: white Brexit voters are ‘gammons’, women critical of feminism have ‘internalised misogyny’, students are ‘snowflakes’. It can be hard to keep up. But is the way we talk about politics simply changing, or becoming impoverished? What’s the line between the natural evolution of political language, and its degeneration into trendy slurs?
SPEAKERS
Professor Frank Furedisociologist and social commentator; author, How Fear Works: culture of fear in the 21st century and Populism and the European Culture Wars
Sophia Gastondirector, Centre for Social and Political Risk, Henry Jackson Society; visiting research fellow, London School of Economics
Professor Dr Robert Pfallerphilosopher, University of Art and Industrial Design, Linz, Austria; author, (in German)

#BattleFest2018: Is free speech a fiction? In conversation with Lionel Shriver

Listen to the debate from the Battle of Ideas 2018 festival at the Barbican in London on Sunday 14 October (www.battleofideas.org.uk).
Novelist Lionel Shriver isn’t afraid of speaking her mind. At the 2016 Brisbane Writers Festival, she caused a furore by calling into question the contemporary focus on identity politics, saying ‘I hope the concept of cultural appropriation is a passing fad’. More recently, she was accused of racism when arguing that diversity quotas in publishing mean literary excellence becomes secondary to ticking boxes. As well as a staunch defender of intellectual freedom, Shriver is perhaps better known as a multiple award-winning author. How difficult is it to criticise identity politics in today’s climate? Is diversity in the arts something to aspire to or should we focus on the content of what’s being published, rather than the writer?
CLAIRE FOXdirector, Academy of Ideas; author, I STILL Find That Offensive!
IN CONVERSATION WITH
LIONEL SHRIVERaward-winning novelist; novels include, We Need to Talk About Kevin (2005 Orange prize winner), The Mandibles: a family, 2029 – 2047 and The Post-Birthday World; her first short story collection, Property, was published this year

#BattleFest2018: Drones - will they ever take off?

Listen to the debate from the Battle of Ideas 2018.
In the past few years, remotely piloted air systems and unmanned air systems – commonly called ‘drones’ or ‘multicopters’ – have become widely popular. A relative lack of regulation until recently has meant that drones are still a controversial if exciting new technology, and society is undecided how best to deal with the challenges they pose. But will the danger of excessive regulation and the attention given to a new technology when problems arise mean we never get those benefits? How do we deal with concerns about safety and ethics, while ensuring we create an environment that allows the exciting promise of this technology to be implemented? Will a wider mood of risk-aversion keep drones firmly on the ground?
SPEAKERS
Dr Owen McAreesenior research officer with responsibility for drone-related research, Liverpool John Moores University; member, UK Governments Drone Industry Action Group
Dr Sophie Robinsonflight physicist; lead engineer, Kopter Group AG
Alastair Muirsafety director, NATS; chair, UN International Civil Aviation Organisation
Donald ClarkEdTech entrepreneur; CEO, WildFire
CHAIR: Timandra Harknessjournalist, writer and broadcaster; presenter, FutureProofing; author, Big Data: does size matter?
Our partners for this session were NATS.

#BattleFest2018: Me, Me, Me! Narcissism and the new politics of identity

A recording of the debate at the Battle of Ideas 2018 on Sunday 14 October at the Barbican, London.
Today, everything seems to be an expression of contemporary ‘narcissism’, from dismissing millennials as Generation Me to describing Donald Trump as the ‘narcissist in chief’. It seems your boss or co-workers, everyone on Tinder, celebrities, even your parents are all ‘narcissists’. But has it become a lazy cliché? Or is it an accurate diagnosis of today’s identity-driven politics, which puts the self and self-esteem centre stage? Why do we reach so quickly for therapeutic categories to understand politics? Why has the idea of narcissism become so pervasive?
SPEAKERS
DR GRAEME ARCHERwriter; professional statistician; winner, 2011 Orwell Prize for blogging
DR BETH GUILDINGacademic, Goldsmiths, University of London; co-editor, Narrating the Passions: new perspectives from modern and contemporary literature
CAROLINE MACFARLANDdirector, Common Vision (CoVi)
JACOB REYNOLDSpartnerships manager, Academy of Ideas; co-convenor, Living Freedom; organiser, Debating Matters
CHAIR: DR TIFFANY JENKINSwriter and broadcaster; author, Keeping Their Marbles: how treasures of the past ended up in museums and why they should stay there

#SportscastOfIdeas: World Cup special, episode 6

Adam Rawcliffe is joined by Alastair Donald, Geoff Kidder, Rob Lyons and Jacob Reynolds to reflect on the final matches of World Cup 2018 and the tournament as a whole.
Were France worthy winners? What do the team think about the controversial penalty awarded in the final - and the VAR system that enabled the decision? Who was the player of the tournament? Why did England fail to reach the final and how should we assess the team's performance? Was the tournament a success?

#SportscastOfIdeas: World Cup Special, episode 5

Adam Rawcliffe is joined by Alastair Donald, Jacob Reynolds and Hilary Salt to discuss France's semi-final victory over Belgium, England's prospects in their semi-final against Croatia, and the use of football to make political points, from the importance of diversity to rediscovering national pride amid the Brexit negotiations.

#SportscastOfIdeas: World Cup Special, episode 4

Adam Rawcliffe is joined by Geoff Kidder, Rob Lyons and Jacob Reynolds to discuss England's prospects in the quarter-final against Sweden, the pick of the last-16 games, who might progress to the semi-finals and the reaction to England's win over Colombia.
[Apologies for the sound of birds tweeting in the background - it's keep-the-windows-open weather!]