Academy of Ideas

#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

#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)