Academy of Ideas

#BattleFest2017: Do you trust the media?

Who can journalists trust out of the overwhelming selection of competing interests to act as reliable sources? Can anyone play the role of the ‘honest broker’? How can the public untangle dubious, pseudo-scientific advice and dodgy stats from facts and truth? How can we know whether journalism, particularly reporting on complex issues or assessing notoriously difficult ideas such as risk, is accurate? Should we accept that it is our responsibility as citizens to check the facts for ourselves or should we demand that the media improve its handling of statistics and data?
SPEAKERS
Dr Graeme Archerwriter & professional statistician; winner, 2011 Orwell Prize for blogging
Vance Crowedirector of Millennial Engagement, Monsanto Company
Alan Millerchairman, Night Time Industries Association (NTIA); leading campaigner, #SaveNightlife
Fay Schlesingerhead of News, The Times
Ceri Thomasex-editor, BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme & BBC’s Panorama; director, public affairs, Oxford University

#BattleFest2017: Millennials - youthquake or snowflakes?

Listen to the debate at the Battle of Ideas 2017 at the Barbican in London.
Whereas earlier generations of young people provoked outrage among their elders, millennials – those born in the late 1990s and early 2000s – seem to attract merely condescension and concern. Today’s youth have been labelled ‘Generation Snowflake’ for their declarations of emotional vulnerability and demands for protection and support.
Instead of revolting, today’s students seem to be preoccupied with difficulties in negotiating personal relationships, demanding formal instruction and regulation of issues of consent and protection of apparently fragile identities against hostile criticism. Yet, for those coming of age in an era of austerity and debt, Brexit and Trump, anxiety and apprehension may be appropriate responses. And, in their embrace of issues of social justice, and support for the kinder, gentler form of politics espoused by Jeremy Corbyn and Bernie Sanders, perhaps the millennials are pointing the way towards real change in society.
Are the adults of tomorrow over-anxious snowflakes masquerading as a youthquake? Or is their pursuit of a different sort of politics – putting emotion and morality before ideology and policy – exactly the kind of shake up Western politics has been waiting for?
SPEAKERS
Bradley Allsoppostgraduate officer, University of Lincoln Students' Union; co-editor, Bright Green
Jennie Bristowsenior lecturer in sociology, Canterbury Christ Church University; author, The Sociology of Generations: New directions and challenges and Baby Boomers and Generational Conflict
Dr Eliza Filbyhistorian, King's College London; founder, GradTrain

#BattleFest2017: Can biotech lead an economic revolution?

Recording of the debate at the Battle of Ideas 2017 at The Barbican in London, in partnership with Immunocore.
The new Life Sciences Industrial Strategy claims that ‘in a country where productivity is a major challenge, public sector life sciences discovery activity… is dramatically more productive compared to other countries such as the USA or Germany’. What role will biotechnology play in the industries of tomorrow? Will it predominate as a durable, sizeable and job-creating sector, helping to turn around the UK’s flagging productivity, or does its value rest more in its place at the vanguard?
SPEAKERS
Dr Eliot ForsterCEO, Immunocore; chairman, MedCity
Professor Robin Lovell-Badgegroup leader in stem cell biology and developmental genetics, Francis Crick Institute
Bethan Wolfendenco-founder, Bento Bio

#BattleFest2017: Is globalisation over? The future of world trade

Recording of the debate at the Battle of Ideas 2017.
Globalisation is the process by which national and regional economies, societies and cultures have become more integrated through global networks of trade, foreign direct investment, transport, telecommunications and immigration. Many argue that globalisation has been an enormous boon to worldwide living standards. However, serious debate has now broken out about whether globalisation is finally grinding to a halt. 
What is globalisation, and is it really coming to an end? If its advocates are right to say that it has brought prosperity worldwide, why are so many people against it? Is it possible to have a ‘progressive’ globalisation, shorn of its free-market excesses?
SPEAKERS
Dr Gerard Lyonseconomist; co-author, Clean Brexit
Professor Michael Mainelliexecutive chairman, Z/Yen Group; alderman, City of London; author, The Price of Fish: a new approach to wicked economics and better decisions
Vicky Pryceboard member, Centre for Economics and Business Research; economic advisor, British Chamber of Commerce
Allen Simpsonchief operating officer, Labour in the City; economic and financial policy specialist
James Woudhuysenvisiting professor, London South Bank University; co-author, Energise! A future for energy innovation; author, Why is construction so backward?
 

#BattleFest2017: In the wake of Weinstein - #MeToo, calling out and sexual harassment

Recording of the Battle of Ideas Stockholm 2017 debate at Kulturhuset Stadsteatern.
(Please note, there is a very short introduction to the recording in Swedish, but the debate is in English.)
Is #MeToo a valuable way for the everywoman to show solidarity with victims and raise awareness of the broader problems of sexual harassment everywhere? Or does it stir up the gender wars, exaggerating the idea that most men are sexual predators and most women their victims? What does #MeToo reveal about deeper cultural trends?
SPEAKERS
Dr Jan Macvarishvisiting research fellow, Centre for Parenting Culture Studies, University of Kent
Marte Micheletjournalist and author
Jonathan Rollinsstand-up comedian
Cissi Wallintelevision and radio personality

#BattleFest2017: From AI to Big Data - can technology save the NHS?

Recording of the debate at the Battle of Ideas 2017 in partnership with the Royal Academy of Engineering. See full details here: https://www.battleofideas.org.uk/session/from-ai-to-big-data-can-technology-save-the-nhs/
At a time of ever-increasing healthcare costs, waiting times and ever-increasing strains on GPs and A&E departments, there is increased urgency in trying to find new approaches to treatment. Against this backdrop of cost-driven strains in patient care, can engineering innovations save the day, perhaps giving patients more independence to accurately self-diagnose and more broadly revolutionise healthcare in the coming decades?
SPEAKERS
Terry Barnesprincipal, Cormorant Policy Advice; fellow, Institute of Economic Affairs; former special adviser to two Australian health ministers
Trisha Greenhalghprofessor of primary care health sciences and fellow, Green Templeton College, University of Oxford
Timandra Harknessjournalist, writer & broadcaster; presenter, FutureProofing; author, Big Data: does size matter?
Professor Mark Tooleymedical technology consultant; president, Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine
Dr ir Isabel Van De KeereCEO & founder, Immersive Rehab

#BattleFest2017: Free speech for me, but not for thee

How should free speech activists respond to the challenge of identity politics? It no longer seems sufficient to cite the First Amendment, quote JS Mill, or cry academic freedom in trying to thwart assaults on free expression. There was a powerful illustration of this problem recently when protesters affiliated with Black Lives Matter gatecrashed an event at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia and prevented the invited guest from the American Civil Liberties Union from speaking, chanting ‘the revolution will not uphold the Constitution’ and ‘liberalism is white supremacy’.
Is it time for civil libertarians to adjust their priorities, to ensure that people with ‘protected characteristics’ are given ‘particular respect’, and their views given a veto on what they deem as hate speech? Are those who argue for free speech – no ifs, no buts – too often providing the privileged with a licence to talk over the marginalised, even to incite bigotry? Or is identity politics the new tool of censorship and, if so, how should we respond?
SPEAKERS
Professor Frank Furedisociologist and social commentator; author, Populism and the European Culture Wars; previous books include: What’s Happened to the University? and Invitation To Terror and On Tolerance
Nick GillespieUS journalist and commentator; editor in chief, Reason.com and Reason TV, the online and video platforms of Reason magazine
Jodie Ginsbergchief executive, Index on Censorship
Trevor Phillipswriter and television producer; founding chair, Equality and Human Rights Commission
Toby Youngdirector, New Schools Network; associate editor, The Spectator; editor, Spectator Life

#BattleFest2017: Professor Stephen Farrall on Generation Right and the legacy of Margaret Thatcher

Stephen Farrall, professor of criminology in the Centre for Criminological Research at the School of Law, University of Sheffield, talks to Rob Lyons about his film Generation Right, which looks at the election of Margaret Thatcher and her subsequent policies, particularly in relation to crime and criminal justice policy.
Stephen notes how Thatcher's economic policies - in particular, the way they created mass unemployment and drove down welfare provision - led to an increase in crime. Yet she remained popular for aspirational members of the working class. He also discusses how it was subsequent administrations who really got 'tough on crime', for example in relation to sentencing, and whether we can still talk about 'Generation Right' since the rise of Jeremy Corbyn.
The film screening and debate, GENERATION RIGHT – THE LEGACY OF MARGARET THATCHER, takes place at the Battle of Ideas festival at the Barbican in London on Sunday 29 October at 2pm. Visit the Battle of Ideas website for more details.