Academy of Ideas

#BattleFest2015: European Referendum - what will decide the vote?

Recorded at this week's Institute of Ideas event at Goodenough College.

On 23 June, the UK will vote in a referendum on whether
or not to remain a member of the European Union. The decision is a
momentous one, the first time British voters will have had a direct vote
on membership since 1975.
Yet the public debate about the pros and cons of Brexit has been
frustratingly shallow. The aim of this event was to offer a panel of
high-profile speakers an opportunity to set out the case for Remain and
Leave, and allow an audience of almost 300 people to get involved,
offering their own views as well as challenging the panel. The result
was a lively, engaging and passionate debate. For anyone interested in
hearing the arguments played out with intelligence and without
name-calling, this debate is well worth listening to in full.
SPEAKERS
Rt Hon David Davis
Conservative MP for Haltemprice and Howden; former Foreign Office minister (1994–1997) and Shadow Home Secretary (2003-2008)
Simon Nixon
chief European commentator, Wall Street Journal
Vicky Pryce
board member, Centre for Economics and Business Research; former joint head, UK Government Economic Service; author, Greekonomics
Bruno Waterfield
Brussels correspondent, The Times; co-author, No Means No
CHAIR
Claire Fox
director, Institute of Ideas; panelist, BBC Radio 4’s Moral Maze.

#PodcastofIdeas: Local elections, anti-Brexit arguments and the kid’s strike

In this edition of the Podcast of Ideas, the team chews over Sadiq Khan's election as London mayor and the implications of the different election results across the country for the major parties - particularly the way old assumptions about political strongholds have been called into question. With BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg being targeted over her coverage by Corbynistas, how should accusations of media bias be handled? The team also discusses the claim that Brexit might lead to war in Europe, the controversy over SATS exams and the effect on wider society of claiming that schoolkids are too sensitive to be tested.

#BattleFest2015: The Personal is Political - is identity politics eating itself?

In her 1969 essay, ‘The personal is
political’, feminist Carol Hanisch defended consciousness-raising groups
against the charge they brought ‘personal problems’ into the public
arena. She argued that most difficulties women experienced in private
were rooted in political inequality, so personal problems could spur
women to political action in public life.
Today, consciousness-raising groups are less common. Yet the idea
that ‘the personal is political’ has survived, albeit giving way to an
increasing fractious identity politics. The bizarre story of Rachel
Dolezal, a white woman presenting herself as a mixed-race leader in the
NAACP, has raised sharp questions about how we think about who a person
is. 
More broadly, there has been an explosion of different groups vying
with one another for social recognition and respect. US writer Cathy
Young argues this has led to a ‘reverse caste system in which a person’s
status and worth depends entirely on their perceived oppression and
disadvantage’. Burgeoning feminist clubs in universities and a diversity
of gender, ethnicity, religious and cultural identity groups on college
campuses and in the world of activism, reflects a substantial shift in
how politics is understood and practiced in modern society. In
particular, such groups are often divisively set up in competition with
others’ claims to be the victim.
Feuds over ‘intersectionality’ and ‘hierarchies of oppression’ have
created internecine warfare between ‘terfs’ and the ‘trans’ community,
between black women and white feminists, middle-class lesbians and
working-class men: checking ‘privilege’ has become a routine pastime. As
some critics of contemporary feminism note, identity politics
inevitably turns each individual into her own group: demanding the right
to assert ‘who I am’ becomes the primary goal of political action. So
when Rachel Dolezal claims to be black, who are we to argue against her
self-identification?
Is this any different from the demand for public applause for Caitlyn
Jenner – once known as Olympic athlete Bruce Jenner – who now
self-defines as a woman? Is there a point past which we can’t choose our
personal identity, as suggested by those who reject comparison between
Dolezal’s ‘cultural appropriation’ (‘a glaring example of white
privilege in action’) and Jenner realising who she/he always really was?
Do today’s identity wars preclude possibilities for transcending
gender, race, disability? Does the feminist war cry of ‘personal is
political’ inevitably lead to such a narcissistic focus on self?








Speakers




Julie Bindel

journalist, author, broadcaster and feminist activist; research fellow, Lincoln University




Andrew Doyle

stand-up comedian; playwright; biographer




Sabrina Harris

technical author; longtime gamer; regular commentator on issues relating to freedom of speech and internet subcultures




Jake Unsworth

trainee solicitor, Bond Dickinson; convenor, Debating Matters Ambassadors




Dr Joanna Williams

author and academic; education editor, spiked



Chair



Claire Fox

director, Institute of Ideas; panellist, BBC Radio 4's Moral Maze

#BattleFest2015: Can we manufacture a new economy?

Recorded at the Battle of ideas 2015.






While the UK economy has
recovered from the economic crisis, few would argue that the recovery
is built on strong foundations. Wages are only just starting to rise in
real terms after a number of years of decline. Economic output remains
weak compared to previous recoveries, and the state is still spending
almost £90 billion a year more than it receives in tax. A particular
concern for economists is low productivity – the amount of wealth
produced by each worker – which is well below that of other countries
and 15 per cent below where it would have been if pre-crisis trends had
continued.
Yet across the main political parties there seems little vision of
how the UK economy could look different in five, 10 or 20 years’ time.
The chancellor of the exchequer, George Osborne, has made much play
about the creation of a ‘northern powerhouse’. The HS2 railway has
cross-party support, but many are sceptical about its economic
potential. Beyond this, there seems little sense of how the economy
could be transformed. Indeed, many new industries with the potential to
revolutionise the UK economy – like fracking, nuclear power and biotech –
have faced considerable resistance.
In 2014, the Wright Report, an independent report commissioned by the
Labour Party, called for ‘a modern, active industrial policy’ that was
not about ‘government “picking winners”, investing in large companies,
or trying to plan the economy’ but focused on ‘improving the environment
in which companies operate, recognising the positive influence that
government can have, and working together to tackle the challenges’.
These included barriers to investment, the overall load of taxation and
the lack of skilled workers, all still serious problems. That said,
there are causes for optimism. In certain sectors, productivity has
risen sharply in recent years. Productivity in car manufacturing is
high, while in aircraft engine manufacturing and financial services, the
UK is a world leader. Moreover, the UK’s universities offer excellent
capacity for research and development.
If UK businesses can be excellent in some arenas, why is the UK
apparently so unproductive overall? What are the barriers to a new and
innovative economy? Why is new business investment so low? Do we need a
bout of creative destruction, making painful choices about leaving some
areas of economic activity behind, in order to allow new sources of
wealth creation to flourish?

SPEAKERS




Frances Coppola

associate editor, Pieria; contributor to Nesta’s Our Work Here is Done, exploring the frontiers of robot technology




Katie Evans

economist, Social Market Foundation




Phil Mullan

economist; director, Epping Consulting business advice; author, The Imaginary Time Bomb




Bauke Schram

business reporter, International Business Times UK




Mike Wright

executive director, Jaguar Land Rover



CHAIR



Rob Lyons

science and technology director, Institute of Ideas

#PodcastOfIdeas: monarchy, Brexit, German free speech under attack

Claire Fox, David Bowden and Rob Lyons discuss the week's news

In this week’s edition of the Podcast of Ideas the team discuss
whether, on the Queen’s 90th birthday, the monarchy has any place today.
There’s analysis of the latest in the Brexit referendum, what’s behind
the prosecution of a German comedian for composing an insulting poem
about Turkish President Erdoğan and why Dolmio has made the strange move
of encouraging the public to eat less of its pasta sauce.

#BattleFest2015: Is the NHS still worth defending?

Podcast: listen to this debate from our Battle of Ideas archive.

Recorded at the Battle of Ideas 2015
We all love the NHS, don’t we? Despite the ubiquity of platitudes
about defending ‘our’ NHS, though, exactly what we are defending and
why?
The NHS has undergone significant changes since its inception in
1948. Shifts within patient demographics, combined with increased
patient demands and advances in technology and medical care, have
resulted in a system at breaking point. One million patients are seen
every 24 hours, at a cost of £2 billion each week. The kind of care
available and sums of money involved would surely astonish the
institution’s founders. Indeed, although often perceived as one
homogeneous care provider, high-profile scandals, such as those at Mid
Staffordshire and at the Morecambe Bay Maternity Unit, have illustrated
the variability in care across different hospitals – even within the
same trust. And on many important measures – for example, cancer
survival rates – the NHS seems to perform badly compared to health
services in comparable countries.
Nevertheless, the NHS is one of the few manifestations of the British
state that elicits strong and often positive feelings from significant
numbers of people. Politicians and parties often define themselves in
relation to the NHS and compete to be seen to be supporting it – even
when this can be difficult to reconcile with their policies and track
record. No major party seems willing to have a more fundamental
discussion about whether a taxpayer-funded health service, governed by
national and local government, is the best way to take care of the
nation’s health.
Yet, at the same time, the reality is that more and more publicly
funded healthcare is provided by profit-making or third-sector
organisations. The introduction of the Health and Social Care Act 2012,
particularly in relation to the commissioning of services from ‘any
willing provider’, has opened the doors to private and volunteer input,
often with variable results. Following the Conservatives’ victory in the
2015 general election, many supporters of the NHS fear that these
reforms will be pursued further.
Yet is the NHS everyone queues up to defend more national myth than
effective health care? Can it survive in its current form, and more
importantly, should it?

#PodcastofIdeas: British steel, the Panama papers and Brexit

Claire Fox, David Bowden and Rob Lyons discuss the week's news

In this edition of the Podcast of Ideas the team ask whether,
with Tata Steel’s operations in Britain haemorrhaging £1million a day,
renationalisation is really the answer. Instead, should we be demanding
investment in new and dynamic industries rather than propping up zombie
sectors of the economy? With the release of the Panama Papers making the
not-so-startling revelation that the super rich sometimes avoid paying
tax, the team ask why the rich feel the need to sit on their capital in
the first place rather than using it productively. And finally, there’s
analysis of the latest in the Brexit referendum campaign including the
government’s latest controversial move: using public money to peddle the
Remain line.     

#BattleFest2013: Chewing the facts - what’s the truth of the obesity crisis?

Podcast: listen to this debate from our Battle of Ideas archive.

With the chancellor of the exchequer, George Osborne, having recently announced a sugary drinks tax and the Lancet
publishing new figures claiming that 38 per cent of UK adults will be
obese by 2025, what is the truth about obesity? This archive debate was
recorded at the Battle of Ideas 2013.
According to ‘Reducing Obesity and Improving Diet’, a policy document
produced by the Department of Health in March 2013, most people in
England are overweight or obese - 61.3% of adults and 30% of children
aged between 2 and 15. The associated health problems are costing the
NHS, it is claimed, more than £5 billion every year. The reasons given
for people ‘going large’ are not always clear, and numerous reasons have
been suggested: that the modern Western diet is too high in
carbohydrates / fat / sugar [delete as appropriate], that we no longer
sit down together for a home-cooked family meal, but graze all day or
eat ready-meals in front of the TV, that we don’t cook anymore so our
understanding of nutrition and seasonality is lacking, that we drink too
many fizzy drinks, that processed food is as addictive and we have
become food junkies. To tackle the problem, there have been numerous
government health initiatives, and doctors and health organisations have
called for a wide array of health interventions, including sugar and
fat taxes. While these make headlines, it seems they’ve failed to affect
our waistlines, with some predicting that obesity will continue to rise
and place further strain on the NHS.
On the other hand, studies show the number of people who are
overweight or obese has not risen for over a decade, and there are
concerns that school health campaigns are making our children
unhealthily weight-obsessed. Some studies even suggest those labelled
‘category 1 obese’ are likely to be just as healthy as those deemed
‘normal’. So what’s the truth behind the obesity epidemic - are we right
to be worried about becoming a nation of fatties? Is being fat
necessarily a harbinger of ill health and early death? Just what is
making us more obese? And do we all need a nudge to make sure we fill up
our plates with carrots and stick with the gym?
SPEAKERS
Henry Dimbleby
co-founder, Leon Restaurants; co-author, School Food Plan
Rob Lyons
science and technology director, Institute of Ideas
Dr Angelica Michelis
senior lecturer, Department of English, Manchester Metropolitan
University; author, Eating Theory: the theory of eating (forthcoming)
Jane Ogden
professor in health psychology, University of Surrey; author, The Good Parenting Food Guide’ (forthcoming)
CHAIR
Jason Smith
associate fellow, Institute of Ideas