Academy of Ideas

#PodcastofIdeas: John Tierney debunks recycling myths

#BattleFest2015: Free-range parenting - reckless or responsible?

Recorded at the Batle of Ideas 2015
In a week where opprobrium has been heaped on the parents of a four-year-old child who had to be rescued from a gorilla enclosure at Cincinnati Zoo, while the parents of a Japanese seven-year-old boy face charges after abandoning him to wander in the woods for a week, listen to this session from the Battle of Ideas 2015 where Lenore Skenazy argues that far from being obsessed with what our kids might be up to, we must give them the freedom to roam and explore without constant adult supervision.
The term ‘cotton wool kids’ has become part of everyday language. Indeed, many parents, academics and others share a concern that children have become over­protected. The worry is that youngsters no longer have enough freedom to explore, to get into scrapes, have accidents and work out how to deal with situations when they don’t have adults telling them what to do.
Discussions about this problem often focus on Mum and Dad: the blame, it is said, lies with irrationally fearful, overprotective ‘helicopter parents’. Yet when parents do try to give their children more freedom, they can face a great deal of hostility and even legal action. In the US, the parents of so-called ‘Free Range Kids’ have been charged with child neglect, while UK parents who let their young children cycle to school on their own have become the subject of protracted public debate about whether this is neglectful. Parents are told almost daily that their children’s health, welfare and safety are at risk, not just from strangers lurking in the park but from adults they know and thought they could trust, including family members, teachers, doctors and volunteers – and the apparently ever-growing menace of online grooming and abuse. Given this state of affairs, how could parents not end up being fearful and paranoid?
How should we, as adults collectively, think about how best to protect and care for children while at the same time challenging and testing them in creative ways? Why do we find it so hard to agree on a ‘commonsense’ approach to child-rearing? Are projects that focus on letting children ‘run free’ the answer? Or are these becoming just another parenting fad, accessible mainly to middle­-class parents who can weekend in the country? Is it possible, or even desirable, to change the way we raise our children in a more profound way? How might we find ways to develop character, determination and independence of thought and action in future generations?
SPEAKER Lenore Skenazy founder of the book, blog and movement Free-Range Kids; “America’s Worst Mom” RESPONDENTS Alice Ferguson director, Playing Out
Dr Helene Guldberg director, spiked; author, Reclaiming Childhood: freedom and play in an age of fear and Just Another Ape?
Lisa Harker director of strategy, policy and evidence, NSPCC
CHAIR Dr Ellie Lee reader in social policy, University of Kent, Canterbury; director, Centre for Parenting Culture Studies

#PodcastOfIdeas: Brexit, fracking and public-health infighting

Claire Fox, David Bowden and Rob Lyons discuss the week's news.
In this week’s Podcast of Ideas the team discuss whether the
left’s mealy-mouthed support for the Remain campaign belies contempt for
the demos and a fear of right-wing populism, why we should all be
celebrating the decision to frack in Yorkshire, the public health
lobby’s loss of credibility, the ban on legal highs and a patronising
new campaign to protect women on social media.

#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.