Academy of Ideas

Podcast of Ideas: demystifying the deal

Alastair Donald and Rob Lyons from the Academy of Ideas are joined by barrister Steven Barrett, Baroness Hoey and Lord Moylan to unpick the Windsor Framework.

Have Brits fallen out of love with work?

Recording of the Academy of Ideas Economy Forum discussion on Tuesday 21 February 2023. Please note that this event was recorded via Zoom and there are occasional, short-lived issues with the audio.
INTRODUCTIONThe Covid pandemic created huge disruption to the UK labour market. Millions of people were forced to stop working, with most receiving furlough payments. Millions more had to work from home. With lockdowns and pandemic-related business closures in the past, what has been the lasting impact of this disruption?
Statistics for employment and earnings published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) for September to November 2022 show that unemployment remains low (3.7 per cent) while the proportion of people aged 16 to 64 in employment continues to hover around 75 per cent. But the number of people defined as ‘economically inactive’ – not working or seeking work – in this age group grew markedly over the course of the Covid pandemic and in its aftermath. Meanwhile, job vacancies for October to December 2022 remained well over one million, although the vacancy rate has started to decline.
As the Spectator noted in November 2022, ‘more than 20 per cent of working-age Brits are economically inactive, meaning they are neither in work nor looking for it. More than five million are claiming out-of-work benefits.’ Yet this exists alongside widespread staff shortages.
Meanwhile, unprecedented numbers of doctors, nurses and teachers are threatening to leave their jobs due to burnout. Although the unions lay the blame for this on low pay and poor working conditions, it co-exists with an oft-remarked decline in the quality of public service.
Is this a temporary phenomenon that will subside as the impact of the pandemic fades or an acceleration of existing trends? Have many people used the lockdowns as a moment to reflect about their attitude to work – and decided that if they can afford not to work, they won’t? What impact will rising living costs have on these trends? What is the impact on the UK economy of having so many working-age people not working?
SPEAKERLinda Murdoch is a researcher on well-being and the work ethic. She is also former director of careers at the University of Glasgow.

Podcast of Ideas: Frank Furedi on the Ukraine War first anniversary

One year on from the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Professor Frank Furedi talks to Rob Lyons about where things stand today, the causes of the conflict and the potential for peace.

What does 2023 hold for the arts?

This is a recording of a public discussion hosted by the Academy of Ideas Arts & Society Forum on 24 January 2023.
Arts institutions shape themselves and their policies around promoting social good, and have accepted a political agenda around climate change and identity politics. They want to be seen to be on the ‘right side’ of progress, but have they become overly instrumentalist and constraining in their approach? What harm are they doing to the development of the arts and artists?
Now it appears that the arts are responding not just to the equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) agenda, but also to the government’s levelling up policy. Under pressure to take funding outside London, controversial recent Arts Council plans threaten English National Opera with closure unless it relocates to the north.
Yet it seems that progressive arts polices have largely failed. Recent research shows that while a few women and BAME people are now more likely to achieve higher status professional roles than in the past, there are fewer people from working class backgrounds involved in the arts than in the 1970s.
How can we argue for a renewed discussion about artistic merit? What remains of the idea of art as a source and expression of beauty? Contemporary arts now often seem to be judged primarily on the basis of who they represent and their political message, on what ‘good’ they might do in society. In theatre, music and visual arts, artists and artistic projects run the risk of crossing a line if they are not politically and socially ‘on message’. And is instrumentalism (political and social) now embedded in the way most people, perhaps particularly younger generations, think about the arts? What kind of arts institutions do we need?
SPEAKERSAlexander Adamsartist, critic and author. His publications include Abolish the Arts Council (co-authored with David Lee) and Culture War (Alexander’s latest publications will be avilable to buy at the event)
Dr Mo Lovattnational coordinator of Debating Matters; programme coordinator, Academy of Ideas
Jack Huessinger, Wang Chung; composer; musician; songwriter

Is the Government right to veto Sturgeon’s self-id bill?

The UK Government’s decision to veto a bill passed by the Scottish Government, which would make it easier for children older than 16 to legally change their gender, has set off something of a political storm (a great summary can be found over at Spectator by Iain MacWhirter).
Whilst this certainly has ramifications for UK-Scotland political relations, it also has set off a series of debates about gender identity, the rights of women, and even what the bill actually would mean in practice.
Without a doubt, these debates are some of the most difficult to navigate in contemporary politics - and also some of the most heated. So we sat down to try and make sense of it all.
On this episode of the Podcast of Ideas, Alastair Donald speaks to Susan Smith of For Women Scotland - the heroic campaigning organisation who have been defending the rights of women which are often undercut by legislation aiming to protect trans people. Claire Fox, Ella Whelan and Rob Lyons then join Alastair to mull over some of the implications in a bit more detail.

Debating Matters Beyond Bars: Jon Floyd and Heather Phillips

This is guest podcast from our colleagues at Debating Matters.
Initiated in 2015, Debating Matters Beyond Bars is a project which takes DM's schools-debating format inside prisons. Using our acclaimed substance-over-style format, teams of prisoners engage in debate with one another on a whole range of contemporary social, political and cultural topics. The programme aims to inspire them to think about issues beyond their current situation and to look forward to their life ahead – in other words, beyond bars!
In this podcast, Mo Lovatt - DM's national coordinator - and Geoff Kidder sat down with former Beyond Bars competitor Jon Floyd to discuss the impact the programme had on him when he took part in 2015 while he was serving his sentence. We were also joined by Heather Phillips, the chief executive of Beating Time, which runs, amongst other things, Inside Job – an employment programme she set up with Jon in 2020. 
For Jon, taking part in Beyond Bars was the catalyst for starting that programme with Heather as well as a whole range of initiatives he’s been involved with since 2015. As he says in the podcast, Beyond Bars gave him a purposeful activity, helped him change direction and kickstarted his journey of rehabilitation.

#SportscastofIdeas: World Cup - the final

Regular Sportscast of Ideas guests Geoff Kidder, Rob Lyons and Tom Collyer round up their World Cup highlights ahead of the final.
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#SportscastOfIdeas: World Cup 2022 Upsets and Underdogs

Regular Sportscast of Ideas guests Geoff Kidder and Rob Lyons are joined by Tom Collyer, Denis Russell and Simon McKeon to discuss the kick off of the World Cup 2022.
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