Academy of Ideas

#BookLaunch: Free Speech - A Global History from Socrates to Social Media

This event was held on 17 March 2022 hosted by the Academy of Ideas and the Free Speech Union: academyofideas.org.uk/event/free-speech-a-global-history-from-socrates-to-social-media/ 
Free speech is often hailed as the ‘first freedom’ and the bedrock of democracy. Free exchange of ideas underlies all intellectual achievement and has enabled the advancement of both freedom and equality worldwide. But free speech is also a challenging and even contentious principle that today is often considered to be under threat.
In his new book, Free Speech: A Global History from Socrates to Social Media, Jacob Mchangama traces the fluctuating history of this idea, arguing that it is not enough to have free speech legally enshrined – it has to be culturally accepted too. While the desire to restrict speech has been a constant, what are the threats from free-speech sceptics that we should worry about most today and how have they come to be? At a time when ideas, language and even history itself are the target of contentious interventions to restrict the free exchange of ideas, what can a wide-ranging historical perspective on free speech offer us in the contemporary battle to speak freely and challenge orthodoxies?
LECTURER: Jacob Mchangamalawyer, human rights advocate and former external lecturer in human rights at the University of Copenhagen. He is the founder and director of Justitia, a Copenhagen-based think tank focusing on human rights, freedom of speech, and the rule of law. His writings have appeared in a wide range of international outlets including The Economist, The Washington Post, Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs, Politico, The Wall Street Journal Europe, El Pais, France24, Deutsche Welle, and Al Jazeera. This book builds on his podcast ‘Clear and Present Danger: A History of Free Speech’, which has reached an audience of over 220,000 unique listeners in more than 120 countries across the world.
PANELISTS:
Dr Joanna Williamsdirector of Cieo; author, Academic Freedom in an Age of Conformity
Toby Younggeneral secretary, Free Speech Union
CHAIR: Claire Foxdirector, Academy of Ideas. The discussion will be followed by a wine reception, hosted by Basic Books.

Live debate: Ukraine in the crosshairs of history

This meeting was held live at the Royal National Hotel on the 14 March 2022: academyofideas.org.uk/event/ukraine-in-the-crosshairs-of-history
A famous old Russian once said: ‘There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.’ The past week feels exactly like that since Russia’s appalling decision to invade Ukraine. Not only will there be enormous bloodshed, but a nation’s independence and sovereignty is under threat. It feels like an earthquake has taken place in international relations, with old certainties undermined and gathering trends suddenly coming to fruition. We need to ask how we got to this point, what we need to do now and what the wider ramifications are.
How did we get here? In all the confusion, the ‘Vladimir Putin is a mad dictator’ explanation really isn’t a good enough answer. We need a much better historical perspective than we’ve been getting so far, at the very least on events since the fall of the Soviet Union, but also how the current world order is, in many respects, an anomaly from the far longer experience of great-power politics. And we need to examine the chain of events in an open and honest way; it’s not ‘treason’, as some have claimed, to question NATO or the West’s approach to Russia in recent decades. Such questions, and a commitment to open inquiry, should not be demonised. Solidarity with Ukraine should not imply that we must suspend critical thinking.
SPEAKERS INCLUDE:
Professor Frank Furedi, sociologist and social commentator; author, First World War: Still No End in Sight
Joan Hoey, regional director for Europe, Economist Intelligence Unit (sister organisation of The Economist newspaper)
Tim Stanley, columnist and leader writer, Daily Telegraph; author, Whatever Happened to Tradition? History, Belonging and the Future of the West
CHAIR: Claire Fox, director, Academy of Ideas; member, House of Lords

#PodcastOfIdeas: War in Ukraine

As war breaks out in Ukraine, the Academy of Ideas team is joined by Professor Frank Furedi and international affairs correspondent Mary Dejevsky to discuss Vladimir Putin's invasion and the fallout among Western nations.
Articles discussed in the podcast: Patrick Cockburn in the Independent / Tom McTague in the Atlantic / Brendan O'Neill in spiked

Education Forum: Has Ofsted become too political?

Panel discussion organised by the Academy of Ideas Education Forum on 21 February 2022.
INTRODUCTIONAs the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) approaches its 30th birthday, many are increasingly concerned that Ofsted is becoming overly political and moralistic and insufficiently educational in its approach. The anniversary of Ofsted’s creation seems a good moment to take stock.
Ofsted employs more than a thousand people and has an annual budget of close to £130 million. For this, it takes responsibility for regularly inspecting all publicly funded schools and colleges in England. In addition to setting the agenda of her inspection teams, Ofsted’s head, Amanda Spielman, writes a widely read annual report on the state of state education. Spielman herself has strong educational, political and moral opinions, and intervenes regularly in public debates. Last year, for example, she rejected calls to decolonise the school curriculum.
Ofsted was established in 1992 in the final phase of the Thatcherite reform of English state education. The creation of a national inspectorate that reported in public followed the introduction of the National Curriculum in 1989, as well as a new national examination system that included the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE). Results from these national exams were from this point onwards reported in national league tables, in which the performance of all state schools was ranked.
At the time, many teachers opposed this power grab from central government, and these criticisms have continued to be voiced. For many, Ofsted represents an unwarranted extension of central state control over education, as well as a mechanism by which the autonomy and the professionalism of teachers has been undermined. It is certainly true that teachers in England experience extraordinary levels of central state control and that Ofsted is one of the mechanisms by which this control is exercised. However, sociologist Stephen Ball perhaps overstates the case when he describes the accountability pressures experienced by English state-school teachers as giving rise to the ‘terror of performativity’.
It was under the government of John Major that Ofsted was first introduced. As we might expect, his account of its purpose differs from that of its critics. Writing in his autobiography, he observes that when he came into office, producers – rather than consumers – controlled public services and that health and education in particular was ‘run carelessly, wastefully, arrogantly … more for the convenience of the providers than the users, whether they were parents, pupils or patients’.
More recently, however, Ofsted has faced criticism from conservatives. They argue that Ofsted has been captured by progressivist educators, who are using the inspection system to impose woke values on education. Ofsted, the conservatives allege, has become a cuckoo institution, a mechanism by which a progressivist elite lodged within the state are imposing their values on young people. This charge could not be more serious, as Ofsted ought to remain impartial on matters that divide the nation morally and politically. It is, after all, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate.
Is Ofsted now exceeding its official remit? Do we even need a national inspectorate when we have a national examination system? Can state-employed teachers be trusted to do the job for which they are paid and trained? Is it time that we inspected the inspectors?
SPEAKERSNeil Davenportwriter and teacher
Rowenna Davisteacher; former journalist and Labour Party parliamentary candidate; new mum and community organiser
Alex Kennysecondary school teacher and NEU Executive member
Joseph Robertsondirector, Orthodox Conservatives think tank; education research fellow, The Bow Group
CHAIRToby Marshallteacher and member of the AoI Education Forum

#InternationalSalon: Boiling point - Russia and the West

Recording of the Academy of Ideas International Salon panel discussion on 3 February 2022.
https://academyofideas.org.uk/event/boiling-point-russia-and-the-west/
INTRODUCTION:
Russian troops on the border of Ukraine, riots in Kazakhstan, brutal suppression of recent protests in Belarus, talk of a new Cold War, threats of catastrophic sanctions from America, and demands from Russia for new security guarantees. As negotiations begin between Russia and the West, how do we make sense of the confusing – and highly charged – state of East-West relations?
Why have tensions continued to rachet up in the first place? Is there some validity to Russian security concerns amidst the enlargement of NATO and the EU, or is Russia to blame for seeking to expand its sphere of influence? Is this a genuine opportunity for Biden and Putin to lower tensions, or even negotiate a new settlement for relations between the West and Russia, after the chaotic collapse of the Soviet Union? Or is this just a prelude to further hostilities? Why does the whole area of the former Soviet Union seem such a hotbed of geopolitical tensions today?
SPEAKERS:
Mary Dejevsky
international affairs correspondent, Independent
Professor Frank Furedi
sociologist and commentator; author, 100 Years of Identity Crisis: culture war over socialisation
CHAIR: Jacob Reynolds
partnerships manager, Academy of Ideas

#Arts&SocietyForum: What’s in store for the arts in 2022?

This is a recording from the Arts & Society Forum event - What’s in store for the arts in 2022? - that took place on 10 January 2022: https://fb.me/e/7cT8pWcle
What can we expect of the arts in 2022? On the one hand, the measures taken to protect us against COVID19 have imposed onerous restrictions on the arts, closing down theatres, museums, galleries and most other venues. But the arts seem to be returning to life with renewed (if somewhat cautious) energy.
On the other hand, controversy continues to dog the arts, whether it’s what to put on the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square, sponsors and patrons with unsavoury histories, artists who fall foul of new moral codes, or increasing calls for censorship and cancellation. These controversies might help to keep the arts in the public eye, but what impact do they have on artistic development and production? What can we expect in terms of new work of artistic merit?
As 2022 gets started, after two years of hiatus and disruption, can we expect things to get better or worse? Are there any potential events or developments that we can anticipate with excitement or dread? How will the arts respond to the challenges likely to face us in 2022? How will each of the arts fare in the coming year?
Listen to Niall Crowley, Jonathan Grant, Rachel Jordon, Michael Nath, Vicky Richardson and Wendy Earle discuss.

#SportscastOfIdeas: Controversy down under - from Djokovic to The Ashes

For our first Sportscast of Ideas of 2022, Geoff Kidder is joined by Academy of Ideas colleagues Alastair Donald and Rob Lyons, with special guest and Aussie, Charlie Pearson.

#BattleFest2021: What are Western values - and should we defend them?

Thanks for listening to the BattleFest podcast - you can support us by subscribing, sharing and leaving us a review. Check back next week for more recordings from the Battle of Ideas festival 2021.
WHAT ARE WESTERN VALUES - AND SHOULD WE DEFEND THEM?
A new #BattleFest recording from the Battle of Ideas festival 2021:
 https://www.battleofideas.org.uk/session/what-are-western-values-and-should-we-defend-them/
 
The recent abandonment of Afghanistan by the UK and the US is widely seen as a humiliating defeat for the West. Coinciding with the 20th anniversary of 9/11, the hurried exit and its consequences have led to a soul-searching discussion about what the West really means today. Are we prepared to fight for Western values, and do we even agree on what Western values are?