Battle of Ideas 2009 31 October & 1 November, London

The Battle of Ideas 2009 was a two-day festival of high-level, thought-provoking debate organised by the Academy of Ideas and hosted by the Royal College of Art.

Battle News

Battle of Ideas 2009 Keynote Videos

Institute of Ideas Christmas Lecture 2009

Battle of Ideas 2009 Speaker Quotes

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The Battle for Politics

Pre-Election Public Summit

Gatecrashing the political party -
Create a new agenda: 20 March 2010

More info

Festival Brochure

Read the Battle of Ideas 2009 Festival brochure PDF [913 KB]

Reading for Battle

Riots in Baltimore: a crisis of authority, Sean Collins

Get in shape: lose the fat, Clive Bloom

Society is collapsing because you are greedy, Brendan O'Neill

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Battles in Print

Should schools be engines of social mobility?, Sally Millard

Remaking citizens for the ‘Big Society’, Kathryn Ecclestone

In drug policy, pragmatism is the only moral approach, Roger Howard & Leo Barasi

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Speakers include
David Aaronovitch, columnist, The Times; author, Voodoo Histories; chair, Index on Censorship

Peter Barron, director of communications and public affairs, North and Central Europe, Google; former editor, Newsnight

Martin Bell, former independent MP for Tatton; author, A Very British Revolution: the expenses scandal and how to save our democracy

Colin Blakemore, professor of neuroscience at the universities of Oxford and Warwick; chair, Neuroscience Research Partnership, Singapore; chair, general advisory committee on science, Food Standards Agency

Vince Cable, deputy leader and shadow chancellor, Liberal Democrats; author, The Storm: the world economic crisis and what it means

John Cooper, leading criminal and human rights barrister; regular columnist, The Times and Observer; editor, Criminal Bar Quarterly

Jenny Diski, novelist, Apology for the Woman Writing; essayist; memoirist; author, The Sixties

Cory Doctorow, novelist; co-editor, BoingBoing.net; author, Content: selected essays on technology, creativity, copyright and the future of the future

Peter Donnelly, director, Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics; professor, statistical science, University of Oxford

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Festival Buzz

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"The Battle of Ideas goes from strength to strength. The intensity, variety and depth of debate, sustained for an entire weekend, makes for a unique experience charging the intellectual batteries for the rest of the year."
Raymond Tallis, emeritus professor of geriatric medicine, Manchester University

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