2009 Programme: Festival weekend overview

The Festival weekend includes more than 70 debates which are listed below ordered by time slot and room. To see Saturday or Sunday sessions only, select the day you want from the menu on the left or select sessions by Theme.

Or view and print out the Timetable as a two-page PDF.


Saturday 31 October: 10.00am to 10.20am
Upper Gulbenkian Gallery
Battle of Ideas 2009 welcome address

Saturday 31 October: 10.30am to 12.00pm
Keynote Controversies Upper Gulbenkian Gallery
Rethinking education – the new crisis of adult authority in the classroom
Lecture Theatre 1
Frankenstein's Daughters: from science fiction to science fact?
Courtyard Gallery
The State and Recession: solution or part of the problem?
Lecture Theatre 2
It's not fair! The Battle for Equality
Café
Chav-bashing: demonising the ‘white working class’?
Henry Moore Gallery
Is there a global power shift from West to East?
Student Union
Parliament: reform or revolution?

Saturday 31 October: 12.15pm to 1.15pm
Lunchtime Debates Upper Gulbenkian Gallery
Post-recession Ideologies: it's the politics, stupid!
Lunchtime Debates Lecture Theatre 1
Genetics and genomics: medicine made to measure?
Lunchtime Debates Courtyard Gallery
Data Sharing or Database State?
Lunchtime Debates Lecture Theatre 2
Debating Development
Lunchtime Debates Henry Moore Gallery
Germany, 20 years united: growing together or falling apart?
Student Union
The Fight over Flight: what's the problem with air travel?

Saturday 31 October: 1.30pm to 3.00pm
Keynote Controversies Upper Gulbenkian Gallery
Rethinking Privacy in an age of Disclosure and Sharing
Lecture Theatre 1
Whose Right to Choose? Choice, ethics and regulation in 21st-century reproduction
Courtyard Gallery
You Produce, I Consume: Global Imbalances, Causes and Consequences
Lecture Theatre 2
Bookshop Barnie at the Battle: 'Why We Disagree about Climate Change'
Café
Welfare Dependency: who benefits?
Henry Moore Gallery
When is it right to go to war? Kosovo, Iraq and beyond
Student Union
Activist revival or aimless hyper-activism?

Saturday 31 October: 3.30pm to 5.00pm
Keynote Controversies Upper Gulbenkian Gallery
Rethinking Freedom in an Illiberal Age: securing rights or celebrating liberty?
Lecture Theatre 1
Three’s a crowd? The battle over population and reproduction
Courtyard Gallery
Unlimited Ltd: Economic growth and its discontents
Lecture Theatre 2
Who ate all the pies? Football, greed and the recession
Café
The Rise of the Philanthrocapitalists: can the rich save the world?
Henry Moore Gallery
A cultured ear: why does listening to music matter?
Student Union
The Rise of Populism in Europe: we the people or them the mob?

Saturday 31 October: 5.15pm to 6.30pm
Keynote Controversies Upper Gulbenkian Gallery
Rethinking Therapy Culture: changing the subject?
Lecture Theatre 1
Africa and Aid: the Effects of the Recession
Courtyard Gallery
School Science Education: an experiment gone wrong?
Café
Debating Matters Competition showcase debate: "Copyright Benefits the Arts"
Henry Moore Gallery
Rhyme, Rhythm and Blues: poets and lyricists in perfect harmony?
Student Union
Revolutions Balloon Debate

Sunday 1 November: 9.45am to 10.30am
Breakfast Banter Lecture Theatre 1
Risky Business: does financial engineering add up?
Breakfast Banter Courtyard Gallery
The Battle over Video Games
Breakfast Banter Lecture Theatre 2
The Empty Staffroom: has teaching lost its magic?
Breakfast Banter Café
The Ugly Game? The Old Firm, football rivalry and the politics of behaviour
Breakfast Banter Henry Moore Gallery
The Jury's Out: juries and the future of justice

Sunday 1 November: 10.45am to 12.15pm
Keynote Controversies Upper Gulbenkian Gallery
Nudge Nudge, Nag Nag: the new politics of behaviour
Lecture Theatre 1
Abundant, Cheap, Clean... Contentious? Why is energy a battlefield today?
Courtyard Gallery
The changing meaning of work – from work-life balance to unemployment
Lecture Theatre 2
Philosophy 4 Children: can kids do Kant?
Café
We don't need no Sex Education
Henry Moore Gallery
Lording It Over Us: the political rise of the judiciary
Student Union
Can the arts save the economy?

Sunday 1 November: 12.30pm to 1.30pm
Upper Gulbenkian Gallery
Should physician-assisted dying be legalised?
Lunchtime Debates Lecture Theatre 1
A Green New Deal: can environmentalism save the economy?
Lunchtime Debates Courtyard Gallery
India's Future: Slumdogs or Millionaires?
Lunchtime Debates Lecture Theatre 2
Setting an Example: should teachers be role models?
Lunchtime Debates Henry Moore Gallery
The Human Rights Act: litigation or emancipation?
Lunchtime Debates Student Union
From Macpherson to the rise of the BNP: Race Today?

Sunday 1 November: 1.45pm to 3.15pm
Keynote Controversies Upper Gulbenkian Gallery
The Art of Criticism: judgement in crisis?
Lecture Theatre 1
A New Nuclear Age?
Courtyard Gallery
Working for the State: public service or gravy train?
Lecture Theatre 2
A Space Age Future? Sci-fi film clips and discussion
Café
Policing the Playground: do anti-bullying campaigns do more harm than good?
Henry Moore Gallery
Mr Obama goes to Washington
Student Union
Shaping Social Policy: Designers and Crime

Sunday 1 November: 3.45pm to 5.15pm
Keynote Controversies Upper Gulbenkian Gallery
The Good Society: virtues for a post-recession world
Lecture Theatre 1
Solving the Energy Crisis: all about lightbulbs and lifestyle?
Courtyard Gallery
Recession-proofing: from union militancy to reskilling
Lecture Theatre 2
Songs of Innocence and Experience: what should today's kids be reading?
Café
Standing up to Supernanny: why we need a Parents' Liberation Movement
Henry Moore Gallery
South Africa: 15 Years After Apartheid
Student Union
Shaping Social Policy: Designers and Health

Sunday 1 November: 5.30pm to 6.30pm
Keynote Controversies Upper Gulbenkian Gallery
America, Obama and the Recession
Lecture Theatre 1
Shopping: are we all ethical now?
Courtyard Gallery
Is the NHS institutionally ageist?
Café
Sporty kids and pushy parents
Henry Moore Gallery
Head to head debate: Is it the duty of schools to promote community cohesion?
Student Union
Novel Pursuits: creative writing and the democratisation of literature?

Festival Buzz
Particle Physics is Sexy

View: Particle Physics is Sexy

"Just when Kant's formulation that 'the public exercise of reason should be free' had begun to seem so remote and exhausted, the Battle should reinforce one's faith in the enduring worth of dissent and of the free traffic in ideas"
Swapan Chakravorty, professor of english, Jadavpur University