Battle of Ideas 2011 29 & 30 October, London. Two days of high-level, thought-provoking, public debate organised by the Academy of Ideas, hosted by the Royal College of Art.
75 sessions, 350 speakers, 2250 attendees
News
+ All news
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

+ All Battles in Print
Speakers include
Phil Booth, coordinator, medConfidential

Brendan O'Neill, editor, spiked; columnist, Big Issue; contributor, Spectator; author, A Duty to Offend: Selected Essays

Tom Watt, writer, actor and broadcaster

Tom Holland, award-winning historian; author, Rubicon: the triumph and tragedy of the Roman Republic; winner, 2007 Classical Association Prize

Kenan Malik, writer and broadcaster; author, The Quest for a Moral Compass: A Global History of Ethics and From Fatwa to Jihad

George Szirtes, reader in creative writing, UEA; poet; editor; translator; author, The Burning of the Books and Other Poems

Zoe Williams, columnist, Guardian; author, What Not to Expect When You're Expecting

Ruth Padel, poet and writer; author, The Mara Crossing and Darwin: a life in poems

William Saletan, journalist, Slate; author, Bearing Right: how conservatives won the abortion war

John Sutherland, Emeritus Lord Northcliffe Professor of English Literature, University College London; author, The Lives of the Novelists

+ Full list of speakers
Readings

Creativity and curiosity: Do we make stuff up or find it out?, Professor Colin Lawson

Islamophobia: Why we have to get over our fears, Rania Hafez

The growing epidemic of stats misuse, Hilary Salt

Dreaming spires for all? Only if we face up to some hard truths, Jacob Reynolds

Fat tax: Does obesity really cost society a fortune?, Rob Lyons

Surely by now we’ve outgrown the body?, Sandy Starr

Charities should accept their game is up, Dave Clements

Facebook’s impact on the brain, Rob Clowes

A world of seven billion people like you, Daniel Ben-Ami

Corporate Social Responsibility – more harm than good, Bill Durodie

Electric selves?, Rob Clowes

From the sublime to the ridiculous: can we measure the value of the arts?, Tom Hutchinson

Angels: a very short introduction, David Albert Jones

What if we aren’t alone after all?, Richard Swan

The rise of the machines? Not any time soon, Katherine Richardson

+ All Battle Readings
The Battle of Ideas is produced by the
Academy of Ideas with










+ Full list of partners

"If you have not tried it, you miss the best annual collective thought provoking opportunities in Britain."
Vijaya Madhavan, business consultant and part time doctor

follow the Academy of Ideas