2011 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 29 October: 10.30am-12.00pm
Keynote Controversies Upper Gulbenkian Gallery
The Battle against the Fates
Lecture Theatre 1
Unrealpolitik: a new new world order?
Courtyard Gallery
What is evil? The politics of morality
Lecture Theatre 2
Censoring science: have scientists become the new inquisitors?
Café
Is big business ruining food?
Henry Moore Gallery
Drinking by numbers: should we count our alcohol units?
Students' Union
From the sublime to the ridiculous: can we measure the value of the arts?
Saturday 29 October: 12.15pm-1.15pm
Lunchtime Debates Upper Gulbenkian Gallery
What is nature for?
Lecture Theatre 1
Eurozonia: too big to fail, too small to succeed?
Courtyard Gallery
Maybe I do? Marriage in the modern era
Lunchtime Debates Lecture Theatre 2
Seduced by stats?
Henry Moore Gallery
Doing it for charity?
Lunchtime Debates Students' Union
Tomorrow never knows? Sci-fi and the future
Saturday 29 October: 1.30pm-3.00pm
Keynote Controversies Upper Gulbenkian Gallery
Profiting responsibly? Business in the big society
Lecture Theatre 1
Middle East 'revolutions': hopes and fears?
Courtyard Gallery
Your mind, your high: is recreational drug use morally wrong?
Lecture Theatre 2
The Tea Party: defenders of the American Dream?
Café
Eating ethics: are some foods morally bad for you?
Henry Moore Gallery
Remaking citizens for the ‘Big Society’
Students' Union
What is the point of being an artist?
Keynote Controversies Upper Gulbenkian Gallery
Creativity and curiosity: do we make stuff up or find it out?
Saturday 29 October: 3.30pm-5.00pm
Lecture Theatre 1
The trillion dollar question: is the US economy resurgent or dependent?
Courtyard Gallery
Coarse sex and cheap lives
Lecture Theatre 2
What's innovation good for?
Café
Are we turning our children into food faddists?
Henry Moore Gallery
Radical surgery for the NHS: what is a GP's role today?
Students' Union
Dreaming spires for all? Oxbridge and social mobility
Saturday 29 October: 5.15pm-6.30pm
Upper Gulbenkian Gallery
Moral panics or just panic?
Lecture Theatre 1
Is this Africa's decade?
Courtyard Gallery
Crime and punishment: what are prisons for?
Lecture Theatre 2
Online communities: cyber-village or antisocial network?
Café
Debating Matters International Final: GM Crops - UK versus India
Henry Moore Gallery
Hand-out Britain? Has a dependency culture made us sick?
Students' Union
Performing politics: is all the world a stage?
Sunday 30 October: 9.45am-10.30am
Lecture Theatre 1
Life off Earth: are the aliens out there?
Courtyard Gallery
Civil disobedience or violent criminality?
Breakfast Banter Lecture Theatre 2
Haters gonna hate: should we hate hate?
Café
Fan till I die? The meaning of being a football supporter
Henry Moore Gallery
The Simpsons versus Shakespeare
Breakfast Banter Students' Union
Are the Germans still European?
Sunday 30 October: 10.45am-12.15pm
Keynote Controversies Upper Gulbenkian Gallery
Has tolerance gone too far?
Lecture Theatre 1
Sex in the brain: do men and women think differently?
Courtyard Gallery
Can conservatism survive the 21st century?
Lecture Theatre 2
Sylvia Pankhurst: everything is possible
Café
The Greatest Show on Earth: from Olympia to London
Henry Moore Gallery
What is history education for?
Students' Union
Abortion: how late is 'too late'?
Sunday 30 October: 12.30pm-1.30pm
Lunchtime Debates Upper Gulbenkian Gallery
Fracking and Fukushima: our energy security fears
Lecture Theatre 1
Designer people: is technology making us less human?
Courtyard Gallery
Can social democracy survive the 21st century?
Lunchtime Debates Lecture Theatre 2
Silencing sectarianism: football's free speech wars
Lunchtime Debates Henry Moore Gallery
Rebirth of the author?
Lunchtime Debates Students' Union
Burlesque: female empowerment or posh stripping?
Sunday 30 October: 1.45pm-3.15pm
Keynote Controversies Upper Gulbenkian Gallery
Loyalty in an age of whistle-blowing and Wikileaks
Lecture Theatre 1
Is there a ghost in the machine?
Courtyard Gallery
Queer times: has the gay rights movement triumphed?
Lecture Theatre 2
Tiger mothers: the great parenting row
Café
Drugs and bionics: enhancing sport?
Henry Moore Gallery
Skilling up the jilted generation: the employability debate
Students' Union
Roads or ruins? The politics of cultural preservation
Sunday 30 October: 3.45pm-5.15pm
Keynote Controversies Upper Gulbenkian Gallery
Is individualism bad for society?
Lecture Theatre 1
Smart drugs: magic bullet or cheating ourselves?
Courtyard Gallery
What is feminism for?
Lecture Theatre 2
Islamophobia: the new racism or liberal angst?
Café
Olympic expectations: can't see the games for the legacy?
Henry Moore Gallery
Ain’t misbehaving - do British children need the army to sort them out?
Students' Union
Dead cities: 'ruin porn' and the urban imagination
Sunday 30 October: 5.30pm-6.30pm
Upper Gulbenkian Gallery
The rise of the clicktivists: will the revolution be digitised?
Lecture Theatre 1
Can you tell when someone is lying to you? - Film Q&A
Courtyard Gallery
Rise of European populism: the revenge of politics?
Lecture Theatre 2
Through a glass darkly: why do atheists love the King James Bible?
Café
Who is the greatest ever Olympian? Balloon debate
Henry Moore Gallery
Pax Romana: civilising the barbarians or evil empire?
Students' Union
Interns or slave labour?
Sunday 30 October: 6.30pm-7.30pm
What next for...? Upper Gulbenkian Gallery
Alone together? Cultivating social solidarity in the year ahead

A cultured ear: why does listening to music matter?

"Nine out of ten these debates hit the right balance between heated argument and useful exchange between people who wouldn't usually be talking to each other. An extremely stimulating environment."
Tim Parks, novelist, essayist and translator

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