2012 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 20 October: 10.30am-12.00pm
Fountain Room
Who needs art anyway?
Saturday 20 October: 12.15pm-1.15pm
Lunchtime Debates Cinema 1
High and low culture: separated at birth?
Fountain Room
Bored of the Booker: prizes, prizes, everywhere
Saturday 20 October: 1.30pm-3.00pm
Keynote Controversies Cinema 1
Lessons from America: the new culture wars
Fountain Room
All together now: the rise of the choir
Saturday 20 October: 3.30pm-5.00pm
Fountain Room
In search of originality: navigating the artistic canon
Saturday 20 October: 5.15pm-6.30pm
Fountain Room
Who is the greatest artist? Balloon debate
Garden Room
Commons people: music in a digital age
Sunday 21 October: 9.30am-10.15am
Frobisher 4-6
Baby culture vultures
Garden Room
Illuminating the Middle Ages
Sunday 21 October: 6.30pm-7.30pm
Fountain Room
Looking back today
Garden Room
No future: has pop lost its radical edge?

Your mind, your high: is recreational drug use morally wrong?

"A truly original battle with a great deal at stake as opposed to a reassuring renactment of old arguments. I felt refreshed rather than entrenched afterwards."
Damian Barr, columnist, writer, playwright, salonierre

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