Reading for Battle
Battle Readings is a regularly updated compilation of articles, essays, and opinion pieces relevant to the themes of the Battle of Ideas.
Choose a theme from the listing on the left to narrow your search, or view all readings.
Health & Well-being
My 10-point plan for change
A manifesto for better nursing.
Christina Patterson, Independent, 14 April 2012
A manifesto for better nursing.
Christina Patterson, Independent, 14 April 2012
Fat tax: Does obesity really cost society a fortune?
The regular calls for a fat tax – whether on the ‘wrong’ foods or on fat people themselves – are symptomatic of two regressive trends in society.
Rob Lyons, Independent, 3 November 2011
The regular calls for a fat tax – whether on the ‘wrong’ foods or on fat people themselves – are symptomatic of two regressive trends in society.
Rob Lyons, Independent, 3 November 2011
The Art of Suppression: Pleasure, Panic and Prohibition Since 1800
The prohibition of alcohol in the USA was a notorious fiasco. The War on Drugs has been a deadly failure. Bans on alternative nicotine products keep people smoking cigarettes. Attempts to suppress legal highs result in more drugs hitting the market. Prohibition doesn't work but the world is filled with prohibitionists. Why?
Chris Snowdon, Little Dice, 3 October 2011
Panic on a Plate
In the last eighty years the proportion of household income spent on food has dropped from a third to less than a tenth. Fruit and vegetables from around the world are on the shelves all year round.
Chris Snowdon, Free Society, 3 October 2011
In the last eighty years the proportion of household income spent on food has dropped from a third to less than a tenth. Fruit and vegetables from around the world are on the shelves all year round.
Chris Snowdon, Free Society, 3 October 2011
What damage does alcohol do to our bodies?
We know that drinking too much alcohol is bad for us. It gives us hangovers, makes us feel tired and does little for our appearance - and that is just the morning afterwards.
Philippa Roxby, BBC News, 2 October 2011
We know that drinking too much alcohol is bad for us. It gives us hangovers, makes us feel tired and does little for our appearance - and that is just the morning afterwards.
Philippa Roxby, BBC News, 2 October 2011
Panic on a Plate: how society developed an eating disorder
The availability, range, cost and quality of food in Western societies have never been more favourable, yet food is also the focus of a great deal of anxiety. There are concerns that our current diets will mean we will get steadily fatter and more unhealthy while consuming junk food', with consequences for our quality of life, our children's behaviour and even the environment.
Rob Lyons, Imprint Academic, 1 October 2011
The excess is not in alcohol but in Britain's self-loathing
Maciej Dakowicz's pictures of Cardiff revellers are lapped up by a country that pictures itself as broken, boozing, morally sick
Jonathan Jones, Guardian, 23 September 2011
Maciej Dakowicz's pictures of Cardiff revellers are lapped up by a country that pictures itself as broken, boozing, morally sick
Jonathan Jones, Guardian, 23 September 2011
Under the Influence
Under the Influence investigates how far parenting style affects those children’s drinking behaviour in later life. It analyses data of several thousand children from two separate data sets and compares how their parents raised them against the child’s drinking habits in adolescence and adulthood.
Jamie Bartlett and Matt Grist, Demos, 16 September 2011
Under the Influence investigates how far parenting style affects those children’s drinking behaviour in later life. It analyses data of several thousand children from two separate data sets and compares how their parents raised them against the child’s drinking habits in adolescence and adulthood.
Jamie Bartlett and Matt Grist, Demos, 16 September 2011
Child anorexia: is 'size-zero culture' really to blame?
Articles about "size zero" illustrated with pictures of glamorous, rail-thin celebrities and models whose ribs are countable through their couture dresses may have the shock factor, but they do nothing to help anorexics and their families.
Laurie Penny, Guardian, 2 August 2011
Articles about "size zero" illustrated with pictures of glamorous, rail-thin celebrities and models whose ribs are countable through their couture dresses may have the shock factor, but they do nothing to help anorexics and their families.
Laurie Penny, Guardian, 2 August 2011
The anorexia victims aged FIVE: Doctors blame ultra-slim celebrities as almost 100 under-9s are treated in hospital Read more:
Children as young as five are being treated in hospital for severe anorexia in a shocking illustration of how early they can become obsessed with body image.
Sophie Borland, Daily Mail, 1 August 2011
Children as young as five are being treated in hospital for severe anorexia in a shocking illustration of how early they can become obsessed with body image.
Sophie Borland, Daily Mail, 1 August 2011
The energy challenge: can we keep the lights on?
"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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