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.
Recent Readings
Features of good homework practice
Government guidance on the setting of homework including references to parental engagement.
The Standards Site, department for children, schools and families
Government guidance on the setting of homework including references to parental engagement.
The Standards Site, department for children, schools and families
watching, wanting and wellbeing: exploring the links
a study of 9 to 13-year-olds
Agnes Nairn & Jo Ormrod, National Consumer Council
a study of 9 to 13-year-olds
Agnes Nairn & Jo Ormrod, National Consumer Council
The Long View
There is a simple answer to the question ‘what is the value of research in the humanities?’ It is that research in the humanities is the only activity that can establish the meaning of such a question.
Jonathan Bate, AHRC (working draft)
There is a simple answer to the question ‘what is the value of research in the humanities?’ It is that research in the humanities is the only activity that can establish the meaning of such a question.
Jonathan Bate, AHRC (working draft)
Bullied at work? Don't suffer in silence
TUC booklet on bullying, rights and redress.
Trades Union Congress, Trades Union Congress
TUC booklet on bullying, rights and redress.
Trades Union Congress, Trades Union Congress
Social work and social justice: a manifesto for a new engaged practice
Social Work Manifesto: we need to find more effective ways of resisting the dominant trends within social work and map ways forward for a new engaged practice.
School of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Liverpool,
Social Work Manifesto: we need to find more effective ways of resisting the dominant trends within social work and map ways forward for a new engaged practice.
School of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Liverpool,
Performing Rites: Evaluating Popular Music
'A socio-philosophical quarrel with history about the value of pop music and popular culture.'
Simon Frith, Oxford University Press,
Music, Culture and Experience: Selected Papers of John Blacking
One of the most important ethnomusicologists of the century, John Blacking is known for his interest in the relationship of music to biology, psychology, dance and politics. He attempted to document the ways in which music-making expresses the human condition, how it transcends social divisions and how it can be used to improve the quality of human life.
John Blacking, University of Chicago Press,
Environmental Colonialism: 'Saving' Africa from Africans
Under the banner of saving the African environment, Africans in the last half century have been subjected to a new form of "environmental colonialism"
Robert H Nelson, The Independent Review, VIII, n1, Summer 2003
Under the banner of saving the African environment, Africans in the last half century have been subjected to a new form of "environmental colonialism"
Robert H Nelson, The Independent Review, VIII, n1, Summer 2003
Rebirth of the author?
"Battle of Ideas could be called Search for Truth. Mundane consensus and conventional wisdom are the enemies of truth. Happily, neither of those are available at the Battle."
George Pitcher, journalist; Anglican priest, St Bride's Church, Fleet Street