Education Opinion is now located at educationopinion.blogspot.com. The latest piece, by Mark Taylor, surveys Battle of Ideas 2007 debates on education.
The Battle of Ideas 2007 generated extensive press coverage.
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Martyn Perks, comment on defending design for its own sake
Blueprint November 2007
Karl Sharro, comment on film and the city
Blueprint November 2007
Austin Williams, ‘Transport in India’
Blueprint November 2007
Nigel Hawks: Painkillers and a walk are best for back pain
The Times 9 November 2007
Raymond Snoddy: British television isn’t in terminal decline - get recording and see
The Independent 5 November 2007
James Delingpole: I am facing up to the fact that I may be a Marxist
The Spectator 3 November 2007
Nathalie Rothschild: The yogi and the techie
Hindustan Times 2 November 2007
Melanie Newman, ‘Right to speak is threatened’
THES, 2 November 2007
Richard Reynolds, ‘Academe is guilty of institutional cowardice’
THES, 2 November 2007
Piers Hellawell, ‘Manifest Inadequacies’
Incorporated Society of Musicians Music Journal October 2007
Cecilia Wee, ‘Would you prefer silence?’
New Notes October 2007
Battle of Ideas
BBC Focus October 2007
Adrian McNeil, Chief Executive, Human Tissue Authority, Good regulation - Research shows no gulf between science and public confidence
Letter to The Times, 31 October 2007
Leah Hardy, ‘Homework for parents’
Body&Soul, The Times, 27 October 2007
Naming the enemy
Leader, The Australian, 27 October 2007
Motoring news: The London to Brighton Run
Daily Telegraph 27 October 2007
Zo‘ Corbyn, ‘Focus on deliverables concerns scientists’
THES, 26 October 2007
Melanie Newman, ‘Free speech wins the day’
THES, 26 October 2007
Cara Bleiman, ‘Rock ‘n’ Revolt’
Cherwell 24, 26 October 2007
Claire Fox: Debate is being stifled by a new form of inquisition
The Independent 25 October 2007
Mark Henderson, ‘Constant policing of our research makes us look sinister, say scientists’
The Times 25 October 2007
Claire Fox: Let’s just have more homes
The MJ 25 October 2007
Independent education diary
Independent 25 October 2007
Austin Williams, ‘Architects cannot save the planet’
Construction News 25 October 2007
Raymond Tallis, ‘Why blame me? It was all my brain’s fault’
The Times 24 October 2007
Naresh Fernandes, ‘Growing Pains’
Time Out 24-30 October 2007
Preview, Around Town
Time Out 24-30 October 2007
Professor Patrick Basham: Who are you calling fat?
The Independent 23 October 2007
David Aaronovitch, ‘A weapons expert, a rose grower and a fantasist’
The Times 23 October 2007
Jennie Bristow, ‘Mums of the world unite’
Sunday Herald 21 October 2007
David Willetts MP, ‘We must value education for itself, not just to get a job’
The Sunday Times 21 October 2007
Andrew Price, ‘Students’ tickets to culture’
Paddington and Westminster Times 21 September 2007
Vivienne Parry, ‘Obesity: the big fat lie?’
The Times, Body&Soul 20 October 2007
Book now: the Battle of Ideas
The Week 20 October 2007
Sonya Dyer: Why are the arts so white?
Time Out London 17 October 2007
Nathalie Rothschild: Thunderer - ‘Spare us the Hollywood luvvies with a conscience’
The Times 17 October 2007
Madeleine Brindley, ‘Child obesity back lash’
Western Mail 16 October 2007
Events: Battle of Ideas festival
New Statesman 15 October 2007
Robert Bivins, Old cures for new ills + Battle of Ideas reader offer
Body&Soul, The Times 13 October 2007
Camilla Cavendish, ‘The madness of feeding this ravenous NHS’
The Times 11 October 2007
Norman Lewis explodes the myth of the digital child
Telecom Markets, 9 October 2007
Newsround: Battle of Ideas 2007
Music Journal September 2007
Autumn preview: Battle for Music
New Notes September 2007
Don’t miss the blarney barney
Daily Telegraph 8 September 2007
Coverage in The Smoke
Coverage in Lexus Magazine
Online
Geoff Kidder: Top ten British sporting losses
Times Online 24 October 2007
Raymond Tallis: My brain made me do it
Times Online 24 October 2007
Simon Myerson: The courts are not keeping pace with science
Times Online 23 October 2007
Patrick Kidd: Top 50 great British losers
Times Online 23 October 2007
Rob Lyons: Recycling is a waste of time
Times Online 23 October 2007
David Aaronovitch: Sorting waste is a pain, but I’ll do my bit
Times Online 23 October 2007
Dolan Cummings: Count me out of atheism’s creed
Times Online 22 October 2007
Ruth Gledhill: Religion’s death has been widely exaggerated
Times Online 22 October 2007
Gerard Baker: The US grass is still greener
Times Online 22 October 2007
Cheryl Hudson: Missing: one American dream
Times Online 22 October 2007
Jeffrey Rosen: Privacy is dead. Long live privacy
Times Online 22 October 2007
Holden Frith: We don’t really care about our privacy
Times Online 22 October 2007
Anjana Ahuja: Why particle physics is sexy
Times Online 22 October 2007
Mitesh Patel: The astonishing profits in particle physics
Times Online 22 October 2007
Battle Talk - spiked/18 Doughty Street
Ceri Dingle with Brendan O’Neill
Dominic Lawson with Brendan O’Neill
James Delingpole with Brendan O’Neill
Arts and elitism with Shirley Dent
Student activism with Brendan O’Neill
Barriers to science with Tony Gilland
The new heresies Mick Hume
Revolting students
Demonising Parents
MySpace Generation
Film stars: from icons to role models
London 2012
Immigration: the unheard debate
Diet Nation
Other online
Bites from the Battle of Ideas
Philosophy and life blog
Should Art Change the World?
Battle of Ideas, State of Play Magazine and A&B
Battle of Ideas London Debate
View London
GTC at the Battle of Ideas
General Teaching Council
Battle of Ideas
Moleskine Cities
Battle of Ideas 2007
Intute: Arts and Humanities
Battle of Ideas
ESRC Society Today Issue 67
Battle of Ideas 2007
Your Local Guardian
Toner Quinn: Small Country think big
November/December 2007
Shirley Dent, ‘Stop this political prancing and get to the pointe - the best dance is elite dance’
Ballet.co Magazine November 2007
Rachel Harvey, Review of the Battle of Ideas
Remotegoat.co.uk November 2007
Battle of Ideas
CutivAsian October 2007
Battle for Africa
BBC Africa and Beyond October 2007
Julia Hailes, ‘Battling for recycling’
Telegraph blog 31 October 2007
Times Online web grab - Battle of Ideas special
Times Online 26 October 2007
Martin Earnshaw, ‘Recylcling: reducing waste or waste of time?
Arts & Letters Daily 24 October 2007
Battle of Ideas
Flavorpill London 23 - 29 October 2007
Adam Sampson, ‘Overcrowded and under pressure’
Society Guardian 23 October 2007
Battle of Ideas
Shelter: Adam’s Blog 23 October
Dave Clements, ‘Let’s take the politics out of housing policy’
Society Guardian 22 October 2007
Frank Furedi, ‘Fear of the Unknown’
Guardian Comment is free 22 October 2007
Jennifer Rohn, Preview: Battle of Ideas 2007
Nature Network 17 October 2007
Privacy and new technologies survey
New Media Knowledge newsletter 17 October 2007
‘Is our response to terrorism a bigger problem than the threat itself?
Innovations Report 16 October 2007
Ian Delaney, ‘Privacy 2 Standards’
twopointouch.com 10 October 2007
‘Oliver Shaw is hoping for snow’
Le Cool magazine 10 October 2007
Suzy Dean, Compulsory Voting: the case against
OpenDemocracy 5 October 2007
Battle of Ideas preview
Dazed and Confused blog September and October 2007
Toner Quinn, ‘Music in the 2007 Battle of Ideas festival’
Journal of Music in Ireland blog 30 September 2007
Shirley Dent, ‘We need creative critics and critical creators’
Guardian arts blog 27 September 2007
Martyn Perks, ‘Don’t curb design enthusiasm’
Guardian arts blog 26 September 2007
Battle of Ideas preview
Mansized 25 September 2007
Shirley Dent, ‘The collective work of a single author’
Guardian arts blog 17 September 2007
Broadcast
‘The Truth About Obesity’
The Investigation, BBC Radio 4 22 November 2007
Patrick Basham on ‘Diet Nation’
Jeremy Vine Show, BBC Radio 2 29 October 2007
Phil Cunliffe on ethical foreign policy
Moral Maze, BBC Radio 4 31 October 2007
Viv Regan on Saving Africa: the West’s new moral mission?
Inspirit, BBC Radio London 28 October 2007
Battle of Ideas feature - post-ideology
The World this Weekend, BBC Radio 4 27 October 2007
Claire Fox: democracy and its limits
World tonight BBC Radio 4 Friday 26 October
Patrick Basham on ‘Diet Nation’
You and Yours, BBC Radio 4 23 October 2007
Interview with Frank Furedi on terrorism
Sky News bulletin 22 October 2007
Patrick Basham on ‘Diet Nation’
Channel 4 News bulletin 17 October 2007
Michael Fitzpatrick on obesity epidemic
BBC Radio Foyle 17 October 2007
Science and politics of climate change
Analysis, BBC Radio 4 forthcoming
Battle for Africa
Analysis, BBC Radio 4 forthcoming
Themed, full-colour printed collections of selected Battles in Print are now available: Music & Arts, Science & Technology, Best of the BiPs 1 and Best of the BiPs 2. The collections are £3 each, or £10 for a set of four, including postage. Call 020 7269 9220 or buy online.
The IoI conducted a survey of over 200 scientists about barriers to science in the 21st Century. 84% of scientists who expressed an opinion answered ‘yes’ when asked: ‘Does the government adopt too instrumental an approach towards scientific research in general?’.
A full report of the survey is available as a pdf. Click here to download (428kb).
The Times reported on the survey:
Constant policing of our research makes us look sinister, say scientists, Mark Henderson, Science Editor, 25 October 2007.
Adrian McNeil, Chief Executive of the Human Tissue Authority, responded in a letter to The Times:
Good regulation, Research shows no gulf between science and public confidence, Letters, 31 October 2007
Comment Central - Times Online - webgrab for today has chosen to showcase four Battles in Print:
Mark Vernon: Are friends electric? The promises and perils of online social networking
Nancy McDermott: Anti-Americanism at home and abroad
Nathalie Rothschild: Film stars: from icons to role models
Lee Jones: The Iraq war: the strip-tease of democracy
To view the index of all the Battles in Print, click here.
WE WILL STOP SELLING TICKETS ONLINE AFTER 4PM ON FRIDAY 26TH OCTOBER
There are still places available at the festival. If you would still like to attend, you can buy tickets on the door at the RCA from:
9.15am on Saturday 27th October
and from 9.30am on Sunday 28th October.
CIRCLE LINE: On Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 October, is suspended throughout the entire line due to planned engineering works. Find out more information here.
DISTRICT LINE: On Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 October, is suspended between Earls Court and Whitechapel due to planned engineering works. A limited late night replacement bus service operates between South Kensington and Aldgate East.
Find out more information here.
The ESRC with the IoI this year ran a competition for all postgraduate students who are funded by the ESRC to write a Battle in Print for the two ERSC keynote debates:‘Democracy and Its Discontents’ and ‘The Resurrection of Religion: Moving Beyond Secularism or Losing Faith in Politics?’ The winning essays have now been chosen:
‘Democracy and Its Discontents’
Nicki Senior, The Public Service Customer: Misdirection, Manipulation or Myth?
‘The Resurrection of Religion: Moving Beyond Secularism or Losing Faith in Politics?’
Stratos Ramoglou, The quest for certainty and the question of autonomy
Battle of Ideas media partner Times Online is hosting several blogs to accompany provocative Battle of Ideas debates. The blogs feature Battle speakers and Times writers (including David Aaronovitch, Anjana Ahuja and Gerald Baker) squaring off over science, privacy & technology, the environment, religion ...and of course, why people hate America.
Battles in Print as background reading for many of the Arts & Culture sessions have been published today. Read them here.
Raymond Tallis has composed a list of his top ten works of Western culture for us. Vote for your favourite in our poll.
Three new Battles in Print have been published today for tomorrow’s satellite event: What good is e-learning?
After the Bubble has burst, Toby Marshall
Is ICT transforming learning?, Keri Facer
Beyond technology: rethinking learning in the age of digital culture, David Buckingham
Four new Battles in Print have been published in Lifestyle & Society and Health & Wellbeing:
Click here to read the Battles in Print
Spiked Online Editor Brendan O’Neill presents the first show in a mini-series in the run-up to the Battle of Ideas and interviews Ceri Dingle of education charity WORLDwrite, which campaigns for global equality. View the show on 18 Doughty Street.
WORLDwrite is an education charity which describes its mission as challenging prejudices and stereotypes by giving young people a unique opportunity to see the world from a fresh perspective through a first-hand, investigative filmmaking experience.
The final programme has been published in pdf format:
Saturday
Sunday
As well as nearly 70 debates at this year’s festival, there will be several festival attractions to keep you intellectually stimulated throughout the weekend, be it the music performance, the art exhibit or a number of other events. These are all listed on the festival attractions page.
Naresh Fernandes, editor-in-chief, Time Out India and writer on urbanisation and urban culture has confirmed he will be speaking at two debates this year - at the Keynote Controversy, ‘Age of the Metropolis’ and at the Contemporary Question, ‘India at 60’.
Alexander Cockburn, US-based journalist, editor of CounterPunch, and author of numerous books and columns, has confirmed he will be speaking at two debates at this year’s Battle of Ideas - at the Keynote Controversy, ‘The new heresies’ and at the Battle for New Technologies debate, ‘Digital commons’.
The Battle of Ideas Satellite Event at the Genomics and Society conference, The battle over ethics and regulation now has four distinguished speakers confirmed:
-Professor Ruth Chadwick
distinguished research professor, Cardiff University; director, Centre for Social and Economic Aspects of Genomics (CESAGen)
-Dr Christine Hauskeller
senior lecturer, ESRC Centre for Genomics in Society (Egenis), University of Exeter
-Mark Henderson
science editor, The Times
-Dr Stephen Minger
director, Stem Cell Biology Laboratory, Wolfson Centre for Age-Related Diseases, King’s College London
Tickets for this event are available from the Genomics and Society conference website. For more information, visit the Satellite Event page.
Not only can you discuss why ‘particle physics is sexy’ at the Battle of Ideas, you can see why too. Thanks to the Science and Technology Facilities Council, the festival will exhibit a model of the Atlas experiment - a particle physics experiment exploring the fundamental nature of matter and the basic forces that shape our universe.
To accompany the Battle for Music debates, the society for the promotion of new music (spnm) are setting up Listening Posts around the Royal College of Art, bringing you sounds created by some of the most exciting composers currently emerging in the UK. We hope they’ll engage, provoke, stimulate, and energise.
To ensure that debate neither starts nor ends with one weekend, we can now announce that three Satellite Events will be taking place, produced in association with our Satellite Partners: the Design Museum, the ESRC Genomics Network and london knowledge lab.
‘Design in denial?’ @ Design Museum - 1 October: 19.15-20.30
‘What good is e-learning?’ @ london knowledge lab - 5 October: 18.30-21.00
‘The battle over ethics and regulation’ @ Genomics & Society conference - 26 October: 14.00-15.30
Arts & Business, the festival ‘arts champion’, have invited guest curators to put on an exhibition on the theme ‘should art change the world?’ which will be on throughout the weekend in the Lower Gulbenkian gallery.
Three new debates have been added to this year’s programme:
‘Is identity politics undermining democracy?’ (Saturday, 10.30-12.00)
‘Particle physics is sexy’ (Sunday, 17.45-18.30)
‘London 2012: a sporting chance for the city?’ (Sunday, 11.00-12.30)
Featured speakers include Kenan Malik (author, Man, Beast and Zombie), Vicky Richardson(editor, Blueprint and Richard Bishop (director, Design London), with further speakers to be announced shortly.
To watch video footage of some of last year’s sessions, visit Fora TV.
The full site is now under construction with full details of this year’s conference from early August. Keep an eye out for updates.
Each to his iPod or Great Music For All [Opens in new window]
"...invigorating, absorbing, and highly educative - delicious and nourishing food for thought..."
Prof AC Grayling, philosopher