Battles in Print & Culture Wars

Battles in Print are specially-commissioned essays that explore topics being discussed at the Battle of Ideas, serving as introductions to the debate and encouraging further reflection. Battles in Print take a variety of forms, from short provocation essays to longer think pieces and interviews, and are available both online and in print at the festival itself. They are complemented by themed book reviews on Culture Wars, the Academy of Ideas' online review.

Editors: Dolan Cummings and Sarah Boyes

Select a theme on the left to see related Battles in Print from the archive. You can also narrow your selection by selecting a year below and clicking Go! Or return to the overall index

2008 2007 2006
 Politics & Ideology

What does it mean to be a liberal? An interview with Frank Furedi, Frank Furedi, interviewed by Sarah Boyes

Refocusing remembrance , Ted Harrison

Rethinking welfare, Dave Clements

Rethinking therapy culture, Kathryn Ecclestone

What next for the EU?, Chris Bickerton

Democracy and its discontents, Peter Mair interviewed by Maria Grasso

Post Ideology: New Labour and the politics of behaviour , Emily Turnbull and Michael Blomfield

Nature's revenge?, Joe Kaplsinsky

The Battle for Affluence, Stuart Simpson

 Festival Buzz

"Participating in the Battle was a little like entering a Bombay train at rush hour - it's a plunge into a swirl of wildly differing notions of how people should arrange themselves in a really tight situation. When you eventually emerge, you find that you're in a different place from where you started - and that you've been thoroughly energised from the journey. I can't wait to take the trip again next year."
Naresh Fernandes, editor-in-chief, Time Out India