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.
Technology & The City
Detroit in ruins
Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre's extraordinary photographs documenting the dramatic decline of a major American city.
Observer, 2 January 2011
Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre's extraordinary photographs documenting the dramatic decline of a major American city.
Observer, 2 January 2011
The skyline’s the limit for London
The Shard shows we’re more than capable of building big if we elbow aside conservative views of the capital.
Tim Abrahams , spiked, 16 December 2010
The Shard shows we’re more than capable of building big if we elbow aside conservative views of the capital.
Tim Abrahams , spiked, 16 December 2010
Design takes over, says Paola Antonelli
There are still people who believe that design is just about making things, people and places pretty. In truth, design has spread like gas to almost all facets of human activity, from science and education to politics and policymaking.
Paola Antonelli, Economist, 22 November 2010
There are still people who believe that design is just about making things, people and places pretty. In truth, design has spread like gas to almost all facets of human activity, from science and education to politics and policymaking.
Paola Antonelli, Economist, 22 November 2010
A new technological democracy?
It is tempting to see technology as a solution to problems that are really political. In the West, this has led to over-excited speculation about how Facebook, YouTube and Twitter can re-engage the electorate with politics and revitalise democracy.
Dolan Cummings, Independent, 10 November 2010
It is tempting to see technology as a solution to problems that are really political. In the West, this has led to over-excited speculation about how Facebook, YouTube and Twitter can re-engage the electorate with politics and revitalise democracy.
Dolan Cummings, Independent, 10 November 2010
President Obama Attends Expo On Democracy And Open Government In India
India’s dynamism in the technology sector is well known, as is Gandhi’s legacy in India of civic action and bottom-up change. But today’s expo highlighted something very fresh: Indian civil society’s harnessing of innovation and technology to strengthen India’s democracy by fighting corruption, holding government officials accountable, and empowering citizens to be the change they seek.
Samantha Power, GovMonitor, 8 November 2010
India’s dynamism in the technology sector is well known, as is Gandhi’s legacy in India of civic action and bottom-up change. But today’s expo highlighted something very fresh: Indian civil society’s harnessing of innovation and technology to strengthen India’s democracy by fighting corruption, holding government officials accountable, and empowering citizens to be the change they seek.
Samantha Power, GovMonitor, 8 November 2010
Engine trouble
A rise in the cost of extracting energy will hit productivity
Economist, 21 October 2010
A rise in the cost of extracting energy will hit productivity
Economist, 21 October 2010
UK must boost R&D now, warns Sir James Dyson
Sir James Dyson ratcheted up the pressure on the Government to improve tax breaks for commercial research and development last night as he warned that Britain faced "an increasingly fierce trade war" in a speech that evoked the collaborative engineering spirit of the Second World War.
Richard Tyler, Daily Telegraph, 12 October 2010
Sir James Dyson ratcheted up the pressure on the Government to improve tax breaks for commercial research and development last night as he warned that Britain faced "an increasingly fierce trade war" in a speech that evoked the collaborative engineering spirit of the Second World War.
Richard Tyler, Daily Telegraph, 12 October 2010
A very conservative approach to innovation
The Lib-Con coalition is more concerned with controlling behaviour than forging a brave, hi-tech future.
James Woudhuysen, spiked, 7 October 2010
The Lib-Con coalition is more concerned with controlling behaviour than forging a brave, hi-tech future.
James Woudhuysen, spiked, 7 October 2010
The Future of the Car
From hybrids to self-driving vehicles: A sector hit hard by the downturn is hoping to exploit changing urban landscapes,
Financial Times, 4 October 2010
From hybrids to self-driving vehicles: A sector hit hard by the downturn is hoping to exploit changing urban landscapes,
Financial Times, 4 October 2010
Small Change: Why the revolution will not be tweeted
Facebook activism succeeds not by motivating people to make a real sacrifice but by motivating them to do the things that people do when they are not motivated enough to make a real sacrifice.
Malcolm Gladwell, New Yorker, 4 October 2010
Facebook activism succeeds not by motivating people to make a real sacrifice but by motivating them to do the things that people do when they are not motivated enough to make a real sacrifice.
Malcolm Gladwell, New Yorker, 4 October 2010
Scared of the Kids - Mark Easton - Fragmenting Society
"The energy, verve and enthusiasm at The Battle of Ideas filled me with hope. Coming from India where so many people still lack the basic necessities that make human life worth living, it was heartening to see basic issues of equity and justice debated with such passion and fervour."
George Thomas, orthopaedic surgeon; editor, Indian Journal of Medical Ethics
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