Battle of Ideas 2012 20 & 21 October, London. Two days of high-level, thought-provoking, public debate organised by the Academy of Ideas at the Barbican.
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Battle of Ideas 2012 at the Barbican

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Battle Blog

The Law’s cyber drug war. Is it time to hold peace talks with internet suppliers of ‘legal highs’?, Jonathan Hurlow

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Speakers include
Frank Furedi, sociologist and social commentator; author, What's Happened to the University?, Power of Reading: from Socrates to Twitter, On Tolerance and Authority: a sociological history

Wendy Kaminer, US-based writer on law, liberty, feminism, religion, and popular culture; author, Worst Instincts: cowardice, conformity and the ACLU

John Haldane, professor of philosophy, University of St Andrews; chairman, Royal Institute of Philosophy; author, An Intelligent Person's Guide to Religion and Reasonable Faith

Piers Hellawell, composer; professor of composition, Queen's University Belfast

Ruth Padel, poet and writer; author, The Mara Crossing and Darwin: a life in poems

Mark Vernon, journalist; author, God: all that matters and The Big Questions: God

Brendan O'Neill, editor, spiked; columnist, Big Issue; contributor, Spectator; author, A Duty to Offend: Selected Essays

Mark Walport, director, Wellcome Trust; Government Chief Scientific Adviser (from April 2013)

Munira Mirza, advisor on arts and philanthropy; former deputy mayor of London for education and culture; author, The Politics of Culture: the case for universalism

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Readings

Veep creator Armando Iannucci tells BBC to stop interfering with programme makers, Christopher Williams

Page Three Girls and porn-again feminists, Jennie Bristow

The Law’s cyber drug war. Is it time to hold peace talks with internet suppliers of ‘legal highs’?, Jonathan Hurlow

FreeSpeechDebate, University of Oxford

What happened to the caring professions?, Alka Sehgal Cuthbert

The Leveson Inquiry: There’s a bargain to be struck over media freedom and regulation, George Brock

Should the law try and correct society's prejudices?, Luke Gittos

The ‘Dark Ages’ were a lot brighter than we give them credit for, Richard Swan

Forget the Booker, the prize every author really wants is academic validation, Miguel Ceia

There's a new species of prohibitionism on the rise, Jason Smith

Scotland: the world’s most childish nation, Rob Lyons

Being Pro-Life Doesn't Make Me Any Less Of A Lefty, Mehdi Hasan

Vice Presidential Debate, ABC

And the Firewalls Came Tumbling Down, Evgeny Morozov

Am I the only fan of modern classical music?, Paul Kilbey

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The Battle of Ideas is produced by the
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"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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