Recording of a debate at the Battle of Ideas Festival 2018. After the fall of the Soviet Union, a broad political consensus emerged that ‘there is no alternative’ to capitalism, which even the 2008 financial crash did little to disturb. But now things appear to be changing, with support for politicians like Jeremy Corbyn and Bernie Sanders who call for a new way of organising the economy. A slew of recent books, epitomised by Paul Mason’s Post-Capitalism, argue that technological innovations hav...
Mar 22, 2019•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 110
Recording of a debate at the Battle of Ideas Festival 2018 . ‘There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all.’ Oscar Wilde’s view of art as essentially an aesthetic pursuit, one concerned with transcendent beauty and the human condition, has arguably now been superseded. But artists are routinely being ‘called out’ if their work represents minority groups in a light that is perceived as negative. The Globe’s new director, Michelle Terr...
Mar 15, 2019•1 hr 31 min•Ep. 109
Recording of a debate at the Battle of Ideas Festival 2018. According to the 2017 Ipsos MORI Veracity Index, nurses and doctors are the most-trusted people in the UK. But in certain contexts, this trust seems to evaporate. Take the ever-present anti-vaccination (or ‘anti-vax’) movement, the popular reaction when medical professionals decide it is no longer right to try to keep very sick children alive or instances of apparent malpractice have also raised serious public concerns. In these cases, ...
Mar 01, 2019•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 108
Recording of a debate from the Battle of Ideas Festival 2018 . From racist attacks to ominous propaganda, anti-Semitism appears to be making a comeback in Europe. In the UK, the Labour Party has been very publicly split over how it deals with the issue. In one respect, it looks like the simple return of what has been called ‘the longest hatred’. But while anti-Semitism has long been seen as a right-wing phenomenon, particularly since the Nazis, today’s anti-Semites are more likely to rail agains...
Feb 22, 2019•1 hr 36 min•Ep. 107
A recording of a discussion at the Battle of Ideas Festival 2018 . Published in 1997, Frank Furedi’s book Culture of Fear was widely acclaimed as perceptive and prophetic. In his new book, How Fear Works, Furedi seeks to explore two interrelated themes: why fear has acquired such a morally commanding status in society today and how the way we fear has changed from the way it was experienced in the past. How has fear become detached from its material and physical source, so that it is now experie...
Feb 14, 2019•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 106
A recording of the debate at the Battle of Ideas Festival 2018. Science fiction has long explored the use of robots for sex, but the application of new technologies has been pushing the boundaries of sexuality towards the mechanical in real life. Interaction with fully functioning robotic sexual partners could soon be a practical alternative to actual sex. Advocates claim many people could benefit, from men who struggle with intimacy to women trafficked into sex work. Critics claim sex robots ar...
Feb 08, 2019•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 105
A recording of a debate at the Battle of Ideas Festival 2018 at The Barbican, London on Sunday 14 October. In Blueprint: how DNA makes us who we are, the world’s leading behavioural geneticist, Robert Plomin, argues that our inherited DNA differences make us who we are as individuals. This conclusion is at odds with the importance ascribed to our education and the environment in which we grow up in shaping the person we become. But are there scientific or other good reasons to doubt Plomin’s con...
Jan 31, 2019•59 min•Ep. 104
A recording of a debate at the Battle of Ideas festival at the Barbican in London on 14 October 2018. Over the past year, debates about democracy and its woes have been ubiquitous. There are fears tech giants and algorithms are undermining elections. Liberal democratic values such as free speech and universalism are questioned, even by liberals. Populism is variously claimed to be a threat to democracy or its very embodiment. Some claim undereducated voters were conned into voting for Brexit or ...
Jan 23, 2019•1 hr 30 min•Ep. 102
A recording of a debate at the Battle of Ideas festival 2018 in London on Saturday 13 October. What does it mean to be a woman? For some it’s about motherhood, others femininity, and some reject the whole idea of ‘womanhood’ outright. The Conservative Party’s proposed changes to the law around gender recognition have caused a fair amount of controversy around the question of what gender means and what it takes to be a woman. Is it about experience? Is it simply an identity which can be picked up...
Jan 14, 2019•1 hr 22 min•Ep. 103
In the third of our end-of-year round-ups for 2018, the Academy of Ideas team - Claire Fox, Alastair Donald, Geoff Kidder, Rob Lyons, Jacob Reynolds and Ella Whelan - discuss everything non-Brexit in 2018. Is there a populist revolt spreading across Europe? What has happened in the gender wars of 2018? And is free speech still under threat?
Dec 21, 2018•35 min•Ep. 101
In the second of our end-of-year round-ups for 2018, the Academy of Ideas team - Claire Fox, Alastair Donald, Geoff Kidder, Rob Lyons, Jacob Reynolds and Ella Whelan - discuss a year of Brexit battles, the prospect of a second referendum and what the future holds for British democracy.
Dec 21, 2018•36 min•Ep. 100
In the first of our end-of-year round-ups for 2018, the Academy of Ideas team - Alastair Donald, Geoff Kidder, Rob Lyons and Declan Rooney - discuss England's World Cup run, whether Luka Modric is the best footballer in the world, where Lewis Hamilton sits among the all-time great English sportsmen and what make's a 'people's champion'.
Dec 12, 2018•35 min•Ep. 99
Listen to the debate from the Battle of Ideas 2018. Whatever way we read today’s political disruptions, change is in the air. Mainstream political parties internationally, from Italy to Sweden, are being thrown into disarray by new challengers. Democratic votes, from Brexit to Trump, are seemingly giving two fingers to establishment norms. This turbulent atmosphere is undoubtedly unsettling. It is understandable that we can be tempted to resist change because of the risks associated with it. But...
Dec 07, 2018•1 hr 28 min•Ep. 98
A recording of a debate at the Battle of Ideas 2018 festival at the Barbican on Sunday 14 October, produced in partnership with Diageo (full details here ). Almost every aspect of life in the UK is heavily regulated, from housing and transport to food and energy. Public health authorities have extended the reach of government intervention into our personal consumption of cigarettes, alcohol, salt, sugar and fat. While many critics of the EU look forward to Brexit as a means of cutting regulation...
Nov 30, 2018•56 min•Ep. 97
On Friday 23 November, the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, announced a ban on adverts for junk food on London's transport network. Posters for food and drink high in fat, salt and sugar will disappear from the Underground, Overground, buses and bus shelters. But just how effective is advertising? That was the topic of this debate at the Battle of Ideas 2018 festival, produced in partnership with Diageo. (More details here .) INTRODUCTION Advertising has become a familiar target of hostile campaigne...
Nov 23, 2018•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 96
A recording of the debate at the Battle of Ideas 2018 festival on Saturday 13 October at the Barbican in London. Language has always been a source of political controversy as much as a medium for discussing politics. Terms like ‘terrorist’ and ‘freedom fighter’ reveal the politics of the speaker as much as the nature of those described. But recent years have seen the proliferation of completely new terms: white Brexit voters are ‘gammons’, women critical of feminism have ‘internalised misogyny’,...
Nov 16, 2018•1 hr 33 min•Ep. 95
Listen to the debate from the Battle of Ideas 2018 festival at the Barbican in London on Sunday 14 October (www.battleofideas.org.uk). Novelist Lionel Shriver isn’t afraid of speaking her mind. At the 2016 Brisbane Writers Festival, she caused a furore by calling into question the contemporary focus on identity politics, saying ‘I hope the concept of cultural appropriation is a passing fad’. More recently, she was accused of racism when arguing that diversity quotas in publishing mean literary e...
Nov 08, 2018•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 94
Listen to the debate from the Battle of Ideas 2018. In the past few years, remotely piloted air systems and unmanned air systems – commonly called ‘drones’ or ‘multicopters’ – have become widely popular. A relative lack of regulation until recently has meant that drones are still a controversial if exciting new technology, and society is undecided how best to deal with the challenges they pose. But will the danger of excessive regulation and the attention given to a new technology when problems ...
Nov 02, 2018•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 93
A recording of the debate at the Battle of Ideas 2018 on Sunday 14 October at the Barbican, London. Today, everything seems to be an expression of contemporary ‘narcissism’, from dismissing millennials as Generation Me to describing Donald Trump as the ‘narcissist in chief’. It seems your boss or co-workers, everyone on Tinder, celebrities, even your parents are all ‘narcissists’. But has it become a lazy cliché? Or is it an accurate diagnosis of today’s identity-driven politics, which puts the ...
Oct 29, 2018•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 92
Adam Rawcliffe is joined by Alastair Donald, Geoff Kidder, Rob Lyons and Jacob Reynolds to reflect on the final matches of World Cup 2018 and the tournament as a whole. Were France worthy winners? What do the team think about the controversial penalty awarded in the final - and the VAR system that enabled the decision? Who was the player of the tournament? Why did England fail to reach the final and how should we assess the team's performance? Was the tournament a success?
Jul 16, 2018•39 min•Ep. 87
Adam Rawcliffe is joined by Alastair Donald, Jacob Reynolds and Hilary Salt to discuss France's semi-final victory over Belgium, England's prospects in their semi-final against Croatia, and the use of football to make political points, from the importance of diversity to rediscovering national pride amid the Brexit negotiations.
Jul 11, 2018•37 min•Ep. 86
Adam Rawcliffe is joined by Geoff Kidder, Rob Lyons and Jacob Reynolds to discuss England's prospects in the quarter-final against Sweden, the pick of the last-16 games, who might progress to the semi-finals and the reaction to England's win over Colombia. [Apologies for the sound of birds tweeting in the background - it's keep-the-windows-open weather!]
Jul 05, 2018•26 min•Ep. 85
Adam Rawcliffe is joined by Alastair Donald, Geoff Kidder and Rob Lyons to discuss the latest from Russia 2018. What do the team think about England's dull defeat to Belgium? Have England landed themselves an easier path to the final? Is it right to celebrate Germany's exit? Which are the standout games in the round of 16? And were FIFA right to criticise both players and supporters for 'political' gestures and chants?
Jun 29, 2018•29 min•Ep. 84
Adam Rawcliffe is joined by David Bowden and Geoff Kidder to look back on the first week of World Cup 2018. Has it been a success so far? Which teams have made a good impression - and which of the big teams need to be worried? How have England done so far and what has been the mood in the country as we enjoy wall-to-wall football?
Jun 21, 2018•26 min•Ep. 83
Adam Rawcliffe is joined by Geoff Kidder and Rob Lyons to discuss the fallout from the sacking of Spain's manager, their picks for who might win the tournament, the arguments over Russia hosting the World Cup and whether England can defy expectations and do well.
Jun 14, 2018•22 min•Ep. 82
To mark the publication of his new book, 'How Fear Works: Culture of Fear for the 21st Century', we present this interview, conducted in May 2018 for Claire Fox's Love Sport Radio show, Fox News Friday.
Jun 11, 2018•44 min•Ep. 81
On the fiftieth anniversary of the 1967 Abortion Act, a panel of pro-choice campaigners from around the world discussed what is at stake in the battle for abortion rights. In many countries, the trend towards extending abortion rights seems to have been reversed. What does it mean to argue for a woman’s right to choose today? Is it right to think of abortion as ‘just like any other medical procedure’, or do wider moral issues arise? Is opposition to abortion rights the same the world over? Is su...
May 25, 2018•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 80
Scientists and doctors have emerged as among the most vociferous critics of Brexit and Trump. The March for Science expressed the concerns of many researchers and clinicians on both sides of the Atlantic about the future of funding and about the movement of researchers and students across national borders. Many were also alarmed at the apparent lack of respect for expertise and evidence in public policy. But whose responsibility should it be to fund scientific research? How can science and medic...
May 18, 2018•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 79
With the case of Alfie Evans in the news, this Battle of Ideas debate is very pertinent. ORIGINAL INTRODUCTION The tragic case of Charlie Gard, a baby with a terminal congenital illness whose parents refused to accept the decision of medical staff to withdraw life support, highlighted the problems that may arise when there is a breakdown of trust between doctors and parents. The old adage that ‘doctor knows best’ is being challenged not just by patients, but from within the medical profession it...
Apr 26, 2018•36 min•Ep. 77
Only 35 years ago a predominantly peasant economy, China has become the largest trading nation in the world. It is also remarkable that China has relinquished its status as environmental pariah to become a critic of the US president’s rejection of the Paris climate accords. Only recently a communist outsider, China is now a capitalist powerbroker, most notably in dealing with the challenge of North Korea. Can there be a peaceful adjustment of the West’s global domination to accommodate the rise ...
Apr 05, 2018•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 74
