Beyond the parlour games of Westminster, politics must continue

The Battle of Ideas festival is a people's parliament - and tomorrow, we take the debate to Buxton.

All too often, political discussion in the mainstream media focuses on the concerns of the ‘Westminster bubble’. Mainstream political editors are more like gossip columnists, reporting on the latest shenanigans between politicians rather than getting to grips with the big issues.

The Academy of Ideas has always strived to broaden the debate and go beyond this narrow worldview. That’s why we love to take the debate beyond London, both intellectually and physically. And it’s why I’m looking forward to Buxton Battle of Ideas festival tomorrow - with the bonus that Buxton is beautiful and our venue - the Devonshire Dome - is rather magnificent.

We’ve pulled together summaries of the debates below and there’s still time to get tickets. You can even get them ‘on the door’. So come along, listen to the speakers and HAVE YOUR SAY. For us, the audience is the festival. FREE SPEECH ALLOWED!

FREE TICKETS FOR SCHOOL PUPILS

We are delighted to make the following special offer to school pupils: a free day-ticket to the Buxton Battle of Ideas festival on Saturday 25 November. Just email schoolschampion@academyofideas.org.uk stating you would like to attend, the name of your school and an email address to send your free ticket to.

ARE THE CULTURE WARS A DISTRACTION?
If no one, from the National Trust to the British Library, will uphold the traditional values and the legacy of the past, will we lose our sense of who we are and where we’ve come from? Are the culture wars simply a Twitter sideshow to the more serious concerns of everyday life? Or is the way we relate to each other, and to our shared values, fundamental to how we plan for a future together? 

• Dr Remi Adekoya
  lecturer of politics, University of York; author It’s Not About Whiteness, It’s About Wealth and Biracial Britain

• Simon Calvert
  deputy director (Public Affairs), The Christian Institute

• Dr Cheryl Hudson
  lecturer in US political history, University of Liverpool; author, Citizenship in Chicago: race, culture and the remaking of American identity

• Stephen Knight
  reporter and podcaster; host, The Knight Tube

• Bruno Waterfield
  Brussels correspondent, The Times

• Chair - Claire Fox
  director, Academy of Ideas; independent peer, House of Lords; author, I STILL Find That Offensive!

RISKING IT ALL: THE FREEDOM TO GAMBLE
How do we deal with problem gambling – tragic stories of people who have become destitute – if not through restrictions? Is there a class element to the way in which gambling is often discussed, with words like feckless playing into existing prejudices about how working-class people manage their lives? And from drinking and smoking to gambling and enjoying extreme sports, why do we seem so keen on controlling the personal decisions citizens are allowed to make about their own lives?

Read the Letter on Liberty: Risking it all: the freedom to gamble

• Jon Bryan
  gambling writer and poker player

• Niall Clarke
  member of East Midlands Salon and Politics in Pubs Sheffield

• Dr Ken McLaughlin
  former social worker; academic; author, Surviving Identity: Vulnerability and the psychology of recognition and Stigma, and its discontents

• Chair - Simon Belt
  managed IT provider; founder, Simply Better IT; founder, Manchester Salon

BOXING: DON’T COUNT IT OUT

From rules on gloves to ever-decreasing limits on bouts, should boxing modernise to protect its heroes? Or will we lose the glory of the knockout by introducing more red tape? Does boxing ‘save lives’ – teaching ex-offenders and troubled teens discipline and strength? Or is the commercialisation of violence producing bad role models for young people? And if grown men and women want to go toe-to-toe, who are we to stop them?

Read the Letter on Liberty: Boxing: don’t count it out

• Chris Akers
  sports writer; ghost writer, King of the Journeymen: the life of Peter Buckley; podcaster, The 286 Project

• Rob Lyons
  science and technology director, Academy of Ideas; convenor, AoI Economy Forum

• Dr Vanessa Pupavac
  translator; senior lecturer, School of Politics and International Relations, University of Nottingham; author, Translation as Liberation

• Chair - Geoff Kidder
  director, membership and events, Academy of Ideas; convenor, AoI Book Club

IN THE WAKE OF TERROR: ANTI-SEMITISM TODAY

What explains the open expression of anti-Semitism on the streets of London and other Western countries? Should the UK emulate France’s ban of pro-Palestine demos or do such illiberal responses fuel anti-Israel, indeed anti-Jewish sentiment? How do those with genuine criticisms of Israel express their qualms at present? Or in the wake of Hamas’ butchery, is that an issue for another day? How could anti-Semitism, an ideology that many considered had been consigned to the past, come to reassert itself?

Read the Letter on Liberty: Rethinking Anti-Semitism

• Daniel Ben-Ami
  journalist; creator, Radicalism of Fools; author, Ferraris for All: in defence of economic progress and Cowardly Capitalism

• Ike Ijeh
  author; architect; founder, London Architecture Walks; founding signatory, Don't Divide Us

• Lesley Klaff
  senior lecturer in Law; editor-in-chief, Journal of Contemporary Antisemitism

• Stephen Knight
  reporter and podcaster; host, The Knight Tube

• Chair - Jacob Reynolds
  head of policy, MCC Brussels; associate fellow, Academy of Ideas

FROM DEBANKING TO BUD LIGHT: THE RIGHTS AND WRONGS OF ESG

What is the best role for big firms in improving society? Should they focus solely on producing the best products and services at the keenest prices? Or given their influence, should they be promoting social change, too? Is the turn to ESG, as many claim, merely ‘wokewashing’ or have top executives really bought into pursuing these aims? Is ESG really progressive or does the debanking trends point to illiberal outcomes?

• Joan Mulvenna
  semi-retired garden designer; founding member, Politics In Pubs

• David Paton
  professor of Industrial Economics, Nottingham University Business School

• Hilary Salt FIA, FPMI, FRSA
  actuary; founder, First Actuarial

• Barry Wall
  course director, Edileaditandliveit.co.uk

• Chair - Sam Parker
  European financial regulation specialist; former parliamentary assistant, European Parliament and House of Lords

IS THE NHS FIT FOR PURPOSE?

How can we solve the problems of the NHS? Is it simply a matter of providing extra resources – for example, giving striking workers the pay increases they demand – or is the way resources are used within the NHS a problem, too? Do we expect too much from the NHS? And with some observers likening it to a national religion, are politicians brave enough to have a proper debate about reform?

• Emily Barley
  Maternity safety campaigner

• Nicky Drury
  genetic counsellor, Nottingham Department of Clinical Genetics; former member, United Kingdom Human Genetics Commission

• Susie Hawkes
  senior lecturer in social work, University of Wolverhampton

• Rob Lyons
  science and technology director, Academy of Ideas; convenor, AoI Economy Forum

• Chair - Ella Whelan
  co-convenor, Battle of Ideas festival; journalist; author, What Women Want

A NATION OF SHOPLIFTERS? BRITAIN’S ANTI-SOCIAL SOCIETY

Over a million incidents of anti-social behaviour were recorded last year. Is the political and media response excessive or are we too easily resigned to youthful misbehaviour, petty crime and incivility? Is it just the young ones we have to worry about? From dangerous dogs to shoplifting-to-order, age no longer seems to be the defining factor in many instances of anti-social behaviour. Has the interference of mobile phones in public life – creating a bystander society keen to film but not to act – meant that social shaming no longer plays a role in combatting anti-social behaviour? Do we have a role to play in ‘policing’ our communities ourselves or are we too scared, or disinclined, to intervene?

• Tom Andrews
  police historian; lecturer in policing, University of Derby; former police sergeant; author, The Sharpe End: murder, violence and knife crime on Nottingham’s thin blue line

• Lisa McKenzie
  working-class academic; author, Getting By: estates class and culture in austerity Britain and Working Class Lockdown Diaries

• Dr Elizabeth Peatfield
  senior lecturer in Criminal Justice, Liverpool John Moores University; presiding justice, Merseyside Criminal Bench

• Jane Sandeman
  chief operating officer, The Passage; convenor, AoI Parents Forum; contributor, Standing up to Supernanny

• Chair - Paul Thomas
  civil servant; co-founder, The Leeds Salon

BATTLE FOR THE CLASSROOM: EDUCATION OR INDOCTRINATION?

Do accusations of indoctrination in education simply reflect political disagreement with a new ‘woke’ emphasis? Should schools go beyond narrow academic goals and teach our children how to combat racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, poverty and promote environmentalism? Should we accept social justice in schools as a natural reflection of discussions in wider society, or is it time to insist on a clear distinction between the political and educational domains? Can contested political ideas be dealt with in classrooms by allowing a range of views to be discussed or should schools steer clear of tackling political controversies altogether? Have education and indoctrination become blurred?

• Penny Lewis
  lecturer, University of Dundee; author, Architecture and Collective Life

• Agnes Snow
  art foundation student, Manchester Metropolitan University

• Ruth Wareham
  lecturer in Philosophy of Education, University of Birmingham; education policy researcher, Humanists UK

• Clive Wright
  headteacher, St Martin's Catholic Academy

• Chair - Dr Ruth Mieschbuehler
  senior lecturer in education studies, Institute of Education, University of Derby; author, The Racialisation of Campus Relations

NET ZERO AND THE GREAT ENERGY DEBATE

Is net zero an unpleasant necessity or, more positively, the start of a new industrial revolution? Or is it a policy that is being pursued without the technical means of achieving it in an affordable fashion? Do we need more investment in reliable low-carbon energy like nuclear? Will the backlash against net zero increase – and will it even matter if governments are determined to pursue it, whether we like it or not.

• Dr Caspar Hewett
  lecturer and degree programme director, Water Group, EuroAquae+, School of Engineering, Newcastle University; director, The Great Debate

• Mark Hill
  accountant; coordinator, Green Leaves; Green Party member

• Rick Moore
  business owner, InControl; electronic engineer; deputy chair political, Blackburn Conservative Association

• Chair - Austin Williams
  director, Future Cities Project; honorary research fellow, XJTLU, Suzhou, China; author, China’s Urban Revolution; convenor, Critical Subjects Architecture School

WHAT ARE THE LIMITS OF AI?

Are prevailing views of today’s AI – and tomorrow’s – justified and realistic? If our machines are as powerful as claimed, where does this leave human agency? If ‘AI winter’ is truly a thing of the past, should we be making hay while the sun shines? Or should we be more sceptical?

• Rob Bashforth
  head of Computer Science, Salendine Nook High School Academy

• Eleanor Kavanagh-Brown
  user-centred designer; project assistant, Academy of Ideas

• Dr Wajahat Ali Khan
  associate professor of Artificial Intelligence, University of Derby

• Chair - Sandy Starr
  deputy director, Progress Educational Trust; author, AI: Separating Man from Machine

POLITICS OF HATE: IS EVERYONE A BIGOT BUT ME?

What are the prospects of making political exchange less toxic and productive if labelling those we disagree with as hate-mongers continues to escalate? How should defenders of freedom best make the case for free speech over hate speech? What should we understand by hate speech and how do we account for its rise to become a central to how Western societies are organising their legal systems and public life?

• Dennis Hayes
  professor of education, University of Derby; founder and director, Academics For Academic Freedom (AFAF); author, The Death of Academic Freedom? Free speech and censorship

• Ike Ijeh
  author; architect; founder, London Architecture Walks; founding signatory, Don't Divide Us

• Liz Kershaw
  broadcaster and writer

• Andy Shaw
  co-founder, Comedy Unleashed

• Chair - Alastair Donald
  co-convenor, Battle of Ideas festival; convenor, Living Freedom; author, Letter on Liberty: The Scottish Question