Thoughts for the day
Saturday
Go to university. Stop thinking?
Which books inspired me?
What Next... for anti-terrorism?
Sunday
J'accuse anti-authoritarianism
Who inspired me?
What Next... for free speech
Saturday 29 October
5.15 - 6pm
in association with 
A provocation lecture: Go to university. Stop thinking?
The ideal university is an autonomous institution where knowledge is pursued for its own sake, ideas contested and arguments developed, where received wisdom is questioned and students stretched intellectually. But this ideal has always co-existed with more mundane concerns and concomitant limitations. Nevertheless, the frustrations of academic life seem even more pronounced today.
Layers of bureaucracy distract academics from research and teaching. The tyranny of relevance, according to which research has to be justified in terms of current political agendas or the demands of the market, limits researchers’ capacity for free intellectual inquiry. Conversely, much of what passes for ‘theory’ seems willfully obscurantist, practised to further careers rather than shed light on the world. Meanwhile, relations between students and academics are increasingly formalised by politically correct regulations. Those who challenge contemporary dogma – whether within the disciplines or in university politics – risk censure and career death.
Are these the concerns of an out-of-date intellectual elite, or is it time for academics to wage a new battle for the university as a site for intellectual discovery and freedom? We ask speakers from the US and UK to provoke us to think anew about what the academy is and should be.
Mary Evans Professor of Women’s Studies, University of Kent
Dennis Hayes vice president of the lecturers’ union Natfhe
Daphne Patai co-editor, Theory’s Empire: An Anthology of Dissent
Chair: James Panton co-director, The Battle of Ideas
An inspiration lecture: Which books inspired me?
“Some books are undeservedly forgotten, none are undeservedly remembered” (WH Auden)
“We all know that books burn – yet we have the greater knowledge that books cannot be killed by fire. People die, but books never die. No man and no force can abolish memory…in this war, we know, books are weapons” (Franklin D Roosevelt)
Find out who inspired those who inspire...
Simon Blackburn professor of philosophy at the University of Cambridge
Kenan Malik broadcaster, writer and author of The Meaning of Race and Man, Beast and Zombie
Bel Mooney author and broadcaster and columnist for The Times
Chair: Tiffany Jenkins arts and society director, Academy of Ideas
In association with 
What Next ... for anti-terrorism?
'The government has got into a real state of nerves about the whole thing; it is displaying a lack of confidence in its own strategy and I think they've got to get a grip on it very, very quickly, stop floating half-baked ideas...' John Denham, former Home Office minister
'Fear is eating away at our ability to have a rational discussion about terrorism and our response to it...fear can only fuel defeatism' Mick Hume
Bill Durodié senior lecturer in Risk and Security, Cranfield University
Sunday 30 October
5.45 - 6.30pm
A provocation lecture: J'accuse anti-authoritarianism
Much has been made of the decline of deference in the past couple of generations. It is argued that across society people are less inclined to defer to institutions that once commanded automatic respect. The response to this development is ambivalent. On one hand, it is celebrated as a liberation. On the other, many worry that with the decline of respect comes a diminishment of civility and decency. When authority per se is under attack, from parents and teachers, to doctors and politicians, how can we hold on to valuable concepts such as leadership, expertise and judgement. Are these more negative features of the current period the inevitable consequences of democratisation and egalitarianism?
Frank Furedi professor of sociology at University of Kent, and author of Where Have All the Intellectuals Gone? and Therapy Culture
Todd Gitlin professor of journalism and sociology, Columbia University Graduate School, author of Letters To a Young Activist; editorial board, Dissent
Chair: James Panton co-director, The Battle of Ideas
An inspiration lecture: Who inspired me?
“If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants” (Sir Isaac Newton)
Find out who inspired those who inspire...
Barb Jungr Internationally acclaimed singer, performer and writer. CD's include 'Love Me Tender'
Paul Watson award winning, controversial documentary film makerand consultant to the BBC; films include The Family, The Fishing Party, The Dinner Party, Sylvania Waters, and White Lives
Professor James Woudhuysen professor of forecasting and innovation at De Montfort University, Leicester, author of Cult IT and Why is construction so backward?
Chair: Tiffany Jenkins arts and society director, Academy of Ideas
In association with
What Next... for free speech?
'People have always accepted that with rights come responsibilities and if people want the right, whether it is the right to stay here or the right to freedom of speech, there are always limits on that.' Tony Blair
'Democracy is not a tea party where people sit around making polite conversation. In democracies people get extremely upset with each other. They argue vehemently against each other's positions. (But they don't shoot.)' Salman Rushdie
Brendan O'Neill deputy editor, spiked