battle of ideas 2007 battle of ideas 2007

Lunch Hour Events

 

Saturday

Empire of Regulation or Lawless World?

WORLDwrite film: Damned by Debt Relief

Putting design and technology to good use

Debating Matters showcase debate on poetry

 

Sunday

Pupils taking over the classrooms

Save the planet, don’t see the world?

Is the rise of religion and faith-based politics a problem?

Lunchtime Film: Cult of the Suicide Bomber

 

 

 

 

SATURDAY



Empire of Regulation or Lawless World?

 



Sponsored by Sovereignty And Its Discontents working group and produced by Philip Cunliffe
Gulbenkian Gallery, 12.15 - 13.15 on Saturday 28 October 2006

International law is the order of the day. From war crimes trials to the Kyoto Protocol, from human rights to disputes over arcane trade regulations, international law is constantly in the news. But does this mean that we are living in a more law-governed world? On the one hand, more and more states seem willing to waive their sovereign rights in favour of international tribunals and regulatory bodies. Throughout Europe, citizens increasingly regard Strasbourg as the highest court of appeal. On the other hand, many people fear that the unilateral policies of Britain and America, from Iraq to the ‘legal black hole’ of Guantanamo, threaten to sabotage international law and organisation.

Should we place our hopes for a benign and peaceful world order in the development of international law? How do we explain the contradiction between the expansion of international law, and its repeated infringement? Why are more and more domestic issues being elevated into the domain of international law?

David Chandler, professor of international relations, Centre for the Study of Democracy, University of Westminster; author, Empire in Denial: The Politics of State-building (2006)
Douglas Murray, editor, Policy Forum; journalist and broadcaster; fellow of The Social Affairs Unit; author, Neo Conservatism: Why We Need It (2006)
Philippe Sands QC, professor of law, University College London and Matrix Chambers; author, Lawless World: America and the Making and Breaking of Global Rules (2006)
Chair: Philip Cunliffe, co-convenor, Sovereignty And Its Discontents working group

 

Battle in Print

 

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WORLDwrite film: Damned by Debt Relief




Produced by WORLDwrite
Lecture Theatre 1, 12.15 - 13.15 on Saturday 28 October 2006

The premiere of a new 25 minute documentary made by 'Chew on it Productions' (WORLDwrite's production company) in partnership with Afrikaworld Syndications and WORLDwrite. The screening will be followed by a question and answer session with the filmmakers.

Debt relief for selected developing countries was heralded as an inspired idea and spectacular humanitarian move by the West. Promoted by Tony Blair, Sir Bob and the Live 8/G8 jamboree, it has been singled out as the Year of Africa success story to be followed up with a new monitoring panel to ensure promises are kept. This grand gesture provided no new money, however, and the draconian conditions attached to debt relief were rarely mentioned. With growth-inhibiting restrictions on spending, and the rewriting of development agendas by donors, WORLDwrite’s film shows how debt relief seems to have damned recipient countries to levels of interference not seen since colonialism. Shot in Ghana, with startling testimonies by angry Ghanaians, this film reveals the truth behind the West’s ‘feel good’ debt forgiveness.

Ceri Dingle, director, WORLDwrite
DeRoy-Kwesi Andrew, co-producer, Damned By Debt Relief (flying in for the premiere)
Chair: Daniel Ben-Ami, finance and economics journalist; author of Cowardly Capitalism: The Myth of the Global Financial Casino (2001)

 

 

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Putting design and technology to good use




Sponsored by The Future Cities Project and produced by Martyn Perks
Seminar Space, 12.15 - 13.15 on Saturday 28 October 2006

The role of designers and technologists is changing. In the past being a designer meant struggling to answer the brief, getting heard and ensuring the end product was a success. But it seems that designers today no longer need to shout. Everyone is courting them in many different ways, often far beyond their traditional role as designers. These days, designers are likely to take the lead on projects tackling myriad problems including health promotion, food packaging, voter participation, branding cities and improving community relations using new technologies and the internet.

With business and politics increasingly unpopular and lacking in dynamism, are designers and technologists best placed to offer them a helping hand? Can design and technology really transform marginalised communities by using the internet, or reinvigorate business by developing better brands and customer relationships? Can fashionable customer-led design thinking really solve deep-seated social problems, or are designers and technologists being given a brief they simply can’t answer?

Matt Locke, head of innovation, BBC Future Media & Technology
John Thackara, director, Doors of Perception; programme director, Designs of the time (Dott07); author, In The Bubble: Designing in a Complex World (2006)
James Woudhuysen, professor of forecasting and innovation, De Montfort University; author, About trends, Why is construction so backward? and Cooking 2026 (forthcoming)
Chair: Martyn Perks, design consultant, writer and speaker on design, IT and business

 

Battle in Print

 

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Debating Matters showcase debate on poetry




Sponsored by The Poetry Society, in association with Debating Matters Competition and Penned in the Margins,  and produced by Shirley Dent & David Bowden
Lecture Theatre 2, 12.15 - 13.15 on Saturday 28 October 2006

Debate motion: Poetry's tradition is strong enough that it does not need to 'alter when it alteration finds'.

Involving sixth form students from two experienced schools in the Academy of Ideas and Pfizer Debating Matters competition, the debate will showcase the innovative Debating Matters format, with the competition's first ever motion on poety.

Schools:
Graveney School London
Simon Langton Grammar School for Boys Kent

Judges:
Frank Geary, education manager, The Poetry Society
Graham Henderson, chief executive, Poet-in-the-City
David Herd, senior lecturer in English and American literature, University of Kent; author, Mandelson! Mandelson! A Memoir (2005)
Chair: David Bowden,  English literature student; student journalist; playwright

 

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SUNDAY


Pupils taking over the classrooms


       

Sponsored by the General Teaching Council for England (GTCE), in association with  the Academy of Ideas Education Forum and produced by Shirley Lawes
Gulbenkian Gallery, 12.45 - 13.45 on Sunday 29 October 2006

Traditionally, the most authoritative figure in the classroom was the teacher.  Increasingly however, initiatives based on developing and ‘enhancing’ the role of the pupil pervade school life. Mentoring schemes encourage older children to supervise and help educate younger children. Children’s opinions are now central to the ethos - and activities - of the modern school. Ofsted inspections include pupil questionnaires on teachers’ performance. At Cramlington Community High School in Northumberland, students even contribute to the selection process for new staff.  ‘Student councils’ are to become a statutory requirement, ‘involving children in an advisory role’ on everything from school dinners and extra-curricular activities through to negotiating rules and regulations with the Principle/Board of Managers. 

Innovators enthuse that these developments are a long overdue step to democratise education –  ‘Giving children a voice in matters that affect their lives’, as the National Children’s Strategy has it. It is argued that putting students centre stage means that instead of education being something done to the young, it is now done with them, with students empowered to design their own personalised learning goals. But critics fear this student-centred approach runs the risk of sidelining subject knowledge and teachers’ expertise.  They are concerned that these new trends are a sign we no longer trust the authority and autonomy of teachers – to teach in the way they think best and for the benefit of their students, irrespective of what the students themselves may prefer.  

Are critics of pupil involvement merely dinosaurs reluctant to give up control? Is teaching about disseminating knowledge downwards, or should it be a more democratic and active process? Can schoolchildren really be enfranchised by the democratisation of education, or will we end up flattering children to the detriment of teaching and learning? If pupils are given more control in the classroom, what impact does that have on the teacher’s authority? Are the new approaches finally completing the project of 1960s child-centredness and liberating children from the shackles of boring subjects and authoritarian teachers?

Peter Curran, broadcaster, documentary maker; director, The Teaching Challenge; presenter, Teachers' TV
Hannah Couchman, deputy West Midlands representative, English Secondary Students' Association
Dr Dennis Hayes, joint-president, University and College Union; co-author, The Dangerous Rise of Therapeutic Education: How Teaching is Becoming Therapy (2007)
Professor Lesley Saunders, policy adviser for research, General Teaching Council for England
Chair: Dr Shirley Lawes, subject leader, modern foreign languages, Institute of Education, University of London

 

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Save the planet, don’t see the world?




Sponsored by Cheapflights.co.uk and produced by Jim Butcher, Timandra Harkness & Steven Ortega
Lecture Theatre 1, 12.45 - 13.45 on Sunday 29 October 2006

Low cost airlines have opened up options to travel to increasing numbers of far-flung places, but are so many trips either desirable or necessary? Commentators point out that air travel is exempt from VAT and argue that the well-off in society are subsidised by a government handout. Cheap flights have even become a matter for moral debate. The Bishop of London has suggested that flying abroad for a holiday with no regard for the environmental consequences may well be a sin. With aviation now the fastest growing contributor to carbon dioxide emissions, can the climate meet the seemingly insatiable appetite for air travel? Or should air travel and our desire for holidays abroad and travelling the world be limited in the interests of the environment?

Peter Smith, lecturer in tourism, St Mary’s College, University of Surrey
David Soskin, chief executive officer, Cheapflights.co.uk
Jason Torrance, campaigns director, Transport 2000
John Valentine, originator, Flight Pledge Union
Chair: Timandra Harkness, freelance science writer and event producer; researcher, University of Oxford

Battle in Print 1

Battle in Print 2

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Is the rise of religion and faith-based politics a problem?


Produced by Martin Summers
Seminar Space, 12.45 - 13.45 on Sunday 29 October 2006

Religious belief has inspired challenges to many values traditionally held dear by liberals: free speech, scientific inquiry, academic freedom, birth control, and equal rights for different groups. With the apparent resurgence of support for religion, as evidenced by the growth of faith schools and laws to ban religious hatred, liberals’ tolerance for the intolerant is being tested. Some liberals and religious moderates have suggested the problem is only with extremism, and that genuine faith-based politics can enrich secular society. Others suggest the rise of religion is overstated. Meanwhile, some writers have gone on the offensive, arguing that religious faith itself, not just extremists and fundamentalists, is the problem.

Can we distinguish between persecuting people for their beliefs and criticising those beliefs? Is there a case for a secular and atheist ‘offensive’, arguing confidently against religion and faith-based politics of all types? Might such a humanist rejection of the ideas of man as inherently sinful and corrupt be developed from liberal principles, or does the rise of religion only express a deeper crisis of liberal values?


Phillip Blond, lecturer in theology and philosophy, St Martin's College, Lancaster; author, Post Secular Philosophy: Between Philosophy and Theology (1998) and Eyes of Faith (2006)
Dolan Cummings,  research and editorial director, Academy of Ideas; co-convenor, Battle of Ideas
Wendy Kaminer, lawyer, social critic and feminist writer
Peter Tatchell, human rights and gay rights activist; member of the left-wing of the Green Party
Chair: Martin Summers, public affairs advisor

 

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Lunchtime Film: The Cult of the Suicide Bomber II




In association with Culture Wars Forum and produced by Nathalie Rothschild
Lecture Theatre 2, 12.45 - 13.45 on Sunday 29 October 2006

Kevin Toolis, founder of Many Rivers Films, presents: The Cult of the Suicide Bomber II

 

In Kevin Toolis' award-winning Channel 4 documentary, ex-CIA agent Robert Baer investigates the origins of suicide bombing. Baer, whose life story was depicted by Oscar-winner George Clooney in the film Syriana, lived and worked in the Middle East for 20 years. Baer traces suicide bombing from its origins in 1980s Iran-Iraq war through car bombings in Lebanon and Jerusalem's human bomb bus war, on to the 7/7 bombings in London. Baer goes on to look at the rise of a new generation of Western and female suicide bombers. From Beeston in Leeds to Damascus and the Gaza strip, and the world's only jail for failed female suicide bombers, Baer uncovers the psychology and motivation of individual bombers.The 20-minute screening of excerpts from the two-part series, selected by the film's producer and director Kevin Toolis, will be followed by Toolis talking about the themes in the films, in conversation with:

Nathalie Rothschild, editorial assistant, spiked; film reviews editor, Culture Wars
Chris Bickerton, co-convenor, Sovereignty And Its Discontents working group
Chair: Brendan O'Neill, deputy editor, spiked 

 

 

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