Battle of Ideas 2016
22 & 23 October |
London

Tickets for the 2016 festival weekend at the Barbican are now available at early-bird rates. See our tickets page for more information.

The Battle of Ideas 2015 festival weekend was a great success, with more debates, speakers and attendees than ever before. You can keep up to date with our latest audio and video from the 2015 festival, and be the first to know the latest news about the 2016 festival, by signing up to our newsletter.

We are currently programming the 2016 festival. If you have ideas for possible debate topics, please email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). If your organisation would like to become a Battle of Ideas partner, please email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

If you would like to help us with the Battle of Ideas as a volunteer, check out our volunteering page.

Images from Battle of Ideas 2015.
Thanks to James Berry, Paul Brocklehurst, Lameya Chaudhury and Tom Fenn for the pictures.
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2016 speakers include
Hannah Dawson, historian of ideas, King's College London

David Lammy MP, Labour MP for Tottenham; author, Out of the Ashes: Britain after the riots

Kenan Malik, writer and broadcaster; author, The Quest for a Moral Compass: A Global History of Ethics and From Fatwa to Jihad

Nicholas Kenyon, managing director, Barbican Centre; presenter, BBC Radio 4’s Cities From The Ashes; former director BBC Proms

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

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

Tim Loughton, Member of Parliament for East Worthing and Shoreham

Ivan Krastev, chairman of the Centre for Liberal Strategies in Sofia; permanent fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna

Camille Paglia, professor of humanities and media studies, University of the Arts, Philadelphia; author, Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson, Free Women, Free Men: Sex, Gender and Feminism (Forthcoming)

+ Full list of speakers
Readings

Good boobs, Bad boobs: how feminists police women’s bodies, Ella Whelan

Should We Rethink Our Anti-Bullying Strategy?, Meredith Melnick

Gentrification is good for neighbourhoods , Anwar Oduro-Kwarteng

Seeing the back of the car, Economist

Honey, did we bankrupt the kids? , WORLDbytes

Book Review: Islamist Radicalisation in Europe and the Middle East, Kenneth Martin

Don’t shout at the telly: Tolerance , WORLDbytes

The U.N.’s Gaza Report Is Flawed and Dangerous, Richard Kemp

This is a deal that heaps more misery on Greeks, Vicky Pryce

Charlie Hebdo and PEN: Free all speech, J.F.

Pope Francis’s healing, loving revolution is unstoppable, Austen Ivereigh

Give us the freedom to build our own homes, James Heartfield

+ All Battle Readings
The Battle of Ideas 2015 was produced by the
Academy of Ideas
IN ASSOCIATION WITH



2015 BATTLE CHAMPIONS












“Five debates a day sounds a bit daunting beforehand, but I really loved it. The speakers are so knowledgeable and passionate about their chosen topic, and the amount of time dedicated to questions from the audience was great as it really brought in alternative views.”
Exeter University student

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