Battle of Ideas 2010 30 & 31 October, London

The Battle of Ideas 2010 will be a two-day festival of high-level, thought-provoking debate organised by the Institute of Ideas and hosted by the Royal College of Art.

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Battle of Ideas 2009 Keynote Videos

Institute of Ideas Christmas Lecture 2009

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The Battle for Politics

Pre-Election Public Summit

Gatecrashing the political party -
Create a new agenda: 20 March 2010

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Festival Brochure

Read the Battle of Ideas 2009 Festival brochure PDF [913 KB]

Reading for Battle

Society is collapsing because you are greedy, Brendan O'Neill

Q&A with John Cooper, Luke Gittos & John Cooper

It was disappointing to see how quickly we adopted the tawdry norms of African and global politics, Sharmini Brookes & Andrew Feinstein

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Battles in Print

Questioning the carnivalesque , Ashley Frawley

Refocusing remembrance , Ted Harrison

Some myths of the ‘Work-Life Balance’ discussion , Para Mullan

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Speakers include
David Aaronovitch, columnist, The Times; author, Voodoo Histories

Peter Barron, director of communications and public affairs, North and Central Europe, Google; former editor, Newsnight

Martin Bell, former independent MP for Tatton; author, A Very British Revolution: the expenses scandal and how to save our democracy

Colin Blakemore, professor of neuroscience at the universities of Oxford and Warwick; chair, Neuroscience Research Partnership, Singapore; chair, general advisory committee on science, Food Standards Agency

Vince Cable, deputy leader and shadow chancellor, Liberal Democrats; author, The Storm: the world economic crisis and what it means

Jenny Diski, novelist, Apology for the Woman Writing; essayist; memoirist; author, The Sixties

Cory Doctorow, novelist; co-editor, BoingBoing.net; author, Content: selected essays on technology, creativity, copyright and the future of the future

Peter Donnelly, director, Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics; professor, statistical science, University of Oxford

Frank Furedi, professor, sociology, University of Kent, Canterbury; author, Wasted, Politics of Fear and Where Have All the Intellectuals Gone?

David Harsent, poet; Forward Prize winner 2005, Legion; visiting professor, Sheffield Hallam University

Anthony Horowitz, author and creator, Alex Rider and Power of Five novels; creator and screenwriter, Midsomer Murders, Foyle's War and Collision; journalist; critic

Mike Hulme, professor of climate change, University of East Anglia; founding director, Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research; author, Why We Disagree About Climate Change: understanding controversy, inaction and opportunity

Tristram Hunt, broadcaster; lecturer in modern British history, Queen Mary, University of London; author, The Frock-Coated Communist: the revolutionary life of Friedrich Engels

Luke Johnson, chairman, Channel 4; chairman/owner, Giraffe and Patisserie Valerie/Druckers; chair, RSA; essayist, Financial Times

Philippe Legrain, journalist; writer; author, Immigrants: your country needs them and Aftershock: reshaping the world economy after the crisis

Bronwen Maddox, chief foreign commentator, The Times; author In Defence of America

Debbie Purdy, board member, Dignity in Dying; leading campaigner for right to assisted dying

Robert Skidelsky, emeritus professor, political economy, Warwick University; member, House of Lords; author, Keynes: the return of the master

Martin Wolf, chief economics commentator, Financial Times; author, Fixing Global Finance

+ Full list of speakers

Festival Buzz

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"Without ideas forged in the clash of opposition - there is no way forward. The Battle of Ideas is a must do event."
Lynne Featherstone MP, Liberal Democrats

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