2010 Programme: Festival Saturday overview

Saturday sessions are listed below ordered by time slot and room. To see Sunday sessions only, select the day you want from the menu on the left or select sessions by Theme or see the whole Festival weekend of more than 70 debates.

Saturday 30 October: 10.30am-12.00pm
Keynote Controversies Upper Gulbenkian Gallery
Trust in an age of cynicism
Battle for Medical Ethics Lecture Theatre 1
Ageing and medicine - quality versus quantity?
Battle for Social Policy Seminar Space
What's the point of the social sciences?
In Conversation Salons Lecture Theatre 2
Happy-clappy architecture: designing for well-being
Café Controversies Café
Obama's America: is racism history?
Frame Debates Henry Moore Gallery
What makes life sacred?
Provocation Zone Student Union
Going nowhere? Staying local in a global village
Saturday 30 October: 12.15pm-1.15pm
Lunchtime Debates Upper Gulbenkian Gallery
Behind closed doors: privacy vs transparency?
Battle for Medical Ethics Lecture Theatre 1
Alternative medicine: the pros and cons
Battle for Social Policy Seminar Space
Is the Big Society the good society?
Lunchtime Debates Lecture Theatre 2
Economists behaving badly?
Lunchtime Debates Henry Moore Gallery
Your conscience, my health: the right to refuse?
Lunchtime Debates Student Union
Plug in, turn on, drive off: the future of cars?
Saturday 30 October: 1.30pm-3.00pm
Keynote Controversies Upper Gulbenkian Gallery
The empty square: the public engaged or imagined?
Battle for Medical Ethics Lecture Theatre 1
Rationing and medicine: what price life?
Battle for Social Policy Seminar Space
Too much, too young - why is policy obsessed with teenage mums?
In Conversation Salons Lecture Theatre 2
From banks to BP: can we trust big business?
Café Controversies Café
Post-Lula Brazil: country of the future?
Frame Debates Henry Moore Gallery
Worth three tenors? The value of opera
Provocation Zone Student Union
Should apes have rights?
Saturday 30 October: 3.30pm-5.00pm
Keynote Controversies Upper Gulbenkian Gallery
Is the West still the best?
Battle for Medical Ethics Lecture Theatre 1
Patient centred healthcare: the right to choose?
Battle for Social Policy Seminar Space
Early intervention: saving children from their future?
In Conversation Salons Lecture Theatre 2
Choosing Tomorrow's Children
Café Controversies Café
Negotiating South Africa's past: can we forgive and forget?
Frame Debates Henry Moore Gallery
Instrumental music: should music be a tool of social policy?
Provocation Zone Student Union
What are universities for?
Saturday 30 October: 5.15pm-6.30pm
Head to Head Debates Upper Gulbenkian Gallery
The great population debate: too many carbon footprints?
Battle for Medical Ethics Lecture Theatre 1
Debating Matters International Final - Organ Donation: UK versus India
Battle for Social Policy Seminar Space
Doting Dads
Thought for the day Lecture Theatre 2
Bookshop Barnie at The Battle: Voodoo Histories
Thought for the day Café
Africa and oil
Thought for the day Henry Moore Gallery
The war on alcohol - new puritanism or healthy sobriety?
Thought for the day Student Union
Political graffiti or self-important art?

Festival Buzz

Parliament: Reform or Revolution?

"In an ever shrinking middle ground, the Battle of Ideas is more important than ever, if we're to reinvigorate politics and challenge the status quo."
Graham Smith, campaign manager, Republic