2011 Programme: Festival weekend overview

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

Or view and print out the Timetable as a two-page PDF.

Saturday 29 October: 9.30am-11.00am
Keynote Controversies Upper Gulbenkian Gallery
The Battle against the Fates
Battle for the World Lecture Theatre 1
Unrealpolitik: a new new world order?
Battle for Morality Courtyard Gallery
What is evil? The politics of morality
Thought for the day Lecture Theatre 2
Censoring science: have scientists become the new inquisitors?
Society Wars Henry Moore Gallery
Drinking by numbers: should we count our alcohol units?
Saturday 29 October: 11.15am-12.15pm
Lunchtime Debates Upper Gulbenkian Gallery
What is nature for?
Battle for the World Lecture Theatre 1
Eurozonia: too big to fail, too small to succeed?
Battle for Morality Courtyard Gallery
Maybe I do? Marriage in the modern era
Lunchtime Debates Lecture Theatre 2
Seduced by stats?
Society Wars Henry Moore Gallery
Doing it for charity?
Saturday 29 October: 12.30pm-2.00pm
Battle for the World Lecture Theatre 1
Middle East 'revolutions': hopes and fears?
In Conversation Salons Lecture Theatre 2
The Tea Party: defenders of the American Dream?
Society Wars Henry Moore Gallery
Remaking citizens for the ‘Big Society’
Saturday 29 October: 2.30pm-4.00pm
Battle for the World Lecture Theatre 1
The trillion dollar question: is the US economy resurgent or dependent?
Battle for Morality Courtyard Gallery
Coarse sex and cheap lives
Provocation Zone Students' Union
Dreaming spires for all? Oxbridge and social mobility
Saturday 29 October: 4.15pm-5.30pm
Thought for the day Upper Gulbenkian Gallery
Moral panics or just panic?
Battle for the World Lecture Theatre 1
Is this Africa's decade?
Battle for Morality Courtyard Gallery
Crime and punishment: what are prisons for?
Society Wars Henry Moore Gallery
Hand-out Britain? Has a dependency culture made us sick?
Thought for the day Students' Union
Performing politics: is all the world a stage?
Sunday 30 October: 8.45am-9.30am
Reassessing... Politics Courtyard Gallery
Civil disobedience or violent criminality?
Breakfast Banter Lecture Theatre 2
Haters gonna hate: should we hate hate?
Breakfast Banter Students' Union
Are the Germans still European?
Sunday 30 October: 9.45am-11.15am
Keynote Controversies Upper Gulbenkian Gallery
Has tolerance gone too far?
Reassessing... Politics Courtyard Gallery
Can conservatism survive the 21st century?
Films Q&A Lecture Theatre 2
Sylvia Pankhurst: everything is possible
Sunday 30 October: 11.30am-12.30pm
Lunchtime Debates Upper Gulbenkian Gallery
Fracking and Fukushima: our energy security fears
Reassessing... Politics Courtyard Gallery
Can social democracy survive the 21st century?
Lunchtime Debates Lecture Theatre 2
Silencing sectarianism: football's free speech wars
Sunday 30 October: 12.45pm-2.15pm
Keynote Controversies Upper Gulbenkian Gallery
Loyalty in an age of whistle-blowing and Wikileaks
Reassessing... Politics Courtyard Gallery
Queer times: has the gay rights movement triumphed?
Sunday 30 October: 2.45pm-4.15pm
Keynote Controversies Upper Gulbenkian Gallery
Is individualism bad for society?
Reassessing... Politics Courtyard Gallery
What is feminism for?
In Conversation Salons Lecture Theatre 2
Islamophobia: the new racism or liberal angst?
Sunday 30 October: 4.30pm-5.30pm
Thought for the day Upper Gulbenkian Gallery
The rise of the clicktivists: will the revolution be digitised?
Reassessing... Politics Courtyard Gallery
Rise of European populism: the revenge of politics?
Thought for the day Students' Union
Interns or slave labour?
Sunday 30 October: 5.30pm-6.30pm
What next for...? Upper Gulbenkian Gallery
Alone together? Cultivating social solidarity in the year ahead

The Battle for Progress

"The energy, verve and enthusiasm at The Battle of Ideas filled me with hope. Coming from India where so many people still lack the basic necessities that make human life worth living, it was heartening to see basic issues of equity and justice debated with such passion and fervour."
George Thomas, orthopaedic surgeon; editor, Indian Journal of Medical Ethics

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