Reading for Battle
Battle Readings is a regularly updated compilation of articles, essays, and opinion pieces relevant to the themes of the Battle of Ideas.
Choose a theme from the listing on the left to narrow your search, or view all readings.
Recent Readings
Bracing for impact may cost sector millions
Universities 'falling over themselves' to hire staff to handle REF case studies.
Paul Jump, Times Higher Education, 11 October 2012
Universities 'falling over themselves' to hire staff to handle REF case studies.
Paul Jump, Times Higher Education, 11 October 2012
Don't give up the day job to help them secure day jobs
Scholar bemoans impact of employability agenda on academic standards. Matthew Reisz reports
Matthew Reisz, Times Higher Education, 11 October 2012
Scholar bemoans impact of employability agenda on academic standards. Matthew Reisz reports
Matthew Reisz, Times Higher Education, 11 October 2012
Troubled Families progamme shows absurdity of "Left/Right" classifications
An example of the difficulty in trying to classify policies as left wing or right wing comes with the Government's Troubled Families programme. It is being run by Eric Pickles and shows early signs of success. It is about reducing welfare burdens on the state, tackling crime and strengthening the family. So is it right wing? It is also about about turning round the leaves of those languishing at the bottom of society rather than just passing by on the other side.
ConservativeHome, 10 October 2012
An example of the difficulty in trying to classify policies as left wing or right wing comes with the Government's Troubled Families programme. It is being run by Eric Pickles and shows early signs of success. It is about reducing welfare burdens on the state, tackling crime and strengthening the family. So is it right wing? It is also about about turning round the leaves of those languishing at the bottom of society rather than just passing by on the other side.
ConservativeHome, 10 October 2012
Music and wellbeing
As the UK’s number one organisation for voluntary music, we feel passionately that the more music people make together, the healthier and happier we all are.
Making Music, 10 October 2012
As the UK’s number one organisation for voluntary music, we feel passionately that the more music people make together, the healthier and happier we all are.
Making Music, 10 October 2012
Choirs are magical - but should they be a social tool, too?
There's a risk that in using choirs for everything from helping fragmented communities to stress relief, we drag them down to the level of the mundane
Niall Crowley, Independent Voices, 10 October 2012
There's a risk that in using choirs for everything from helping fragmented communities to stress relief, we drag them down to the level of the mundane
Niall Crowley, Independent Voices, 10 October 2012
New students should seek education, not satisfaction
A fresher on the joys of exchanging a rigid and prescriptive curriculum for learning through free-form debate.
James Shaw, Independent Voices, 10 October 2012
A fresher on the joys of exchanging a rigid and prescriptive curriculum for learning through free-form debate.
James Shaw, Independent Voices, 10 October 2012
The EU’s unstoppable ambition is stirring up trouble for the future
Our national differences are the strength of this continent. And the more they are upset by Brussels’s bureaucratic bullies, the likelier a violent response becomes. The reasonable solution to the EU’s current crisis is orderly dismantlement, like the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in the 1990s. The longer political leaders deny this reality, the likelier a Yugoslavia will be instead.
Thierry Baudet, City AM, 10 October 2012
Our national differences are the strength of this continent. And the more they are upset by Brussels’s bureaucratic bullies, the likelier a violent response becomes. The reasonable solution to the EU’s current crisis is orderly dismantlement, like the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in the 1990s. The longer political leaders deny this reality, the likelier a Yugoslavia will be instead.
Thierry Baudet, City AM, 10 October 2012
The Classic Brits are Not What's Wrong With Classical Music
Classical music is obsessed with the past to the point that it believes in its own death - or at least it's sufficiently concerned about its health to feel threatened by an event as irrelevant as the Classic Brits.
Paul Kilbey, Huffington Post, 9 October 2012
Classical music is obsessed with the past to the point that it believes in its own death - or at least it's sufficiently concerned about its health to feel threatened by an event as irrelevant as the Classic Brits.
Paul Kilbey, Huffington Post, 9 October 2012
Engineers, be bold - Britain needs grander designs
A dearth of real engineering ambition is holding back the sector. Big, ambitious projects are needed to put us back on track.
Paul Reeves and Martyn Perks, Independent Voices, 8 October 2012
A dearth of real engineering ambition is holding back the sector. Big, ambitious projects are needed to put us back on track.
Paul Reeves and Martyn Perks, Independent Voices, 8 October 2012
Is individualism bad for society?
"I thought the Battle of Ideas was wonderful. Especially the extent and quality of audience participation. I can't imagine how I missed this exciting forum for exchange of ideas in the past. I will certainly not miss another one and look forward already to 2012 Battle of Ideas."
Professor Marilyn Monk, emeritus professor of molecular embryology, University College London
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