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.
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Electric selves?
The social web: Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and the host of other technologies that invite us to connect to each other through a variety of internet-based interfaces seem to be technologies that provoke existential questions. Who are we? What are we? Where are we going?
Rob Clowes,
Culture Wars, 31 October 2011
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After the Riots: what makes a city?
The uncomfortable truth (for some) is the one told by Jane Jacobs, New York community campaigner back in the early 1960s: that local authorities cannot construct a ‘sense of community’.
Michael Owens,
Independent, 17 October 2011
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Is fracking environmentally friendly?
Andrew Simms and Rob Lyons debate whether the fracking process of gas extraction is safe
Rob Lyons & Andrew Simms,
Guardian Comment is free, 23 September 2011
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The Lure of the City: from slums to suburbs
Cities, by their very nature, are a mass of contradictions. They can be at once visually stunning, culturally rich, exploitative and unforgiving.
Austin Williams and Alastair Donald (editors), Pluto Press,
20 September 2011
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Developers threaten Beirut's architectural heritage
Once the jewel of the Mediterranean, parts of Beirut are now in a state of shambles. Decades of civil war and Israel's bombardment five years ago has left some buildings pockmarked with bullet holes, others just bombed-out shells. But the buildings that survived bullets and bombs are now under threat from the wrecking ball.
Rebecca Collard,
National (UAE), 16 September 2011
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Here comes the yuan: a city’s bid to revive its fortunes through the local and the global
Liverpool is using its bruised beauty to its advantage. It won its bid to be the 2008 European Capital of Culture, which boosted tourism. The revamped city centre, reopened that year, is tasteful and modern; the nearby Albert Dock, once teeming with stevedores, bustles with bars and restaurants. The next step is to attract investment from overseas.
Economist, 3 September 2011
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Facebook doesn’t cause riots – or revolutions
Social media luvvies are outraged that the websites on which they spend every waking hour – Facebook and Twitter – are being held responsible for the recent rioting in England. And they have every right to be outraged. It is daft to blame social upheaval and acts of violence on what are merely tools for communication.
Brendan O'Neill,
Telegraph, 25 August 2011
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The Revolution will be Digitised: dispatches from the information war
At the centre is the Establishment: governments, corporations andpowerful individuals who have more knowledge about us, and more power, than at any other time in history. Circling them is a new generation of hackers, pro-democracy campaigners and internet activists who no longer accept that the Establishment should run the show.
Heather Brookes, William Heinemann, 18 August 2011
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