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.

Liberty & Law

Should the law try and correct society's prejudices?
While the 2010 Equality Act seems to be discouraging prejudice, it has also come under attack for limiting freedom
Luke Gittos, Independent, 18 October 2012

Free expression is the bedrock of a free society. The moral case for a truly free press is overdue a hearing
The real danger isn't state censorship but the consolidation of a sterile, conformist atmosphere in which it's accepted that it simply won't do to publish some stories
Mick Hume, Independent Voices, 4 October 2012

Live music red tape lifted for small venues
Venues in England and Wales with a capacity of under 200 people will no longer need a licence for live music.BBC News, 1 October 2012

Michael Fallon: Brussels must cut red tape
Michael Fallon, Britain’s new business minister, is to demand that Brussels adopts the Government’s new “one-in, one-out” policy in an attempt to cut European red tape.
Louise Armistead, Daily Telegraph, 29 September 2012

Employment law exemptions are key to unlocking growth for Challenger Businesses
To unleash growth for start-ups the government must create exemptions in employment law and simplify the enforcement of existing regulations, a new report, Red Tape Challenge – Challenger Businesses, suggests. Institute of Economic Affairs, 20 September 2012

In the courts, equality trumps tolerance
Four cases before the European Court of Human Rights show how the state puts ‘diversity’ before religious freedom.
Jon Holbrook, spiked, 18 September 2012

Minimum alcohol price 'would save 11,500 pensioners'
The deaths of 11,500 pensioners could be avoided over the next decade if minimum alcohol pricing is rolled out in England, according to new research.BBC News, 7 September 2012

There is No Such Thing as a Free Press ...and we need one more than ever

Once the media reported the news. Now it makes it. The phone-hacking scandal and the Leveson Inquiry into the culture, practice and ethics of the media has put the UK press under scrutiny and on trial as never before.

Mick Hume, Imprint Acaademic, 1 September 2012


From drugs to banks to the web, the battle over regulation will continue
Deregulation gives people an excuse to dispense with thinking about anyone other than themselves. That's the last thing we need
Deborah Orr, Guardian Comment is free, 31 August 2012

The prince and the public interest
The Sun newspaper's publication of nude photographs of Prince Harry has reinvigotated the hue-and-cry about the antics of the British tabloids, but amid the complaints, the issue of what news is actually for is the buried lede.
Jason Walsh, presseurop, 29 August 2012


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