Academy of Ideas

Subscribe to the Academy of Ideas Substack for more information on the next Battle and future events: https://clairefox.substack.com/subscribe DEBATING MATTERS: 'TRIAL BY JURY SHOULD BE REMOVED IN CERTAIN CASES' https://www.battleofideas.org.uk/session/debating-matters-trial-by-jury-should-be-removed-in-certain-cases/ Debating Matters is a sixth-form debating competition that has become renowned f...

Subscribe to the Academy of Ideas Substack for more information on the next Battle and future events: https://clairefox.substack.com/subscribe FROM SAUDI TO SHEFFIELD: IS FOOTBALL STILL THE BEAUTIFUL GAME? https://www.battleofideas.org.uk/session/from-saudi-arabia-to-sheffield-is-football-still-the-beautiful-game/ ‘I have the feeling that this competition is going to be as important, if not more i...

Subscribe to the Academy of Ideas Substack for more information on the next Battle and future events: https://clairefox.substack.com/subscribe DESPISED: WHY THE MODERN LEFT LOATHES THE WORKING CLASS https://www.battleofideas.org.uk/session/despised-why-the-modern-left-loathes-the-working-class/ Drawing on his background as a firefighter and trade unionist from Dagenham, in his book, Despised, Paul...

Subscribe to the Academy of Ideas Substack for more information on the next Battle and future events: https://clairefox.substack.com/subscribe LETTERS ON LIBERTY: ABORTION AND THE FREEDOM TO FORE OUR OWN FATE https://www.battleofideas.org.uk/session/letters-on-liberty-abortion-and-the-freedom-to-forge-our-own-fate/ Since 2020, the Academy of Ideas has published Letters on Liberty – a radical pamph...

Subscribe to the Academy of Ideas Substack for more information on the next Battle and future events: https://clairefox.substack.com/subscribe SHOULD WE AVOID ULTRA PROCESSED FOOD? https://www.battleofideas.org.uk/session/should-we-avoid-ultra-processed-food/ Ever since we started making food products in factories, there have been concerns about the dangers of mass-produced food. Where previously...

Subscribe to the Academy of Ideas Substack for more information on the next Battle and future events: https://clairefox.substack.com/subscribe THE SUN NEVER SETS: THE DECOLONISATION WAR https://www.battleofideas.org.uk/session/the-sun-never-sets-the-decolonisation-wars/ Over the summer, a Labour peer demanded that a bronze statue of Clive of India outside the Foreign Office should be taken down be...

Subscribe to the Academy of Ideas Substack for more information on the next Battle and future events: https://clairefox.substack.com/subscribe NEVER AGAIN - FOR ANYONE? THE NEW HOLOCAUST RELATIVISM https://www.battleofideas.org.uk/session/never-again-for-anyone-the-new-face-of-holocaust-relativism/ Genocide, Holocaust, Never Again. Phrases that once conjured up only one image: the Nazis’ systemati...

Subscribe to the Academy of Ideas Substack for more information on the next Battle and future events: https://clairefox.substack.com/subscribe SEX REALISM AND THE NEW BOOK BURNINGS https://www.battleofideas.org.uk/session/sex-realism-and-the-new-book-burnings/ ‘Wheesht’ is Scottish Gaelic for ‘hold your tongue’ and the scandal engulfing the National Library for Scotland’s exclusion of a book in it...

Subscribe to the Academy of Ideas Substack for more information on the next Battle and future events: https://clairefox.substack.com/subscribe ARE THE OLD POLITICAL PARTIES OVER? https://www.battleofideas.org.uk/session/are-the-old-political-parties-over/ Are the mainstream parties facing extinction or can they bounce back by the time of the next General Election in 2029? Can the Tories recover fr...

Subscribe to the Academy of Ideas Substack for more information on the next Battle and future events: https://clairefox.substack.com/subscribe THE RISE AND FALL OF PRIVATE LIFE https://www.battleofideas.org.uk/session/the-rise-and-fall-of-private-life/ Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt famously said: ‘If you have something to hide, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it.’ Today, demands for privacy are ofte...

Subscribe to the Academy of Ideas Substack for more information on the next Battle and future events: https://clairefox.substack.com/subscribe RAPE GANGS, POST OFFICE AND SCOTTISH SELF-ID: AN ANATOMY OF THREE SCANDALS https://www.battleofideas.org.uk/session/rape-gangs-post-office-and-scottish-self-id-an-anatomy-of-three-scandals/ In recent years, Britain has been rocked by several scandals where...

Subscribe to the Academy of Ideas Substack for more information on the next Battle and future events: https://clairefox.substack.com/subscribe RACIAL GRIEVANCE POLITICS: HOW DID WE BECOME SO DIVIDED? https://www.battleofideas.org.uk/session/racial-grievance-politics/ Over recent months, there has been a loud and vociferous debate raging in the UK about the merits or otherwise of multicultural poli...

Subscribe to the Academy of Ideas Substack for more information on the next Battle and future events: https://clairefox.substack.com/subscribe BOOKSHOP BARNIE: BIJAN OMRANI ON GOD IS AN ENGLISHMAN https://www.battleofideas.org.uk/session/meet-the-author-bijan-omrani-on-god-is-an-englishman/ Bijan Omrani’s latest book, God is an Englishman: Christianity and the Creation of England, is an exploratio...

Subscribe to the Academy of Ideas Substack for more information on the next Battle and future events: https://clairefox.substack.com/subscribe GENTLE PARENTING VS SMACKING https://www.battleofideas.org.uk/session/gentle-parenting-vs-smacking-challenges-for-mum-and-dad/ In August, the New Statesman ran a front-page article entitled ‘The millennial parent trap: This generation are desperate to raise...

Subscribe to the Academy of Ideas Substack for more information on the next Battle and future events: https://clairefox.substack.com/subscribe BATTLE BOOK CLUB: SOMEONE ELSE'S MUSIC: OPERA AND THE BRITISH https://www.battleofideas.org.uk/session/meet-the-author-alexandra-wilson-on-someone-elses-music/ Has society completely turned its back on opera? Alexandra Wilson says no, opera-going is closely...

Subscribe to the Academy of Ideas Substack for more information on the next Battle and future events: https://clairefox.substack.com/subscribe WHAT DOES POST WOKE ART LOOK LIKE? https://www.battleofideas.org.uk/session/what-does-post-woke-art-look-like/ In December last year, critic Dean Kissick, in an article for Harper’s Magazine, caused controversy in the contemporary art world. He complained t...

Subscribe to the Academy of Ideas Substack for more information on the next Battle and future events: https://clairefox.substack.com/subscribe SCIENCE AT THE CUTTING EDGE: WHO MAKES THE RULES? https://www.battleofideas.org.uk/session/science-at-the-cutting-edge-who-makes-the-rules/ The past 20 years have seen astonishing advances in science, technology and medicine. Building upon the completion of...

Subscribe to the Academy of Ideas Substack for more information on the next Battle and future events: https://clairefox.substack.com/subscribe CAN AI ART EVER BE HUMAN? https://www.battleofideas.org.uk/session/ai-the-art-of-humanity/ AI continues its seemingly unstoppable encroachment into every aspect of life, throwing up major philosophical questions. Whether you’re into music, fine art or writi...

Subscribe to the Academy of Ideas Substack for more information on the next Battle and future events: https://clairefox.substack.com/subscribe COMEDY: IS POLITICS THAT FUNNY? https://www.battleofideas.org.uk/session/comedy-is-politics-that-funny/ From Yes Minister to The Thick of It, the political class has always been a go-to topic for comedians and satirists. But in a world in which political de...

Subscribe to the Academy of Ideas Substack for more information on the next Battle and future events: https://clairefox.substack.com/subscribe BATTLE BOOK CLUB: RUNNING THE RISK - FROM SHARK ATTACKS TO NUCLEAR DISASTER https://www.battleofideas.org.uk/session/meet-the-author-david-reid-on-running-the-risk/ Risk is everywhere. Taking the bus, crossing the street, swimming in the ocean, going somewh...

Subscribe to the Academy of Ideas Substack for more information on the next Battle and future events: https://clairefox.substack.com/subscribe IS GAMBLING IMMORAL? https://www.battleofideas.org.uk/session/is-gambling-immoral/ This summer, the think tank IPPR has revived the idea of sharp rises in the ‘sin taxes’ on gambling. Not only is this intended to increase revenues for the Treasury, but it a...

Subscribe to the Academy of Ideas Substack for more information on the next Battle and future events: https://clairefox.substack.com/subscribe ERA OF THE DOWNWARDLY MOBILE GRADUATE https://www.battleofideas.org.uk/session/rise-of-the-downwardly-mobile-graduate/ With nearly five million graduates now working in non-graduate roles, recent reports have warned of a new political threat: the ‘downwardl...

Subscribe to the Academy of Ideas Substack for more information on the next Battle and future events: https://clairefox.substack.com/subscribe SHOULD WE 'DOGE' UNIVERSITY? https://www.battleofideas.org.uk/session/university-research-is-it-fit-for-purpose/ Late last year, Cambridge researcher Ally Louks shared a triumphant selfie with her PhD dissertation, titled ‘The Politics of Smell’. The result...

Subscribe to the Academy of Ideas Substack for more information on the next Battle and future events: https://clairefox.substack.com/subscribe BALLOON DEBATE: WHAT'S THE GREATEST SCIENTIFIC BREAKTHROUGH OF THE PAST 20 YEARS? https://www.battleofideas.org.uk/session/balloon-debate-whats-the-greatest-scientific-or-medical-breakthrough-of-the-past-20-years/ The Battle of Ideas festival is 20 years ol...

Subscribe to the Academy of Ideas Substack for more information on the next Battle and future events: https://clairefox.substack.com/subscribe WHY YOU SHOULD READ PLATO'S REPUBLIC https://www.battleofideas.org.uk/session/platos-republic/ Plato wrote The Republic around 375 BC, making it 2,400 years old. Yet it has continued to reverberate throughout the entire subsequent history of Western philoso...