Academy of Ideas

BBC Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker sparked an enormous row last week after a tweet comparing the government’s language around illegal immigration to 1930s Germany. After he was taken off air, many of his colleagues downed tools in support. While Lineker may have made up with BBC management for now, the affair has thrown up lots of questions. Should we take Lineker’s comparison seriously?...

With Sue Gray and Simon Case in the news amid long-running complaints about the effectiveness and impartiality of the government machine, this Battle of Ideas festival 2022 debate seems very topical. SPEAKERS Nick Busvine OBE consultant; founding partner, Herminius Holdings Ltd; advisory board member, Briefings for Britain; Town Councillor, Sevenoaks; former diplomat, Foreign and Commonwealth Offi...

Recording of the Academy of Ideas Education Forum discussion at Accent Study Centre, London on 28 February 2023 INTRODUCTION Following the recent announcement of industrial action by teachers, a Spectator column asked ‘Should teachers really go on strike?’. It argued that teachers are not nearly as enthusiastic about strike action as union leaders claim. While 53% of NEU members in England voted i...

Alastair Donald and Rob Lyons from the Academy of Ideas are joined by barrister Steven Barrett, Baroness Hoey and Lord Moylan to unpick the Windsor Framework.

Recording of the Academy of Ideas Economy Forum discussion on Tuesday 21 February 2023. Please note that this event was recorded via Zoom and there are occasional, short-lived issues with the audio. INTRODUCTION The Covid pandemic created huge disruption to the UK labour market. Millions of people were forced to stop working, with most receiving furlough payments. Millions more had to work from ho...

One year on from the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Professor Frank Furedi talks to Rob Lyons about where things stand today, the causes of the conflict and the potential for peace.

This is a recording of a public discussion hosted by the Academy of Ideas Arts & Society Forum on 24 January 2023. Arts institutions shape themselves and their policies around promoting social good, and have accepted a political agenda around climate change and identity politics. They want to be seen to be on the ‘right side’ of progress, but have they become overly instrumentalist and constrainin...

The UK Government’s decision to veto a bill passed by the Scottish Government, which would make it easier for children older than 16 to legally change their gender, has set off something of a political storm ( a great summary can be found over at Spectator by Iain MacWhirter ). Whilst this certainly has ramifications for UK-Scotland political relations, it also has set off a series of debates abou...

This is guest podcast from our colleagues at Debating Matters. Initiated in 2015, Debating Matters Beyond Bars is a project which takes DM's schools-debating format inside prisons. Using our acclaimed substance-over-style format, teams of prisoners engage in debate with one another on a whole range of contemporary social, political and cultural topics. The programme aims to inspire them to think a...

Regular Sportscast of Ideas guests Geoff Kidder, Rob Lyons and Tom Collyer round up their World Cup highlights ahead of the final. Subscribe to our Substack to keep up-to-date with all of our work at the Academy of Ideas: clairefox.substack.com/subscribe

Regular Sportscast of Ideas guests Geoff Kidder and Rob Lyons are joined by Tom Collyer, Denis Russell and Simon McKeon to discuss the kick off of the World Cup 2022. Subscribe to our Substack to keep up-to-date with all of our work at the Academy of Ideas: clairefox.substack.com/subscribe

Regular Sportscast of Ideas guests Geoff Kidder and Rob Lyons are joined by Tom Collyer, Hilary Salt and Simon McKeon to discuss the kick off of the World Cup 2022. Subscribe to our Substack to keep up-to-date with all of our work at the Academy of Ideas: https://clairefox.substack.com/subscribe

This is a recording from the Battle of Ideas festival 2022 at Church House, Westminster: https://www.battleofideas.org.uk/session/call-to-courage-winning-the-battle-of-ideas/ Subscribe to our Substack to get podcasts, updates and more: https://clairefox.substack.com/subscribe Today – at a time of enormous upheavals and significant political challenges – do we need to bring courage back into politi...

Liz Truss has gone, and we’ll be on to another Prime Minister (or maybe even Boris). At the moment, things seem utterly out of our hands. That is why it’s so important we understand what is going on, what historical trends are shaping it, and, even now, what opportunities exist. Claire sat down with Academy of Ideas colleague Jacob Reynolds to do just that. At this moment, the key thing is to list...

Ahead of the Battle of Ideas festival 2022 in London on 15 & 16 October, Jacob Reynolds talks to Phil Mullan and Rob Lyons about the turmoil in the financial markets this week and the longer-term problems for the UK economy. For more about the festival, visit the Battle of Ideas festival website .

Recording of an Academy of Ideas debate on Tuesday 28 June 2022. INTRODUCTION Around the world, prices of a wide range of goods and commodities have been rising sharply for the past few months. In particular, the wholesale cost of energy has been rising fast as the world economy recovered from the pandemic restrictions. Petrol prices have risen by almost a third in the past 12 months. The UK domes...

This is a recording of United we stand? Ukraine and the future of the West, which took place on 20 April 2022: academyofideas.org.uk/event/united-we-stand-ukraine-and-the-future-of-the-west/   At first glance, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine seems to have led to an unexpected moment of unity among Western nations. After years of disagreements and talk of decline, Western countries responded to the in...

This is a recording from the Scotland Salon - a panel discussion on the roots of the war in Ukraine and whether it offers any lessons for Scotland - held on Wednesday 13 April 2022: academyofideas.org.uk/event/solidarity-with-ukraine/ Scotland’s public debate on the war in Ukraine has been very low key. We have set up charity hubs for refugees, but we haven’t really engaged in a public discussion...

Recording of the Academy of Ideas Economy Forum discussion on Monday 4 April 2022. INTRODUCTION There have been many obituaries to globalisation since the big financial crisis of 2008. The dislocations caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the tough sanctions imposed upon Moscow have spawned another batch of them. Beneath this formulaic contemplation of “globalisation” versus “deglobalisat...

This is a recording from the Belfast Battle of Ideas, an event that took place in the Crescent Arts Centre in Belfast on the 26 March 2022 in partnership with Imagine! Belfast Festival and the Academy of Ideas. Misinformation: Ukraine, Big Tech and online censorship As war rages in Ukraine, the limits of what we can say about such a major, epoch-defining event appear to be determined by a handful...

This is a recording from the Belfast Battle of Ideas, an event that took place in the Crescent Arts Centre in Belfast on the 26 March 2022 in partnership with Imagine! Belfast Festival and the Academy of Ideas. Snowflakes Or Revolutionaries? Free Speech On Campus From decolonising the curriculum to gender-identity codes of conduct, free-speech controversies are a frequent feature of campus life. B...

This is a recording from the Belfast Battle of Ideas, an event that took place in the Crescent Arts Centre in Belfast on the 26 March 2022 in partnership with Imagine! Belfast Festival and the Academy of Ideas. Can Culture Survive The Culture Wars? Culture-wars divisions increasingly frame how we judge artistic works. Statues of slave traders have been ripped from pedestals, accusations of ‘transp...

This event was held on 17 March 2022 hosted by the Academy of Ideas and the Free Speech Union: academyofideas.org.uk/event/free-speech-a-global-history-from-socrates-to-social-media/  Free speech is often hailed as the ‘first freedom’ and the bedrock of democracy. Free exchange of ideas underlies all intellectual achievement and has enabled the advancement of both freedom and equality worldwide. B...

This meeting was held live at the Royal National Hotel on the 14 March 2022: academyofideas.org.uk/event/ukraine-in-the-crosshairs-of-history A famous old Russian once said: ‘There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.’ The past week feels exactly like that since Russia’s appalling decision to invade Ukraine. Not only will there be enormous bloodshed, but a n...

As war breaks out in Ukraine, the Academy of Ideas team is joined by Professor Frank Furedi and international affairs correspondent Mary Dejevsky to discuss Vladimir Putin's invasion and the fallout among Western nations. Articles discussed in the podcast: Patrick Cockburn in the Independent / Tom McTague in the Atlantic / Brendan O'Neill in spiked