Academy Of Ideas

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 in the ballot, less than 50% of NASUWT members did, meaning the NASUWT ballot failed to meet the legal threshold to strike. So how widespread is support for the strikes among educators and public, and does public support matter? Some who have traditionally supported the right to strike argue that now is not the time, and that closing schools so soon after the Covid lockdowns, which disrupted education for months and continue to have knock-on effects, is irresponsible. How do we balance the idea of vocation and public service with the right of teachers to a decent wage and conditions? Would striking during GCSE and A-L

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 home. With lockdowns and pandemic-related business closures in the past, what has been the lasting impact of this disruption? Statistics for employment and earnings published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) for September to November 2022 show that unemployment remains low (3.7 per cent) while the proportion of people aged 16 to 64 in employment continues to hover around 75 per cent. But the number of people defined as ‘economically inactive’ – not working or seeking work – in this age group grew markedly over the course of the Covid pandemic and in its aftermath. Meanwhile, job vacancies for October to Dece

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 constraining in their approach? What harm are they doing to the development of the arts and artists? Now it appears that the arts are responding not just to the equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) agenda, but also to the government’s levelling up policy. Under pressure to take funding outside London, controversial recent Arts Council plans threaten English National Opera with closure unless it relocates to the north. Yet it seems that progressive arts polices have largely failed. Recent research shows that while a few women and BAME people are now more likely to achieve higher status professional roles than in the past, t

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 about gender identity, the rights of women, and even what the bill actually would mean in practice. Without a doubt, these debates are some of the most difficult to navigate in contemporary politics - and also some of the most heated. So we sat down to try and make sense of it all. On this episode of the Podcast of Ideas, Alastair Donald speaks to Susan Smith of For Women Scotland - the heroic campaigning organisation who have been defending the rights of women which are often undercut by legislation aiming to protect trans people. Claire Fox, Ella Whelan and Rob Lyons then join Alastair to mull over some of the implicatio

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 about issues beyond their current situation and to look forward to their life ahead – in other words, beyond bars! In this podcast, Mo Lovatt - DM's national coordinator - and Geoff Kidder sat down with former Beyond Bars competitor Jon Floyd to discuss the impact the programme had on him when he took part in 2015 while he was serving his sentence. We were also joined by Heather Phillips, the chief executive of Beating Time, which runs, amongst other things, Inside Job – an employment programme she set up with Jon in 2020.  For Jon, taking part in Beyond Bars was the catalyst for starting that programme with Heather 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 politics? There are certainly encouraging signs – do recent successes of gender-critical activists, the push back against diversity policies, or support for those threatened with being cancelled indicate new forms of solidarity? Can fighting back against the cost-of-living crisis, under the banner of Enough is Enough, forge a new movement? And as millions of UK citizens courageously refused to back down – and succeeded in forcing the establishment to ensure their democratic vote was not overturned – is the democratic Brexit spirit of taking back control ready to be rekindled? SPEAKERS: Julie Bindel  journalist; author, Fem

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 listen, read, think and argue. Please share our conversation with everyone you know who is angry, confused and demanding something better.

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 domestic energy ‘price cap’, which hit a low of £1,042 in 2020, is expected to rise to £2,800 in October. Consumer price inflation has hit 9% and is likely to reach 10% by the end of the year. For those on lower incomes, who spend more of their income on food and energy, the impact is even greater. There are multiple explanations for the rises: the post-pandemic recovery and problems with shipping have been widely cited. The war in Ukraine and sanctions against Russia are hitting energy and food prices. Many economists also point to the rise in the money supply – thanks to ultra-low interest rates, quantitative easing and

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 invasion with tough sanctions and a unified front. Germany has announced a dramatic increase in military spending, Finland and Sweden are seriously exploring NATO membership, and even the Brexit tensions between the EU and UK have faded into the background.  In the words of Andrew Neil: ‘Now Britain stands tall, America is a reliable ally once more, the EU has found new purpose, NATO is more united than ever, and Germany has rediscovered its backbone.’ Commentators everywhere seem eager to christen this a triumph of ‘Western values’ – such as democracy or freedom – over backward, authoritarian values said to define Rus

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 about the causes of the war or the right to national self-determination. The possibility of nuclear war, Putin’s recklessness and the energy crisis have tended to dominate the way we discuss the issue. There has been very little time and space to discuss the national rights of the Ukrainians. This is surprising given that many Scots are interested in the question of national self-government and would vote – perhaps even fight – for Scottish independence. Scottish politicians have been chastised for making crass connections between the war and Scottish independence. While it’s clear that the two situations are not dir

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 “deglobalisation”, what sort of developments might unfold on the international economic front as a result of this conflict? For the immediate future, it seems clear that the economic damage from the military and economic warfare will go way beyond Ukraine and Russia. The repercussions are already aggravating the existing prospects for a sluggish 2020s in many advanced economies. But what about the possible longer-term economic consequences for the world? What might it mean for international economic relations? Could the war be a wake-up call for the Western nations to shake themselves from their economic torpor? If it ensues, wou

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 of Californian social-media giants. Facebook’s parent company, Meta has already announced the banning of Russian outlets Russia Today (RT) and Sputnik from its platforms. Twitter has declared it will ‘label all posts containing links to Russian state-affiliated media outlets’. It’s not just Silicon Valley getting in on the act. Telegram, a Dubai-based messaging app created by two brothers who left Russia under pressure from President Putin, has threatened ‘to shut down channels related to the war because of rampant misinformation’. Meanwhile, the UK government has promised a ‘crackdown’ on university lecturers accuse

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. But while students are often lampooned as ‘over-sensitive’ or ‘snowflakes’, many believe that these students should be viewed as a radical generation of changemakers, whether championing LGBT rights or promoting racial equality. With the UK government’s new Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill aiming to ensure that universities are ‘bastions of free thought and intellectual debate’, some say student concerns are being ignored and their social-justice priorities undermined. How should students view free speech? Is there a risk of creating an ‘anything goes’ campus culture that prolongs the toxic culture wars? Do s

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 ‘transphobia’ result in the work of artists such as Jess de Wahls being removed from galleries, while books by controversial figures such as Norman Mailer and Woody Allen are pulled from the schedules by the new cultural arbiters in publishing. Musician Nick Cave has spoken for many when he said that cancel culture has an ‘asphyxiating effect on the creative soul of a society’. But others ask what is wrong with assessing works in line with contemporary moral or cultural mores. Given art seeks subjective emotional responses as well as objective judgement, should we really have to contend with abusers such as R Kelly or Maril