Welcome to the Institute of Ideas February newsletter.
You can browse the archive of IoI newsletters here.
Contents:
DEBATING MATTERS
IoI FORUMS
MEDIA
PUBLIC APPEARANCES
OTHER NEWS AND EVENTS
DEBATING MATTERS 2006/07
The eight Regional Finals of the competition will be taking place in March and April, all of the confirmed venues and dates are listed below. For those that are interested in coming along and joining in the debate, either as a judge or an audience member, please call Helen Birtwistle, Debating Matters Press Officer on 020 7269 9232 or email to helenbirtwistle@instituteofideas.com
The dates confirmed so far are:
Friday 2 March – South East - Canterbury Christ Church University
Wednesday 7 March - London – South Bank Centre
Friday 16 March – Scotland - Royal Society Edinburgh
Tuesday 20 March- West and South Wales – University of Bristol
Tuesday 27 March - North East - University of Newcastle
Monday 16 April- North West and North Wales – Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester
Friday 27 April - Central - University of Leicester
Debating Matters is offering INTERNSHIPS. The experience will provide interns with an opportunity to work with the team throughout the Regional Finals, an exciting and busy period of the competition. For more details please contact Justine Brian, Debating Matters Administrator on 020 7269 9233 or email to justinebrian@instituteofideas.com
IoI FORUMS
All forums meet in London. There are limited places and attendance is by invitation only. If you have an interest in the field and would like to take part, please email the contact given.
SCIENCE AND HEALTH FORUM
On Wednesday 21 February at 7pm, Peter Sammonds, Professor of Geophysics at UCL, will introduce a discussion on ‘Global warming: Can science tell us how to respond to climate change?’ For further details or to reserve a place contact the convenor, Brid Hehir: shf@instituteofideas.com
CULTURE WARS FORUM
The next forum, on Wednesday 28 February, will be on music criticism, introduced by Ivan Hewett of the Daily Telegraph. Culture Wars has now started covering music and performance. http://www.culturewars.org.uk/2007-01/Performance.htm For more information or if you would like to attend, email Patrick Hayes: patrickhayes@instituteofideas.com.
INDEPENDENT PARENTS FORUM
The next discussion, on 20 February 2007, at 7pm, is on ‘The Mommy Myth’ by Susan Douglas and Meredith Michaels. http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0743260465/instituteofid-21 For more information and/or if you are interested in attending please email Jane Sandeman at parents@instituteofideas.com.
EDUCATION FORUM
The second of three education forums on major issues in 14-19 education will be on Monday 26 February at 7pm. The topic is ‘14-19 Education: raising the school leaving age to 18, and social inclusion’, introduced by English teacher Joanna Williams. For further details contact Dr Dennis Hayes by email: education@instituteofideas.com, or telephone: 07862 712 742.
Academics For Academic Freedom (AFAF)
Hundreds of academics, from new researchers to distinguished professors, have recently signed the new statement of academic freedom written by Academics For Academic Freedom (AFAF), launched by Education Forum convenor Dennis Hayes. The statement was reproduced and reported in the Times Higher Education Supplement on 21 December and subsequently on the BBC, The Times, Guardian, Manchester Evening News and the Herald (Scotland) as well as on many websites and blogs around the world (see links on the AFAF website). Among other events, AFAF will be organising a conference this summer on ‘Understanding Academic Freedom’. Please support AFAF by signing the statement online and publicising it through email lists and on web sites. http://www.afaf.org.uk
For general information about the education forum or AFAF contact Dr Dennis Hayes at d.hayes@canterbury.ac.uk or by telephone on 07862 712 742.
POSTGRADUATE FORUM
The second in the new series of seminars will be held on Wednesday 7 February. Hugh Ortega Breton from Roehampton University will be presenting a paper on ‘The British Political Elite: Paranoid Style - War on Others’. If you are a postgraduate student and would like details, please contact James Gledhill (LSE) and Maria Grasso (University of Oxford) at postgrad@instituteofideas.com.
BOOK CLUB
The next IoI Book Club is on Tuesday 20 February. Martin Summers will introduce Everyman by Philip Roth.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0224078690/instituteofid-21
Culture Wars review: http://www.culturewars.org.uk/2006-01/roth.htm
The Book Club is open to IoI associates. For further information email geoffkidder@instituteofideas.com
MEDIA
Claire Fox will be on BBC Radio 4’s Moral Maze at 8pm on Wednesday 14 and Wednesday 21 February. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/religion/moralmaze/moralmaze_claire_fox.shtml
‘Claire Fox News’ is on the internet TV channel 18 Doughty Street at 8pm on Monday 5 February, with discussions on controversial science and regulation; celebrities spouting pseudo-science; and our lack of engineering ambition in transport. Guests will be Dr Evan Harris MP, Tracey Brown, director Science about Science, and Timandra Harkness from ‘engaging cogs – engineering in the public mind’. For details and to watch previous episodes, see: http://www.18doughtystreet.com
Claire Fox will also be a guest on 18 Doughty Street’s ‘Up Front’ at 7.30pm on Thursday 8 and Thursday 22 February.
Claire Fox was on BBC Radio 4’s Start the Week on Monday 29 January. You can listen online at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/starttheweek_20070129.shtml
Claire’s monthly column in the MJ (the management journal for local authority business), is now available online. January’s article is on stress at work. http://www.localgov.co.uk/index.cfm?method=news.detail&ID=49495
Chris Bickerton’s Battle in Print on the Battle for History has been reproduced in German for Novo magazine. http://www.novo-magazin.de/86/novo8616.htm
The grown-ups who log on to virtual life and flee the world, by Tiffany Jenkins, Scotsman 24 January 2007 http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/opinion.cfm?id=121282007
Current highlights on Culture Wars include reviews of London theatre productions, ‘Happy Days’, ‘Ghosts’ and ‘Antony and Cleopatra’, and book reviews of Oxford University Press’ repackaged philosophy texts and of George Walden on the state of the nation. http://www.culturewars.org.uk/current.htm
PUBLIC APPEARANCES
On Thursday 1 February, Dolan Cummings will be speaking on ‘Re-evaluating the Enlightenment’ at the Oxford Secular Society at the University of Oxford. http://www.oxsecsoc.com
On Friday 2 February, Claire Fox will be speaking at Cheltenham College on on the Nanny State. http://www.cheltcoll.gloucs.sch.uk/cc/home/index.php
On Wednesday 7 February, Claire Fox will be speaking at Goodenough College on ‘Clash of Civilisations or Cultural Crisis?’ http://www.goodenough.ac.uk/
On Wednesday 28 February, Claire Fox will be speaking at a debate on ‘What is the future for multiculturalism?’ at the ‘cultural eXchanges’ festival at De Montfort University, Leicester. Other speakers include Darcus Howe and Hardeep Singh Kholi. http://www.dmu.ac.uk/faculties/humanities/cx/wednesday/multicultural_debate.jsp
OTHER NEWS AND EVENTS
The Future Cities Project in association with the IoI present:
The Therapy Rooms – building esteem or housing discontent
Tuesday 27 February, 7pm
Tickets: £8 (£6 concessions)
The Bartlett School of Architecture, Wates House, 22 Gordon Street London WC1H 0QB
http://www.instituteofideas.com/events/fcp2007.html
See ‘Community anchors’, by Dave Clements
http://www.housing.org.uk/library/viewfile.asp?fid=5951 (PDF)
The NY Salon in Association with the New School, Discover Magazine and Reason Online Magazine present:
The Human Footprint - has civilization gone too far?
Tuesday 13 February, 2007 7-8.30pm
Theresa Lang Center, The New School, New York, USA
http://www.nysalon.org
Engaging Cogs present:
Are We Moving Fast Enough? Does more speed always equal more progress?
Part of the ‘100 Ideas to Change the World’ festival
Wednesday 7 February, 6pm
Hayward Gallery, South Bank Centre, London
http://www.engagingcogs.org
Barb Jungr performs blues and gospel songs from her recently released Linn records CD, ‘Walking in the Sun’.
Friday 9 February
The Purcell Rooms, Royal Festival Hall, Belvedere Road, London
Ticket Office: 08703 800 400
http://www.barbjungr.co.uk
SAVE BAC (BATTERSEA ARTS CENTRE)
London’s BAC, host to a number of IoI events over the years, and champion of innovative theatre often covered on Culture Wars, faces cuts in funding from Wandsworth Council, which would force it to close. See the BAC website for details of the campaign to save this invaluable institution.
http://www.bac.org.uk/about_press.php