Welcome to the Institute of Ideas January newsletter.
You can browse the archive of IoI newsletters here.
Contents:
DEBATING MATTERS
IoI FORUMS
MEDIA
PUBLIC APPEARANCES
ADVERTS
DEBATING MATTERS 2006/07
The qualifying rounds of the Institute of Ideas and Pfizer Debating Matters Competition are now almost over. Having completed 30 of the 32 rounds we have just two rounds in January before the final results can be announced, in the meantime congratulations to all of the winning teams.
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
The next meeting is at 7pm on Wednesday 17 January. The health panic about obesity seems to know no end. We are constantly warned that being overweight is dangerous, and that obesity will soon be the biggest 'preventable' cause of ill-health, even overtaking smoking. That has meant an endless diet of keep fit and lifestyle shows, a crusade about school meals and a ban on 'junk food' advertising to children - including that famously poisonous concoction, cheese. Hospital patients have even been refused surgery if they don't slim down. What are the facts about obesity, and what should we do about it? For further details or to reserve a place contact the convenor, Brid Hehir: shf@instituteofideas.com
CULTURE WARS FORUM
December’s Culture Wars forum is on Tuesday 12 at 7pm. The topic is ‘The Fate of Libraries’. Tim Coates - former managing director of Waterstone's and author of 'Who's in Charge? Responsibility for the Public Library Service', and now editor of The Good Library Blog - will introduce the discussion. For details, or if you would like to attend, contact Dolan Cummings at culture@instituteofideas.com.
INDEPENDENT PARENTS FORUM
The third meeting of the forum will be at 7pm on Tuesday 16 January, on ‘Is breast best?’, looking at why feeding young babies formula milk is experienced by some mothers as culturally problematic. What does this say about risk society? What does it tell us about how mothers see themselves? What does it say about how society deems aspects of parenting as good or bad? For more information and/or if you are interested in attending please email Jane Sandeman at parents@instituteofideas.com
EDUCATION FORUM
The first three education forums for 2007 will be on major issues in 14-19 education. The forum on Monday 22 January will be a discussion on What is ‘Personalised Learning’? led by Mark Taylor. 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 towards the end of the month – date and topic to be confirmed. 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 16 January. Ion Martea will introduce Without Blood by Alessandro Baricco.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1841955744/instituteofid-21
The BookClub 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 24 January.
Claire Fox will be on BBC Radio 4’s Start the Week at 9am on Monday 29 January. Other guests include Nick Cohen.
‘Claire Fox News’ is on the internet TV channel 18 Doughty Street at 8pm on Monday 8 January, with discussions on prostitution and citizen journalism and user generated content. Guests will be Shirley Dent, Rob Killick and Avedon Carol. The next episode will be on Monday 22 January, featuring Linda Bellos, Karl Sharro and Jennie Bristow. For details and to watch previous episodes, see: http://www.18doughtystreet.com
The Debating Matters Competition’s Helen Birtwistle has an article on the dangerous dogs controversy on spiked. A ‘dick on a string’?, 5 December 2006 http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php?/site/article/2210/
PUBLIC APPEARANCES
Tony Gilland will be speaking about biodiversity, plant science and the dangers of nature worship at the Danish Plant Congress in Herning, Denmark on Wednesday 10 January. http://www.lr.dk/applikationer/kate/viskategori.asp?ID=ka004000120000951
Dolan Cummings will be chairing a panel debate on ‘Keeping the faith: should we be delegating politics to God?’ at a conference organised by Cultivasian at the University of Birmingham on Thursday 11 January. http://www.cultivasian.org/Conform%20or%20Out:%20Your%20Shout.htm
On Tuesday 30 January, Claire Fox will be speaking for the motion, ‘Too many people go to university’ at a benefit debate in aid of the St. Paul's Girls' School Centenary Campaign. For the motion: Claire Fox, Anatole Kaletsky, Jenna Nicholas. Against the motion: Baroness Onora O'Neill, Mary Ann Sieghart, Ceci Mourkogiannis. The debate will be chaired by Sir Clement Freud. 6.45pm, Royal Geographical Society, 1 Kensington Gore, London. http://www.intelligencesquared.com/event_future.php?d=20070130
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/
ADVERTS
New book edited by members of the Battle of Ideas organising committee: 'Politics without Sovereignty: A Critique of Contemporary International Relations' International and Political Studies Edited by Christopher J. Bickerton, Philip Cunliffe and Alexander Gourevitch Published by UCL Press pbk: GBP 20.99 / hbk: GBP 70.99 http://www.said-workshop.org/book.php
‘Rhyming as Intimacy, Rhyming as Radicalism’ The annual lecture of Battle of Ideas 2006 partners the Poetry Society will be given by Dame Gillian Beer on Tuesday 16 January 2007. The lecture will look at the persuasive power of rhyme. Taking examples from poets including Thomas Hardy, Tony Harrison, Don Paterson, George Herbert and Ruth Padel - as well as nursery rhymes and advertising - Beer will look at how rhymes can provoke half-beliefs and resistances, weld things together or topple hierarchies. http://www.poetrysociety.org.uk/events/event/44