Welcome to the Institute of Ideas March 2007 newsletter.
You can browse the archive of IoI newsletters here.
Contents:
EVENT: BRICKBATS, BOVVER-BOOTS AND BANS
UPDATE: SCIENCE EDUCATION
IoI FORUMS
DEBATING MATTERS
MEDIA
PUBLIC APPEARANCES
OTHER NEWS AND EVENTS
EVENT: BRICKBATS, BOVVER-BOOTS AND BANS
The Institute of Ideas and SPIT-LIT present
BRICKBATS, BOVVER-BOOTS AND BANS: HOW FREE SHOULD ARTISTIC EXPRESSION BE?
Toynbee Studios, Toynbee Hall, 28 Commercial Street, E1 6LS; nearest tube Aldgate East or Liverpool Street
Saturday 10 March, 2pm-3.30pm
Tickets are available on 020 7247 2584
http://www.alternativearts.co.uk
Art and literature can hit where it hurts. Artists can deal with the extremes of the human condition, giving us access to experiences beyond our own lives. But what happens when things turn nasty and art offends, upsets, or angers? From the fury of Sikhs at the play Bezhti in 2004, or Christians at ‘Jerry Springer: the Opera’ in 2005, to the protests in 2006 at the filming of Monica Ali’s Brick Lane by those who objected to her portrayal of the Bangladeshi community, it seems we live in an atmosphere of heightened sensitivity to anything that might cause offense. Will more arts organisations feel unable to withstand pressure to curtail the free expression of art? Will we see more of the sort of self-censorship exercised by the Deutsche Oper Berlin, which cancelled its production of Mozart’s Idomeneo because of security fears stirred by a scene that depicts the severed head of the Prophet Muhammed?
Linda Bellos, campaigner, political activist
Karen Chouhan, Black Londoners Forum, JRCT Visionary Award-winner
Shirley Dent, Institute of Ideas
Louise Jury, the Independent
Humera Khan, Q-News
Chair: Claire Fox, Institute of Ideas
http://www.instituteofideas.com/events/spitlit07.html
UPDATE: SCIENCE EDUCATION
WHAT IS SCIENCE EDUCATION FOR? THE NEED FOR MORE DEBATE
A report has just been published based on three independent evaluation studies of the pilot of Twenty First Century Science, one of the new GCSE science courses critiqued and debated in our publication, ‘What is Science Education For?’. According to Tony Gilland, the IoI's Science and Society Director, two results in particular stand out as demanding further attention and discussion.
First, compared to students studying conventional science courses, the evaluation team found that ‘Fewer Twenty First Century Science students indicated agreement with the statement “I would trust something a scientist said (statement B05).”’
Second, fewer students agreed with the following two statements after taking the Twenty First Century Science course than before:
Statement A04: ‘The things we do in science make me more interested in science.’
Statement A05: ‘When I have a choice after GCSE, I will choose at least one science subject.’
Commenting on the evaluation results, David Perks, Head of Physics at Graveney School and lead author our publication What is Science Education for? said:
‘When we are encouraged to look at science from the point of view of the ethical and social problems it raises it is no surprise fewer young people are interested in pursuing science further. Being fed on a diet of debates about the dangers of global warming, GM crops and nuclear power is hardly likely to inspire anyone. It is no surprise to me that the evidence from the research raises questions about the effectiveness of this approach in encouraging young people to take up science.’
Tony Gilland's full commentary on the evaluation report is available on the IoI website.
http://www.instituteofideas.com/sciedproject.html
There is also a Guardian article on the same subject:
‘New science GCSEs foster cynicism among pupils, says study’, James Randerson, Guardian 1 March 2007
http://education.guardian.co.uk/gcses/story/0,,2023788,00.html
IoI FORUMS
SCIENCE AND HEALTH FORUM
On Wednesday 14 March, John Gillott, co-author of ‘Science and the Retreat from Reason’ and a freelance writer, will introduce a discussion on ‘The politics and ethics of embryo research’ For further details or to reserve a place contact the convenor, Brid Hehir: shf@instituteofideas.com
INDEPENDENT PARENTS FORUM
At the next discussion, on Thursday 15 March 2007, Estelle Hughes from the Save Kids’ TV campaign, and ex Controller of CITV, will examine how we make a case for UK quality children’s’ TV in the present climate. http://www.savekidstv.org.uk For more information and/or if you are interested in attending please email Jane Sandeman at parents@instituteofideas.com
EDUCATION FORUM
The last of three education forums on major issues in 14-19 education will be on Monday 26 March at 7pm. The topic is ‘14-19 Education: the New Qualifications’, introduced by FE lecturer Alec Turner and chaired by Toby Marshall. For further details contact Dr Dennis Hayes by email: education@instituteofideas.com, or telephone: 07862 712 742.
POSTGRADUATE FORUM
The next seminar will be held on Wednesday 7 March. John Pearson from the LSE will present a paper on ‘Two Dogmas of Cosmopolitanism’ in international relations. 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.
CULTURE WARS FORUM
The next forum will be on film criticism – date in March to be confirmed. Ion Martea, author of Culture Wars’ ongoing Essential Films series, will discuss critical judgement in film, in the wake of the 2007 Academy Awards.
http://www.culturewars.org.uk/EF/aboutef.htm
For more information or if you would like to attend, email Patrick Hayes: patrickhayes@instituteofideas.com.
BOOK CLUB
The next IoI Book Club is on Tuesday 3 April. Tim Black will introduce ‘Salmon Fishing in the Yemen’ by Paul Torday. http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0297851586/instituteofid-21 The Book Club is open to IoI associates. For further information email geoffkidder@instituteofideas.com
DEBATING MATTERS 2006/07
The Regional Finals of the Institute of Ideas and Pfizer Debating Matters Competition are about to take off, with sixth formers from 32 schools across the country getting ready to battle it out on motions as varied as ‘Books should remain the essence of public libraries’ and ‘We should get rid of antisocial behaviour orders’. The first round is the South East Regional Final, hosted and sponsored by Canterbury Christ Church University on 2 March. If you would like to attend the event please contact Justine Brian at justinebrian@instituteofideas.com or call 020 7269 9233. Good Luck to all the South East debate teams!
The second of the Regional finals will be held on 7 March at the Hayward Gallery, South Bank Centre with debates from 10.30am to 5pm and the Debating Matters team would like to invite those that are interested to come along and take part as audience members, joining in the debate from the floor. The motions to be debated for the London and the South Regional Final are:
‘America is dumbing down world culture’
‘Attempts to extend radically the human lifespan should be welcomed not feared’
‘Free Speech is not an absolute’
‘Britain should apologise for its role in the slave trade’
All dates are on the website. To attend, please email justinebrian@instituteofideas.com or call 020 7269 9233
http://www.debatingmatters.com
Prizes
The Regional Final teams are not only competing for a place at this year’s National Final, but also an impressive bunch of prizes. Debating Matters are pleased to announce that our prize sponsor, the educational publishers Hodder Murray, have said that they will match their prize sponsorship of the 2005/06 competition, which was doubled as part of their centenary year. This means that each winning schools will walk away with £1000 worth of book vouchers for their school library, and runners up with £500 of vouchers, Hodder have also donated some great prizes for Individual winners. Members of the winning team will also be awarded with annual online membership of Encylopaedia Britannica, kindly donated by Britannica online UK, and the Runners up team with a prize kindly donated by the Art Fund, an annual ‘Art Fund Card’, that allows winners to visit over 200 exhibitions across the country, completely free of charge, Both the winning team and the runners up team will also each be awarded a SKYPE webcam with 30 minutes worth of SKYPE credit, kindly donated by SKYPE.
Individual prize winners will also receive ‘Debating Humanism’, edited by Research and Editorial Director at the Institute of Ideas, Dolan Cummings, and donated by Imprint Academic publishers.
The National Final
We are delighted to announce that the last day of the Debating Matters National Final 2006/07 will take place at the National Portrait Gallery on Sunday 1 July. The other venue will be announced soon.
Sponsors
The Debating Matters team would like to thank all of our sponsors who have enabled 124 schools to be involved in the 2006/07 competition. They include our primary funder, the Wellcome Trust, our headline sponsor Pfizer, and all of our Regional sponsors: Canterbury Christ Church University in the South East and in London and the South Regions, the Medical Research Council for Scotland and the East Regions, The East of England Stem Cell Network for the East Region, the Natural Environment Research Council for the West and South Wales Region, the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester for the North West and North Wales Region, the University of Newcastle in the North East Region and the University of Leicester for the Central Region. Debating Matters would like to wish the very best of luck to all of the teams competing in the Regional Finals.
MEDIA
Claire Fox will be on BBC Radio 4’s Moral Maze at 8pm on Wednesday 14 and Wednesday 21 March. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/religion/moralmaze/moralmaze_claire_fox.shtml
‘Claire Fox News - Ideas behind the Headlines’ is on http://www.18doughtystreet.com
Monday 5 March 8pm: Topics: School sport; the moralisation of the school curriculum; young people in Britain post the UNICEF report and the Peckham shootings. Guests: Geoff Kidder, Institute of Ideas; Jane Sandeman, IoI Parents Forum and Philip Walters, MD Hodder Education.
Monday 19 March 8pm: Topics: Privacy; jury trials (and rape laws). Guests: Gillian Pachter, filmmaker and writer; Tessa Mayes, journalist and writer; Andrew Ritchie, director, Goodenough College.
Claire Fox has an article on the International Court of Justice on the Guardian's Comment Is Free blog. http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/claire_fox/2007/02/the_international_court_of_jus.html
Claire Fox' s monthly column in the MJ is on diversity targets for councils. http://www.localgov.co.uk/index.cfm?method=news.detail&ID=51345&&keywords=Claire%20Fox
Ballet-Dance magazine has republished Shirley Dent’s ‘BNP ballerina’ article as a guest editorial. http://www.ballet-dance.com/200702/articles/ClarkeEditorual200701.html
‘A snuff movie for the arthouse crowd’, by Tiffany Jenkins, spiked, 27 February 2007 http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php?/site/article/2899/
‘Why should artists be agents for the government?’ by Tiffany Jenkins, Independent, 28 February 2007 http://comment.independent.co.uk/commentators/article2311330.ece
‘The wisdom of Noel Gallagher’, by Alex Hochuli, spiked, 15 February 2007 http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php?/site/article/2859/
‘Censoring students at Oxford? That is so gay’, by Battle of Ideas committee member Mario Grasso, spiked, 19 February 2007 http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php?/site/article/2870/
Current highlights on Culture Wars include Andrew Haydon and others on current London theatre, Dolan Cummings on the audience new music needs, and coverage of the ICA’s ‘The New Left: Then and Now’ season. http://www.culturewars.org.uk/current.htm
PUBLIC APPEARANCES
Friday 2 March
Claire Fox will be speaking on ‘Clash of Civilisations or Cultural Crisis?’ at the Social and Political Sciences (SPS) Society, at the Faculty of SPS, Free School Lane, Cambridge http://www.srcf.ucam.org/sps/pages/News
Tuesday 6 March
Claire Fox is the chair of judges at this year's London heat of NESTA FameLab, a national competition to discover the new voices of UK science and engineering.
http://www.danacentre.org.uk/events/2007/03/06/240
The public are invited to the day's final at 7pm at the Dana Centre 165 Queen's Gate London SW7 5HE
http://www.lecturelist.org/content/view_lecture/4025
OTHER NEWS AND EVENTS
BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE: HOUSING NEED AND SUSTAINABILITY
A seminar organised by spiked
Sponsored by Clarke Mulder Purdie
6.30pm, Wednesday 14 March 2007
Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), London
Kate Gordon, Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE)
Karl Sharro, Future Cities Project
James Woudhuysen, De Montfort University
Joost Beunderman, Demos
chaired by Helene Guldberg, managing editor, spiked
http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php?/site/eventindex/
The NY Salon and the Wolfson Center in association with The Nation and The Economist presents:
LIVING IN A STATE OF FEAR: A FORUM ON THE POLITICS OF FEAR
Tuesday, March 20, 7 to 8:30pm, Theresa Lang Center, the New School
Professor Frank Furedi, Professor of Scoiology at the University of Kent in Canterbury
Christopher Hayes, Puffin Foundation Writing Fellow, Nation Institute; Contributing Writer, The Nation
Megan McArdle, Countries Editor, The Economist
Moderated by Jean Smith, Director, NY Salon
Speakers papers and further info at:
http://www.nysalon.org/salonevents/livinginstateoffear.html