Videos

Discussion at the Academy of Ideas Economy Forum on Tuesday 4 May 2021.

INTRODUCTION
Love it or loathe it, the UK’s Special Relationship with the USA has been around since Churchill coined the phrase in 1946. And as the first nation to leave the European Union, the UK’s ongoing relationship with the EU is, at the very least, ‘special’ by definition.

In his presentation, Jonathan Grant will offer a perspective on these two unquestionably special relationships: one with the EU that has only recently been formed, and that with the USA, particularly how that might change under the new Biden-Harris administration.

SPEAKER
Jonathan Grant is a London-based chartered accountant specialising in serving global clients with operations in the UK. He deals extensively with people and businesses across both the USA and the EU; away from the office, he is an independent arts critic.

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This book club was originally held on 28 April 2021 by the Academy of Ideas Book Club: https://academyofideas.org.uk/event/klara-and-the-sun-by-kazuo-ishiguro/

The AoI Book Club discusses a wide range of literature, with a bent towards contemporary fiction, but older works are also discussed if the themes are topical. Klara and the Sun is a thrilling book that offers a look at our changing world through the eyes of an unforgettable narrator, and one that explores the fundamental question: what does it mean to love?

SPEAKER:

Ella Whelan journalist and commentator; author, What Women Want; co-convenor, Battle of Ideas festival; columnist, spiked and The Critic.

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Academy of Ideas Economy Forum discussion, introduced by James Matthews.

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This is a recording from the Academy of Ideas Arts & Society Forum on 25 March 2021: https://academyofideas.org.uk/event/the-point-of-poetry/

We are fascinated by language, yet poetry, the art which above all others offers us language at its most beautiful and potent, remains a distinctly minority interest. Few people go to a bookshop to look for a book of poetry. In this event, author Joe Nutt, who has spent decades teaching and writing about poetry, talks about some of the poems and poets who have brought him pleasure as a reader and made him think more deeply. He also reflects on why poetry has become a neglected art form. What is it about our culture and society that finds poetry difficult, even embarrassing? How do contemporary poets themselves contribute to this situation? What is wrong with the way poetry is introduced in school, which causes people to turn their backs on it? His conversation will cover famous and not so famous poems, the old and the new and he hopes to convince you to pick up a poetry book next time you are book hunting.

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This is a recording from a debate held by the Scotland Salon on 23 March 2021: https://academyofideas.org.uk/event/what-next-for-scottish-independence/?fbclid=IwAR3jUUMmq7TZFMKh11ff1sZfGPoEVFLF9xPflMhwZeAOY3DTbUoYyioo4FE

What do the revelations of the past few weeks mean for the independence campaign and for the devolved Scottish Government? Have we seen nothing more than political opportunism on behalf of opposition MSPs, or have the hopes for IndyRef2 been dashed? Is faith in Scottish independence inextricably linked to faith in the SNP? And, more broadly, is there something rotten in the democratic settlement for the people of Scotland?

Speakers:
Michelle Ballantyne MSP
Scottish politician; leader, Reform UK Scotland
Alastair Donald
associate director, Academy of Ideas; co-author, The Future of Community
Iain Macwhirter
columnist for The Herald; author, Disunited Kingdom: How Westminster won a referendum but lost Scotland
Jim Sillars
Scottish politician, independence campaigner and former deputy leader of the SNP
Dr Simon Knight (CHAIR)
director, Scotland Salon

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This is a recording of a debate held by the Academy of Ideas on Tuesday 16 March: https://academyofideas.org.uk/event/from-cycle-lanes-to-low-traffic-neighbourhoods-who-owns-our-streets/

Whether you’re a cyclist, driver, pedestrian or all three, the real question is: why, at a time when little political scrutiny is available in a pandemic, have councils and the government felt comfortable instituting such drastic changes? Have some underestimated the drastic effect of restricting car access on people’s lives and routines? Should we take advantage of the benefits of lower activity in cities and learn a lesson about what life could be like without cars? Are groups like Extinction Rebellion right that drastic action is necessary, even if it means making sacrifices? Or is this another example of green activism side-stepping democracy by putting the planet before people? Who should decide what happens in our neighbourhoods – in short, who owns our streets?

Rita Krishna, Daniel Moylan, Rebekah Kelly, Emma Richman, Niall Crowley and Ella Whelan discuss.

All of the Academy of Ideas’s online debates, discussions and forums have been free and open to the public throughout lockdown. Any donation – large or small – is greatly appreciated. Head to https://academyofideas.org.uk/support/​ to support the Academy of Ideas.

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This is a recording of a lecture given by Penny Lewis at the Arts & Society Forum on 3 March 2021: https://academyofideas.org.uk/event/le-corbusier-universal-artist-or-technocrat/

The Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier (1887 –1965) is strongly associated with post-war mass housing projects; his name is often used as shorthand for their failings. He was arguably the most talented architect of the twentieth century and but he is popularly known for his association with the technocrat aspects of modern planning. Architecture lecturer, Penny Lewis will ‘visit’ two of Le Corbusier’s most influential buildings the Villa Roche in Paris (1923) and the Unité d’habitation in Marseille (1952) to compare his innovative pre-war and expressive post-war work. The talk will explore the architects’ ambition to express the universal qualities of architecture and the modernist impulse to engage with engineering and new technology.

The common assessment of Le Corbusier’s work is that he was a great architect but a poor (or even Fascist) urbanist. Perhaps now that we have some distance on the post-war period we can begin to appreciate his work, aesthetic and technocratic, as a whole. Corbusier’s work was produced in that rare moment when the emancipatory drive of mass society (and the technocratic impulse to contain that drive) provided space for serious innovation. The lecture will focus on his approach to form, materials and proportion alongside his ambitious urban propositions.

Penny Lewis is a lecturer in architecture and urban planning. She leads the joint architecture programme at the University of Dundee and the University of Wuhan in China. She studied architecture before she became an architectural journalist, writing for magazine, newspapers and editing Prospect, the Scottish architectural magazine, before becoming a lecturer and academic.

All of the Academy of Ideas’s online debates, discussions and forums have been free and open to the public throughout lockdown. Any donation – large or small – is greatly appreciated. Head to https://academyofideas.org.uk/support/ to support the Academy of Ideas.

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Debate hosted by the Academy of Ideas Education Forum on 4 March 2021.

A large survey undertaken by the NHS in July 2020 found that a staggering one in six children now have a ‘probable mental health disorder’. Since that report we have had another school lockdown. Anne Longfield, the outgoing Children’s Commissioner for England, argued that ‘damage to children’s mental health caused by the Covid crisis could last for years without a large-scale increase for children’s mental health services’.

It is widely accepted that lockdown and school closures have had a detrimental effect on young people, but what does that really mean? Some argue that a year of severe disruption to schooling has limited children’s educational, social and intellectual development, with the likelihood of knock-on effects on the future university and career prospects of GCSE and A Level students.

But are the NHS, Children’s Commissioner and others unnecessarily catastrophising the state of children’s mental health? Have the kids really been messed up by lockdown? Or might they be more resilient than may adults give them credit for?

At what point does missing your school friends transform from disappointment, sadness and frustration to mental illness? Is there now a danger that we stretch the definition of mental health so far that it encompasses many of the normal travails and anxieties of normal teenage life and growing up?

On the other hand, kids missing out on seeing their peers and grown-up role models such as grandparents and teachers is no trivial matter. Is it not bound to limit their emotional and social cognition and lead to serious problems? As schools get set to reopen, this latest online Education Forum debate will explore the impact of lockdown on the mental health of young people.

SPEAKERS

Molly Kingsley co-founder, UsForThem

Dr Ken McLaughlin senior lecturer in Social Care and Social Work, Manchester Metropolitan University

Sarah Standish school counsellor at a Harrow school

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This book launch was hosted by the Academy of Ideas on 2 March 2021: https://academyofideas.org.uk/event/book-launch-free-speech-and-why-it-matters/

In his latest book, Free Speech and Why It Matters, Writer and comedian Andrew Doyle looks at the most common concerns of free-speech sceptics and offers a robust defence of this most foundational of principles. Andrew spoke to Academy of Ideas associate director Alastair Donald for this book launch of Free Speech and Why It Matters.

Get your copy of Free Speech and Why it Matters here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Free-Speech-Why-Matters/dp/034913538X

All of the Academy of Ideas’s online debates, discussions and forums have been free and open to the public throughout lockdown. Any donation – large or small – is greatly appreciated. Head to https://academyofideas.org.uk/support/ to support the Academy of Ideas.

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What is it like to fall in love in today, when there seems to be so many more factors involved in intimacy than the feelings of two people? Is the isolation and atomisation of love (or lack of it) in lockdown new, or merely an extreme catalysing of a familiar trend in modern dating? How do we balance the desire to right the wrongs of the past, with an understanding that the intimate encounters we often cherish the most are the ones that took us by surprise? As John Fowles wrote in The French Lieutenant’s Woman, while it’s often futile to be nostalgic, was love and intimacy more hopeful when we were less concerned with controlling the outcome, when ‘strangers were strange, and sometimes with an exciting, beautiful strangeness’? Or are we stuck in an arcane view of how love works – should we be open to a new definition which ditches a reliance on uncontrollable feelings like butterflies in your stomach or sweat on your brow? How risky is it to fall in love today – and what does love and intimacy mean in an increasingly risk-averse society? Claire Fox, Samantha Davies, Ralph Leonard, Emily Hill and Ella Whelan discuss.

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This event was hosted by the Academy of Ideas Arts & Society Forum.

At one time, classical music was rigorously defended – both by the sector and within wider society – because of its unique stature as the epitome of the European music tradition and its alignment with Enlightenment ideals. But who defends classical music today? Should it be defended? Is it time to shake up the genre, make it more accessible, and embrace the sentiment of John Gilhooly, director of Wigmore Hall who says, “In many ways all this is a purification, a chance to start again.” Or is there something intrinsic to the genre that we should seek to preserve? Do we still believe in the transcendental qualities of high art and the concept of art for arts’ sake? Should we defend our traditions or embrace the new normal and move with the times? Gabriella Swallow, Stephen Johnson, Ivan Hewett and Dolan Cummings discuss. (With thanks to Ambrose Miller - artistic Director: King's Lynn Festival - for his help in planning this event.)

All Academy of Ideas online events are free - if you are in a position to be able to donate, we’d greatly appreciate your support: https://www.academyofideas.org.uk/donate

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In their latest book, The Corona Generation, author Jennie Bristow and her daughter Emma Gilland consider the effects of lockdown on the generation currently coming of age: the demographic currently known as ‘Generation Z’. In this online book launch hosted by the Academy of Ideas, the Parents Forum and the Centre for Parenting Culture Studies, Jennie and Emma talk to Ella Whelan.

Buy a copy of The Corona Generation here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Corona-Generation-Coming-Age-Crisis/dp/1789046939/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

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Professor James Woudhuysen introduces a discussion at the Academy of Ideas Economy Forum on what Covid-19 can teach us about the future of healthcare.

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What should be the role of social media today? If the public square – universities, schools, workplaces, pubs, parks and polling booths – are under some form of lockdown or restriction, is the internet the only viable place to quickly and freely share ideas? And, if so, should we begin to understand Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube or Reddit as publishers, platforms or (virtual) public spaces? What kind of regulation – if any – do we need to ensure healthy debate, and what are the legal implications for such changes? In short, in a world when everyone (even David Attenborough) seems to have an online presence, what role does Big Tech play today – and what should it be in the ‘new normal’ of the post-pandemic world?

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Jacob Reynolds and Ash Sarkar of Novara Media discuss the morning newspapers on 30 December 2020.

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