Battle of Ideas 2023

Shaping the future through public debate.

Crisis seems to be the word of the year – energy crisis, cost-of-living crisis, climate crisis, housing crisis, global economy crisis… the list goes on. Living in the midst of rolling crises can be exhausting, especially when so many of the challenges we face have been long in the making. But right now, it seems like society is stuck: the economy faces stagnation and high inflation – ‘stagflation’ – while mainstream politics is stuck in a rut, bereft of ideas or vision.

In the face of this malaise, it is important citizens don’t give in to despondent fatalism. We need a new politics, and at its heart must be open debate and the solidarity of tackling challenges together.

With over 100 debates and almost 400 speakers from all walks of life, fields of expertise and political perspectives across the two days of the festival, we invite you to join the thousands of attendees who come together to figure out the future of political life. Just up the road from Westminster, think of us as the People’s Parliament.

GET YOUR TICKETS HERE

Early bird tickets available until September 25th

SESSIONS INCLUDE

Housing Britain: Yimbys vs Nimbys • What Is The Blob? • From Mizzy to Shoplifting: Anti-Social Breakdown? · Covid to Climate: Have We Lost Faith in (The) Science? •  Womb For Rent? The Morality of Surrogacy • Terminator: AI and the Apocalypse • Online Censorship: An International Clampdown? •  I Predict a Riot: France in Flames • Bad Boys of the EU: Poland and Hungary • I Dissent: Challenging the Age of Conformism • Turbocharging Devolution: Boost or Bust for Democracy • Andrew Tate and the Lost Boys • The Politicisation of Therapy • Have We Given Up on Sexual Freedom?

And many more – see the full timetable here

SPEAKERS INCLUDE

Kathleen Stock  • William Clouston • Andrew Doyle • Jonathan Israel • Ivan Krastev • Claire Fox • Konstantin Kisin • Matthew Goodwin • Lord Ken Macdonald • Ella Whelan • Lord David Frost • Frank Furedi • Alka Sehgal Cuthbert • Tom Slater • Silkie Carlo • Alan Miller • Tomiwa Owolade • Lord Moylan • Liam Halligan • Joanna Williams • Sam Bowman • Laura Dodsworth • Rakib Ehsan • Thomas Fazi • Ralph Schoellhammer • Toby Young • Nina Power • Baroness Tina Stowell • Timandra Harkness • Mark Seddon • Fraser Myers • Lord David Wolfson and many more!