Are you intellectually curious and open minded? Do you want to take a fresh view of key issues confronting contemporary society? Are you prepared for a mind-blowing weekend in London? Then I strongly recommend you to join the Battle of Ideas festival on 20 and 21 October.
The event is going to take place in the Barbican in London, one of the world’s leading art centres. And, even better, students can get tickets at a hugely discounted rate of £27.50 for the whole weekend, compared to the standard rate of £100.
During the festival weekend, over 2,000 delegates will attend over 80 sessions, together with hundreds of insightful and thought provoking speakers from across the globe, who represent a wide range of disciplines and viewpoints. The festival provides a forum for free thinking, debate and discussion: in particular, evaluating to what degree the great ideas of freedom, equality, and solidarity, can still provide a foundation for living together in the 21st century.
Speakers at this year’s event include David Lammy MP, Ferdinand Mount, Trevor Phillips, Natalie Bennett, Piers Hellawell, Vicky Pryce, Philippe Legrain, John Haldane, Raymond Tallis, Zoe Williams, Ivan Krastev, Brendan O’Neill, Rob Riemen, Frank Furedi, Mick Hume, Thomas Hylland Eriksen, Andrew Keen, Wendy Kaminer, and Mark Walport as well as many others.
Regardless of where your passion lies, there will be something in the festival programme for you, with a range of topics up for discussion; from the arts and culture, to politics, the media post Leveson, science, morality and the law. This year’s programme includes exciting keynote debates such as: What is wrong with equality?, Capitalism: kill or cure?, The illusion of free will, The 21st Century case for freedom, and Risk, regulation and red tape.
I’ve attended the festival myself last year, which turned out to be a truly inspirational and thought-provoking experience. And, honestly, you’ve got nothing to lose by just going for it.
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