The Battle of Ideas Festival is a well-established annual forum for tackling the important political, economic, scientific and cultural issues of our time.

Battle of Ideas - Battle of Ideas

The UK’s premier festival of ideas, produced by the Academy of Ideas. Join us at this year’s festival at Church House, London, on Sat 19 & Sun 20 October.

Battle of Ideas

Our Fight friends and activists will be at the festival, and we'd urge you to join us. We'll have a stand, at which we'll be explaining to people what we do. And some of the people you have been campaigning alongside this year–from Phoenix Cinema, to Swiss Cottage, to Piccadilly Circus, to the Foreign Office–will be putting megaphones, placards and bail conditions aside for a weekend, and convening, chairing, speaking and debating.

We'll also be producing and chairing a session on 'genocide', featuring Natasha Hausdorff, Lesley Klaff and Jonathan Sacerdoti.

If you are involved in the Our Fight campaign, and would like to help with the stall, then please get in touch.

And if you plan to go to the festival and have never met with us, then please do come and say hello.

More details are below, including a special Our Fight link which will give you a 20% discount.

We look forward to seeing you in October.

Battle of Ideas Festival

Date: Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th October, 2024

Venue: Church House, Westminster, London

FREE SPEECH ALLOWED

Conversations for the public, with the public, in public.

#BattleFest / @acadofideas

Tickets

Get your discounted tickets, using the discount code OURFIGHT-24.

Battle of Ideas festival 2024

Britain’s best festival of ideas returns to London. Free speech allowed!

Eventbrite

Sessions Include

There are 98 sessions spread across the two day festival. The following may be of particular interest, as they relate to boycotts, the media, civilisation, identity politics, Islamism, genocide, policing, community, international relations and more:

• Are Cultural Boycotts Killing Artistic Freedom?
• Mainstream Media and the Crisis of Trust
• Is Western Civilisation Under Siege?
• Islam v. Islamism v. Islamophobia
• Is Anti-extremism a Threat to Liberty?
• Identity Politics and the Rise of Ethnic Conflict
• Genocide: What It Is and What It Isn't (in association with Our Fight)
• From Riots to Shoplifting: Dealing With Lawlessness
• Populism: A Response to Two-tier Rule?
• A Sense of Place: How to Create Community in a Fractured World
• Literary Wars: The Betrayal of Rushdie and Artistic Freedom
• October 7, One Year On: New world (Dis)Order?
• (Mis)Information: The Battle for Free Speech Online
• War and Civilisation: A Brief History
• Integration Into What? Immigration and Multiculturalism
• Anti-Semitism on Campus: Ban It or Tolerate It?
• Ireland's New Populism
• Defending the West In a Dangerous World
• The Polarisation Problem: Can We Speak Across the Divide?
• The War Against the Past: Looking To the Future
• Does the UK Need a First Amendment?

Keep up to date with the latest timetable.

Podcasts Live

A number of well-known podcasts will be recording an episode at the Battle:

• Planet Normal
• Heretics with Andrew Gold
• The spiked podcast
• The Winston Marshall Show
• Chinese Whispers
• Last Orders
• The Booking Club with Jack Aldane
• The Knight Tube
• Americano

Speakers

Just some of the many speakers:

Andrew Doyle • Greg Lukianoff  • Claire Fox • Nico Perrino • Ella Whelan • Alka Sehgal Cuthbert • Kathleen Stock • Tom Slater • Joanna Cherry KC • Joanna Williams • Timandra Harkness • Fraser Myers • Freddy Gray • Jennifer Lahl • Zion Lights • Lord Walney • Frank Furedi • Catherine McBride • Cindy Yu • Alan Miller • Inaya Folarin Iman • Liam Halligan • Allison Pearson • Thomas Fazi • Baroness Deech • Rosie Kay • Stella O’Malley • Lord Moynihan • Luke Tryl • Natash Hausdorff • Josh Howie

See the speaker list for the latest additions.

Tickets

Prices for the weekend and the drinks reception:

• Standard: £105
• Concession: £50
• Full-time Student, or anyone working or training in STEM: £30

Prices for one day:

• Standard: £60
• Concession: £35
• School Pupil: £10

Make sure to use the OURFIGHT-24 discount link to get 20% off.

This event is particularly good for young people, and a real opportunity for them to engage in serious, 'grown-up' debates.