Academy of Ideas

By academyofideas

The Academy of Ideas has been organising public debates to challenge contemporary knee-jerk orthodoxies since 2000. Subscribe to our channel for recordings of our live conferences, discussions and sal... more

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FAQs about Academy of Ideas:

How many episodes does Academy of Ideas have?

The podcast currently has 485 episodes available.

Academy of Ideas episodes:

November 18, 2016 #PodcastOfIdeas: public health, the view from Australia with Terry Barnes
Rob Lyons speaks to Australian policy consultant Terry Barnes
In this edition of the Podcast of Ideas Rob Lyons speaks to policy consultant and former senior advisor to the Australian Government, Terry Barnes about alternatives to the NHS and the public health lobby’s war on people’s lifestyle choices from sugar taxes to vaping.
...more
21min
November 18, 2016 Podcast of Ideas: public health, the view from Australia
Rob Lyons speaks to Australian policy consultant Terry Barnes
In this edition of the Podcast of Ideas Rob Lyons speaks to policy consultant and former senior advisor to the Australian Government, Terry Barnes about alternatives to the NHS and the public health lobby’s war on people’s lifestyle choices from sugar taxes to vaping.
...more
21min
November 11, 2016 #PodcastOfIdeas: Trump’s victory
Claire fox, Geoff Kidder and Rob Lyons discuss the fallout from the US election
After a hiatus the Podcast of Ideas is back with the Institute of Ideas team discussing Donald Trump’s shock victory in the US Presidential race. What explains Trump’s appeal? Why did Clinton have such an inability to inspire the voters? Are his supporters really just “a basket of deplorables”? And is the explosion of fear outrage over Trump’s ascendancy to the White House just hysteria or is there genuine cause for concern?
...more
26min
November 11, 2016 Podcast of Ideas: Trump’s victory
Claire fox, Geoff Kidder and Rob Lyons discuss the fallout from the US election
After a hiatus the Podcast of Ideas is back with the Institute of Ideas team discussing Donald Trump’s shock victory in the US Presidential race. What explains Trump’s appeal? Why did Clinton have such an inability to inspire the voters? Are his supporters really just “a basket of deplorables”? And is the explosion of fear outrage over Trump’s ascendancy to the White House just hysteria or is there genuine cause for concern?
...more
26min
November 04, 2016 #BattleFest2016: Can America be great again?
Recorded at the Battle of Ideas 2016
In 2013, historian Perry Anderson observed that it is axiomatic for US foreign policy advisors that, ‘the hegemony of the United States continues to serve both the particular interests of the nation and the universal interests of humanity’. But troubled is the head that wears the crown of world domination. The US establishment is worried by the threat of domestic disorder, terrorist outrages and the rising powers in the East, notably China. It is also concerned by a range of social and economic problems: rising inequality, a failing school system, the burden of health care and obsolete infrastructure. Furthermore, ‘energy is wasted, R&D is insufficient, labour is under-skilled, finance is under-regulated, entitlements are out of control, the budget is in the red, the political system is overly polarised’. The current presidential election campaign confirms that elite confidence in US hegemony is not shared by substantial sections of the electorate. The rise of Donald Trump symbolises the scale of popular disaffection. According to Colombia historian Mark Mazower, his success – in parallel with populist politicians in Europe – confirms that ‘nationalism is back like it never went away’. Trump is riding ‘a populist insurgency’ seeking to restore the USA to its ‘rightful place in the world’. Trump appeals to widespread discontent over the impact of global economic forces, causing increasing inequality and insecurity, particularly in blue-collar communities.
Trump’s nationalist revival has an angry and defensive tone. It stands in stark contrast to the vision of John Winthrop’s Puritan evangelicals who, sought to build in Massachusetts Bay a ‘city on a hill’, an ideal society in the New World as an example to the Old. As the late Benedict Anderson observed, the spirit of nationalism forged in the American Revolution, based on ‘an imagined political community’ of creole pioneers, provided a model for nationalist movements – first in Europe, and subsequently throughout the colonial world. But, whereas the nationalist spirit of the founding fathers had a unifying and democratic character, that of Trump, with its anti-immigrant, anti-Hispanic and anti-Muslim tropes, seems divisive and reactionary.
Can America’s overwhelming military might continue to compensate for its chronic economic stagnation? Can the USA’s global cultural influence help it to hold off the competition of the rising powers of East Asia? Can any political alternative overcome the exhaustion and paralysis that appears to have overtaken the American system under the presidency of Barack Obama?

speakers
Professor Sarah Churchwell
chair of Public Understanding of the Humanities; Professor of American literature, School of Advanced study, University of London
Dolan Cummings
associate fellow, Institute of Ideas; author, That Existential Leap: a crime story (forthcoming from Zero Books)
Alex Deane
managing director, FTI Consulting; Sky News regular; BBC Dateline London panellist; author Big Brother Watch: The state of civil liberties in modern Britain
Michael Goldfarb
journalist and historian, FRDH Podcast
Dr Kwasi Kwarteng
Conservative member of parliament for Spelthorne; historian; author, Ghosts of Empire and War & Gold

Chair
Dr Cheryl Hudson
lecturer in American history, University of Liverpool
...more
1h 29min
November 04, 2016 Can America be great again?
Recorded at the Battle of Ideas 2016
In 2013, historian Perry Anderson observed that it is axiomatic for
US foreign policy advisors that, ‘the hegemony of the United States
continues to serve both the particular interests of the nation and the
universal interests of humanity’. But troubled is the head that wears
the crown of world domination. The US establishment is worried by the
threat of domestic disorder, terrorist outrages and the rising powers in
the East, notably China. It is also concerned by a range of social and
economic problems: rising inequality, a failing school system, the
burden of health care and obsolete infrastructure. Furthermore, ‘energy
is wasted, R&D is insufficient, labour is under-skilled, finance is
under-regulated, entitlements are out of control, the budget is in the
red, the political system is overly polarised’. The current presidential
election campaign confirms that elite confidence in US hegemony is not
shared by substantial sections of the electorate. The rise of Donald
Trump symbolises the scale of popular disaffection. According to
Colombia historian Mark Mazower, his success – in parallel with populist
politicians in Europe – confirms that ‘nationalism is back like it
never went away’. Trump is riding ‘a populist insurgency’ seeking to
restore the USA to its ‘rightful place in the world’. Trump appeals to
widespread discontent over the impact of global economic forces, causing
increasing inequality and insecurity, particularly in blue-collar
communities.
Trump’s nationalist revival has an angry and defensive tone. It
stands in stark contrast to the vision of John Winthrop’s Puritan
evangelicals who, sought to build in Massachusetts Bay a ‘city on a
hill’, an ideal society in the New World as an example to the Old. As
the late Benedict Anderson observed, the spirit of nationalism forged in
the American Revolution, based on ‘an imagined political community’ of
creole pioneers, provided a model for nationalist movements – first in
Europe, and subsequently throughout the colonial world. But, whereas the
nationalist spirit of the founding fathers had a unifying and
democratic character, that of Trump, with its anti-immigrant,
anti-Hispanic and anti-Muslim tropes, seems divisive and reactionary.
Can America’s overwhelming military might continue to compensate for
its chronic economic stagnation? Can the USA’s global cultural influence
help it to hold off the competition of the rising powers of East Asia?
Can any political alternative overcome the exhaustion and paralysis that
appears to have overtaken the American system under the presidency of
Barack Obama?
speakers

Professor Sarah Churchwell

chair of Public Understanding of the Humanities; Professor
of American literature, School of Advanced study, University of London

Dolan Cummings

associate fellow, Institute of Ideas; author, That Existential Leap: a crime story (forthcoming from Zero Books)

Alex Deane

managing director, FTI Consulting; Sky News regular; BBC Dateline London panellist; author Big Brother Watch: The state of civil liberties in modern Britain

Michael Goldfarb

journalist and historian, FRDH Podcast

Dr Kwasi Kwarteng

Conservative member of parliament for Spelthorne; historian; author, Ghosts of Empire and War & Gold

Chair

Dr Cheryl Hudson

lecturer in American history, University of Liverpool
...more
1h 29min
November 04, 2016 Can America be great again?
Recorded at the Battle of Ideas 2016
In 2013, historian Perry Anderson observed that it is axiomatic for
US foreign policy advisors that, ‘the hegemony of the United States
continues to serve both the particular interests of the nation and the
universal interests of humanity’. But troubled is the head that wears
the crown of world domination. The US establishment is worried by the
threat of domestic disorder, terrorist outrages and the rising powers in
the East, notably China. It is also concerned by a range of social and
economic problems: rising inequality, a failing school system, the
burden of health care and obsolete infrastructure. Furthermore, ‘energy
is wasted, R&D is insufficient, labour is under-skilled, finance is
under-regulated, entitlements are out of control, the budget is in the
red, the political system is overly polarised’. The current presidential
election campaign confirms that elite confidence in US hegemony is not
shared by substantial sections of the electorate. The rise of Donald
Trump symbolises the scale of popular disaffection. According to
Colombia historian Mark Mazower, his success – in parallel with populist
politicians in Europe – confirms that ‘nationalism is back like it
never went away’. Trump is riding ‘a populist insurgency’ seeking to
restore the USA to its ‘rightful place in the world’. Trump appeals to
widespread discontent over the impact of global economic forces, causing
increasing inequality and insecurity, particularly in blue-collar
communities.
Trump’s nationalist revival has an angry and defensive tone. It
stands in stark contrast to the vision of John Winthrop’s Puritan
evangelicals who, sought to build in Massachusetts Bay a ‘city on a
hill’, an ideal society in the New World as an example to the Old. As
the late Benedict Anderson observed, the spirit of nationalism forged in
the American Revolution, based on ‘an imagined political community’ of
creole pioneers, provided a model for nationalist movements – first in
Europe, and subsequently throughout the colonial world. But, whereas the
nationalist spirit of the founding fathers had a unifying and
democratic character, that of Trump, with its anti-immigrant,
anti-Hispanic and anti-Muslim tropes, seems divisive and reactionary.
Can America’s overwhelming military might continue to compensate for
its chronic economic stagnation? Can the USA’s global cultural influence
help it to hold off the competition of the rising powers of East Asia?
Can any political alternative overcome the exhaustion and paralysis that
appears to have overtaken the American system under the presidency of
Barack Obama?
speakers

Professor Sarah Churchwell

chair of Public Understanding of the Humanities; Professor
of American literature, School of Advanced study, University of London

Dolan Cummings

associate fellow, Institute of Ideas; author, That Existential Leap: a crime story (forthcoming from Zero Books)

Alex Deane

managing director, FTI Consulting; Sky News regular; BBC Dateline London panellist; author Big Brother Watch: The state of civil liberties in modern Britain

Michael Goldfarb

journalist and historian, FRDH Podcast

Dr Kwasi Kwarteng

Conservative member of parliament for Spelthorne; historian; author, Ghosts of Empire and War & Gold

Chair

Dr Cheryl Hudson

lecturer in American history, University of Liverpool
...more
1h 29min
October 27, 2016 #BattleFest2016: Big Data: does size matter?
Big data knows where you’ve been and who your friends are. It knows what you like and what makes you angry. It can predict what you’ll buy, where you’ll be the victim of crime and when you’ll have a heart attack. Big data knows you better than you know yourself, or so it claims. But how well do you know big data?

What is data? What makes it big? And is it only size that matters? From science to smart cities, business to politics, self-quantification to the Internet of Things, big data has been described as the fuel of the next industrial revolution, and as a modern oracle. It’s winning elections, revolutionising scientific research, and transforming how businesses interact with their customers. And it’s just getting started. Now is the time to decide how we want to use the power of big data. We already benefit from aggregating small improvements, saving time, money and energy through more efficient use of what we have. But we could be more ambitious, and aim to do more with more instead of the same with less. Big data could think bigger. In other ways, though, it’s already too big for its boots: however big the dataset, however powerful the analysis, big data has blind spots. It may be great for population-wide patterns, but it’s not so good at why an individual person might choose to do one thing or another.

This raises the question: why are we so keen to put our faith in big data? Does that say less about what the technology can really achieve than about our lack of trust in one another, or in ourselves?

Timandra Harkness

journalist, writer & broadcaster; presenter, Futureproofing and other BBC Radio 4 programmes; author, Big Data: does size matter?

Zulfikar Abbany

senior science and technology journalist, Deutsche Welle

Will Moy

director, Full Fact

Dr Alex Powlesland

principal scientist, Immunocore Ltd

...more
1h 28min
October 27, 2016 Big Data: does size matter?
Big data knows where you’ve been and who your friends are. It knows what you like and what makes you angry. It can predict what you’ll buy, where you’ll be the victim of crime and when you’ll have a heart attack. Big data knows you better than you know yourself, or so it claims. But how well do you know big data?
What is data? What makes it big? And is it only size that matters? From science to smart cities, business to politics, self-quantification to the Internet of Things, big data has been described as the fuel of the next industrial revolution, and as a modern oracle. It’s winning elections, revolutionising scientific research, and transforming how businesses interact with their customers. And it’s just getting started. Now is the time to decide how we want to use the power of big data. We already benefit from aggregating small improvements, saving time, money and energy through more efficient use of what we have. But we could be more ambitious, and aim to do more with more instead of the same with less. Big data could think bigger. In other ways, though, it’s already too big for its boots: however big the dataset, however powerful the analysis, big data has blind spots. It may be great for population-wide patterns, but it’s not so good at why an individual person might choose to do one thing or another.
This raises the question: why are we so keen to put our faith in big data? Does that say less about what the technology can really achieve than about our lack of trust in one another, or in ourselves?
Timandra Harkness
journalist, writer & broadcaster; presenter, Futureproofing and other BBC Radio 4 programmes; author, Big Data: does size matter?
Zulfikar Abbany
senior science and technology journalist, Deutsche Welle
Will Moy
director, Full Fact
Dr Alex Powlesland
principal scientist, Immunocore Ltd
...more
1h 28min
October 27, 2016 Big Data: does size matter?
Big data knows where you’ve been and who your friends are. It knows what you like and what makes you angry. It can predict what you’ll buy, where you’ll be the victim of crime and when you’ll have a heart attack. Big data knows you better than you know yourself, or so it claims. But how well do you know big data?
What is data? What makes it big? And is it only size that matters? From science to smart cities, business to politics, self-quantification to the Internet of Things, big data has been described as the fuel of the next industrial revolution, and as a modern oracle. It’s winning elections, revolutionising scientific research, and transforming how businesses interact with their customers. And it’s just getting started. Now is the time to decide how we want to use the power of big data. We already benefit from aggregating small improvements, saving time, money and energy through more efficient use of what we have. But we could be more ambitious, and aim to do more with more instead of the same with less. Big data could think bigger. In other ways, though, it’s already too big for its boots: however big the dataset, however powerful the analysis, big data has blind spots. It may be great for population-wide patterns, but it’s not so good at why an individual person might choose to do one thing or another.
This raises the question: why are we so keen to put our faith in big data? Does that say less about what the technology can really achieve than about our lack of trust in one another, or in ourselves?
Timandra Harkness
journalist, writer & broadcaster; presenter, Futureproofing and other BBC Radio 4 programmes; author, Big Data: does size matter?
Zulfikar Abbany
senior science and technology journalist, Deutsche Welle
Will Moy
director, Full Fact
Dr Alex Powlesland
principal scientist, Immunocore Ltd
...more
1h 28min

FAQs about Academy of Ideas:

How many episodes does Academy of Ideas have?

The podcast currently has 485 episodes available.

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