Battle of Ideas, London, October

[ArabellaScott]

https://www.battleofideas.org.uk/programme/overview/

Lots of interesting looking sessions here for feminists.

Surrogacy, early release, free speech, Pride, puberty blockers, 'women and the woke workplace', womb transplants ...

It is resting in her account.

A good long rest.

I've gone for a few years now. Chatted with Maya there a few years ago. Have been to all sorts of discussions. And yes, the best ones seem to overlap and it is really difficult moving between sessions but I always get a lot out of it. All ideas welcome, free speech allowed. I'm making DH come with me this year.

Sounds brilliant, I wish I could go, ah well maybe when I'm retired. 😁
Having people from both sides of the political aisle talking is much better than being forced to listen to someone talking out of both sides of their mouth.
I hope everyone who does go enjoys themselves, hopefully they'll be videos posted on YouTube afterward.
It's how I live my life, vicariously. 😁

Well, it’s pretty clear that the pp was implying the event is guilty by association.

Delo said this (according to Wikipedia) "the biggest obstacle to national recovery is the entrenched self-deception of our elites" has donated a massive chunk to Reform. Very likely he’s supporting Reform because of Farage’s crypto enthusiasm. Missing the bit where Farage is one of the elites. But then he won’t be the first genius to be mistaken on issues other than their one specific branch of ‘geniusness’. Feels like there are many (far too many) of these sort involving themselves in politics these days.

Still, having an open debate on contentious matters is good.

Though having viewed some of the topics and speakers, I would have preferred more ‘debate’ style talks instead of all the speakers aligned on the topic such that it was a battle. A model of intellectual debate for all to see. For example, all the speakers for the session on WE DON’T NEED NO INDOCTRINATION: THE POLITICISATION OF EDUCATION, all appear to agree that education has gone too far in being politicised towards a particular branch of liberalism. It’d be interesting to have a counterpoint in there too.

I guess the idea is that it’s been challenging to get some views a platform and that people need to go listen and make up their own mind. The talk on grooming gangs and accountability, for example, sounds interesting.

Goodness. No idea why my reply has been hidden.

Some words 'trip' an auto hide.

Sometimes relating to currency or other things that crop up on spam. They can be a bit random.

I'm very excited about this - first year I've got a ticket!

Loads of great speakers - Stephanie Davies-Arai, Julie Bindell, Rosie Duffield, James Esses...

Speakers - Battle of Ideas https://share.google/5S4dh8alQAOTiU9V4

Whilst its obviously good to be cognisantabout which organisations are supporting an event, I don't think this is in any way a 'right leaning' event. Unless you mean 'right wing' in the sense of 'people who have unacceptable views wherever they lie of the political spectrum, and who need to be avoided so i can keep my purity spiral credentials clean...'

The whole point of the talks is that they are meant to be provocative and lead to discussion.

This event features edgy, provocative topics which are just right-wing talking points raising "legitimate concerns" and "just asking questions" from the usual suspects - the least cancelled people in the world. The seminar summaries are all subtext, but it's not hard to decode. Of course gender critical speakers and seminars are included - they are all cut from the same cloth.

We have the usual nonsense about renewable energy being expensive, historical facts being left wing, disabled people gaming the system, DEI being bad and re-litigating bad-faith arguments about puberty blockers.

It's funded by the same crypto arsehole who gave Reform £36 million, a convicted criminal pardoned by Trump, who supports Toby Young, Restore and platforms anti-abortions and far-right demagogues.

Five of the speakers are from Reform, there are GB news presenters and the usual collection of CG cranks.

Have fun, but know who you are mixing with.

I went to the 2024 London and the 2025 Manchester events. Both were excellent.

🥱

Thanks, for sharing, Mouldy, but I have to say, your post sounds a bit paranoid. As well as bitter and aggressive. Overdoing the 'Decoding subtext' can easily tip into imagining things that aren't actually there.

It’s barely subtext and you can read the list of speakers as well as I can.

Depends whether you think anyone who isn't in the Greens or Your Party (what happened to them?) is right wing, or not.

Why don't you want women to listen to ideas, Mouldy? There is nothing dangerous in discussion and debate. They are the bedrock of democracy. I'm sure that if people who wouldn't be seen dead speaking at BoI organised an alternative event, many of us would attend that too. Except that a lot of the liberal, progressive folk don't seem very keen on open debate about many things, for some reason.

There will be some Greens there - Green Women's Declaration have a stall and Shahrar Ali is speaking. I know a few members of the Green Party who are going.

Of course, there's not much chance of any Omnicause Zack fans turning up.

Sounds fucking amazing. And no scolders which is like the cherry on top.

Next thing will be allowing women to have pockets. And we all know what happens when women are allowed pockets!

😁

Well, I for one am glad that Mouldy is here to let us know what to be wary of and what we mustn't worry our pretty little heads about.

I dont know if im alone in this, but i imagine many posters voices when I read them.

Mouldy has more than a little eeyore about them.

The point of a debate, right? The actual point of yer basic debate - is that there are two sides. And that its got an interesting/ provocative/ catchy title. Otherwise it would just be a bunch of people sitting around agreeing with each other about something inane.

I do hope folk who don't agree also come along, it's much more interesting when there's disagreement and debate.

ETA: I one went to a talk by the communist party. It did not turn me into a communist. I imagine Ill be safe at an event which has a donor in common with the Reform party.

Looks great.

This event features edgy, provocative topics which are just right-wing talking points raising "legitimate concerns" and "just asking questions" from the usual suspects - the least cancelled people in the world.

For sure there are speakers on the political centre right and right, but there are also people that have been ‘cancelled’ (hounded out of their job, censured by their regulatory body) or struggled to be heard even when they had reasonable and intelligent views that need airing. Especially on women’s rights.

I’d say it’s the fault of #nodebate cancel culture so-called liberalism shifting the Overton Window by an intolerant left that has led to this disparate range of people sharing a platform when many are not natural bedfellows. No doubt there’s many views that I would disagree with, many I would, and some that I might find new and challenging but very likely thought expanding.

Better than a TUC union meeting passing a motion to campaign publicly on its policy for gender self-declaration…

Also - what's wrong with asking questions?

The best thing to do with ideas is to examine them.

Then you can see which ones hold up to scrutiny and which ones don't.

If you predetermine that some ideas are just wrong and not able to be debated (who gets to make that decision on everyone else's behalf anyway? ) - they go underground and grow.