The weekend of the 17/18 October saw the Battle of Ideas take place in Church House in Westminster. Dozens of debates, conversations and interviews took place where the challenges of today were discussed and the audience had the opportunity to take part.
Outside the main rooms and in the main hall, were stalls from the usual variety of organisations including the TaxPayers’ Alliance, Free Speech Union, the SDP, #Together, Academics for Academic Freedom, Global Warming Policy Foundation, Communist Party of Britain Marxist-Leninist, The Freedom Association, Classical Liberal Action, and many others.
Mike helped staff the Politics in Pubs stall with among others Steve Davison who writes the Baffled by Science Substack. You can read the latest article at Understanding the impact of Net Zero policies on consumers.
The Battle of Ideas YouTube channel is posting videos of some of the debates. The debate below on Don’t look back! Escaping the EU’s economic doom loop may interest readers.
Podcasts make up a large part of the event with the following podcasts recorded over the weekend.
Planet Normal – live at the Battle of Ideas
Allison Pearson and Liam Halligan are joined by Lucy Connolly and historian Robert Tombs.
The spiked podcast: politics and the culture wars
Francis Foster, Andrew Gold and Poppy Coburn join Tom Slater and Fraser Myers.
The Free Speech Union – six years on
Connie Shaw joins Jan Macvarish, David Rose and Ben Jones.
Coffee House Shots: who won conference season?
The Spectator’s James Heale and Lara Brown join pollster Scarlett Maguire.
Last Orders: some very special ‘guests’
Impressionist Tony Lapidus and commentator Gawain Towler join Chris Snowdon and Tom Slater.
Take Me Home: growing up in the culture wars
Hilary Salt and Sebastian Moore are joined by Jennie Bristow and Ellie Lee.
You can also follow more of what happened on the day via the #BattleFest X/Twitter tag, and get details from the weekend’s brochure.
Lastly if any of this has whetted your appetite you can already book tickets for the 2027 Battle of Ideas, I hope to see you there.
In the meantime don’t forget to come to our Politics in Pubs events, My Tuppenceworth, The Warwick, Pimlico London. Monday 9th November, 7pm https://croydonconstitutionalists.uk/pip_nov2026/ and Checking in on the state of free speech with Andy Shaw, The Warwick, Pimlico, London, SW1V 1QT
Monday 25th January 2027, 7pm – https://croydonconstitutionalists.uk/pip_jan2027_2/.
