20 & 21 October, London. Two days of high-level, thought-provoking, public debate organised by the Institute of Ideas at the Barbican.

Organised by the Institute of Ideas, which is a must for the intellectually curious and open minded. The event, now in its eighth year, takes a fresh and considered view of key issues confronting contemporary society.

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.

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.

Speakers

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.

Debates

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.

Find out more

Full programme details can be found here.

Tickets can be purchased here. (Note: This year we are offering a small number of Lloyds Scholars Programme: Student Champion 2012 tickets for full time University students, which are priced at a hugely discounted £27.50 for the whole event, and will allow access to all of the debates taking place over the weekend.)

Posted on behalf of Claire Fox, Director, Institute of Ideas