Open to debate
Friday, January 25, 2008 Commenting on THIS post, Struggling Spirit suggests that "big questions" don't seem to be asked by politicians any more. "Where have the big ethical debates gone?" he asks.
It's true that many politicians seem more interested in micro management, telling us how to live our lives with a million petty rules and regulations, but he's wrong to think that big ethical debates no longer exist. The problem is, they tend not to take place within parliament or the mainstream media which prefers news and soundbites.
One of the best examples of intelligent debate is the annual Battle of Ideas which is organised by the Institute of Ideas, a close relative of the online magazine Spiked! . The IoI and Spiked! emerged some years ago from the wreckage of LM (formerly Living Marxism) magazine.
Claire Fox, director of the IoI, is a good friend of mine. A regular panellist on Radio 4's The Moral Maze (another forum for ethical debate), she has chaired or spoken at numerous Forest events. I hope to persuade her to write a regular column for The Free Society website. She, in turn, is trying to persuade Forest/The Free Society to sponsor an event at this year's Battle of Ideas (1-2 November). Negotiations, as they say, continue.
Reader Comments (3)
Thank you for this, Simon. How strange to see my moniker writ large like that. I hope your negotiations are successful, and I look forward to the arrival of The Free Society website. May it's tendrils reach far and wide.
As you say "The problem is, they tend not to take place within parliament or the mainstream media which prefers news and soundbites"
Mainstream media is the only way I can see to jolt many back into engaging their minds and questioning once more. I don't understand how programming gets approval, but hope that The Free Society will prove so popular that Aunty Beeb might realise that there is a large TV audience hungry for this sort of debate.
Simon
Does Claire Fox have a contact address? Clare may be able to help me with finding an agent or programme maker who would consider my idea for a courtroom style format expose.
I haven’t heard anymore about the company who contacted Forest about a programme concerning the nanny state.
Blad
Thank you for your invitation to write a short article for your blog site. I do not believe I possess the necessary eloquence, vision or expertise for this task. My ability is limited to the occasional blog whose quality falls well short of the standard that many would quite rightly expect.
Ironically though, I could hold my own in a discussion forum…I’ve been rehearsing my arguments against the smoking ban and ludicrous nonsense surrounding SHS, for quite sometime.
The way my mind works is best illustrated by my spoof e-petition, posing as Dr Steven Johnson who has set up an Anti-Smoking Patrol Watch.
http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Antismokingwatch/
My reason for doing this is that I’m trying to put the cat amongst the pigeons, in the hope that some politicians might read it and be appalled that we are becoming a nation of bigots willing to denounce our fellow neighbour in this most un-British way.
So, sadly I must decline your offer…but once again – thank you.
Chris.
Ha, ha, Chris, you little devil you!