WORLDbytes - The School of Citizen TV

Views On The News: Syria

admin — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 16:38:59 +0000

In this new programme, a group of volunteers reflect on the conflict in Syria. Focussing on the arguments for and against Western intervention, blogger and commentator on the Middle East Karl Sharro answers critical questions with great insight. As the demand that ‘something must be done’ intensifies, Karl provides us with the understanding and principles needed to keep a cool head and examine what’s really going on.

Recommended links:

Article by Tim Black, The Syrian opposition: handpicked by Hillary
Karl Sharro blog: On sectarianism as destiny: how to misread Syria

Don’t shout at the telly: The Leveson Inquiry

admin — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 16:23:52 +0000

In this gripping on the sofa discussion, volunteers raise questions on the press and free speech in light of the Leveson Inquiry. The online journal Spiked has launched a campaign against the Leveson Inquiry and spiked journalist Patrick Hayes challenges participants not to go along with the Inquiry’s dangerous underlying assumptions. Support for the Leveson inquiry with its bewigged judges, celebrities and government seeking to control the press, shows nothing but elitist snobbery and contempt for the public. Free speech and a free press with no ‘buts’ are essential for democracy he argues and while not everyone on the sofa agrees, WORLDwrite and WORLDbytes does.

Recommended links:

The Counter-Leveson Inquiry website
The Leveson Inquiry website

Open Borders: Natascha’s story

admin — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 16:18:11 +0000

This exciting new strand features volunteer’s stories of migration. Natascha’s story interweaves lessons from history with contemporary political insights. Under apartheid South Africa her mother married a white man at a time when mixed race relationships and marriage were illegal, hence they moved to Germany. Returning to South Africa and to a new school, she was asked what race she was, she wasn’t sure. Racial classification maybe a thing of the past, but today’s border controls are classifying people by place of birth preventing the freedom of movement we need to realise our potential.

Recommended links:

WORLDbytes film, The More The Merrier

Tales from the Missionary Hut: Eco-bricks

admin — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 16:13:43 +0000

Ever thought about building your own house, or putting up a garden wall with just the mud you have around you? Forget expensive builders’ costs and environmentally oh-so-painful machinery to do your work. Here’s how to do it yourself. Do let us know how you get on.

Loyalty in an age of whistle-blowing & Wikileaks

admin — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 16:11:03 +0000

Until recently, leaking confidential information was perceived as disloyal and irresponsible and not only was it rare but involved a moral dilemma. Yet now, it is secrecy, confidentiality and privacy that are stigmatised and Wikileaks is lauded for enabling individuals to spill the beans. Is this development a triumph for transparency or a blow to moral integrity? This Battle of Ideas debate is superb and speakers include: Mick Hume, editor-at-large, spiked; Joyce McMillan, theatre critic, Scotsman: Henry Porter, political columnist, Observer; Gwyn Prins, research professor, LSE and Richard Sexton, partner, PwC.

Recommended links:

Article by Frank Furedi, Let’s stop kowtowing to the cult of transparency
Article by Patrick Hayes, Who’s responsible for Govegate
Economist article, Return of the plumbers

Designer people: is technology making us less human?

admin — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 16:06:41 +0000

Technological advances have benefitted humanity and fitting prosthetic limbs to amputees raises no moral objections. But, how might we respond if designers invite us to upgrade to Arm 2.0 or Brain 4.0? Is there a point where technology transforms what it means to be human and should we be wary or embrace it? Filmed at the Battle of Ideas, speakers include: Daisy Ginsberg, design fellow, Synthetic Aesthetics, Stanford University/University of Edinburgh; Professor Andy Miah, director, Creative Futures Research Centre, University of West Scotland; Marilyn Mond, emeritus professor of molecular embryology, University College London; Susana Soares, designer; senior lecturer, London Southbank University. The debate is chaired by Sandy Starr from the Progess Educational Trust.

Recommended links:

Article by Kenan Malik, God, science and the quest for moral certainty
Article by Rebecca Robey, BioNews, First synthetic windpipe transplant is a success
Article by Mark Changizi, SEED, Humans, version 3.0
Article by Professor Marilyn Monk, BioNews, Synthesising a DNA genome is a major feat but is it creating new life?

The View On The Streets: Welfare Reform

admin — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 11:11:16 +0000

The Welfare Reform Bill has been hotly debated in both the House of Commons and Lords. By 2013, the government hopes to implement £18 billion in welfare cuts. We are told this will help save cash, get the unemployed back into work and it is only fair that the unemployed do not receive more on benefits than working families on a low‐wage. On the streets of Barking, East London, we asked the public what they thought and the response was instructive.

Recommended links:

Article by Brendan O’Neill, Let’s have a proper debate about the welfare state
Article by Dave Clements, Welfare State – the new dependency

Your Days Are Numbered: The maths of death

admin — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 11:05:56 +0000

From the award winning stand-up comedy show Your Days Are Numbered: The maths of death this film explores the dark yet funny side of the statistics which often inform health campaigns. Comedy double act Timandra Harkness and Matt Parker cut through the daily dose of stats and facts prescribed to us all with clinical precision, animated skeletons and the obligatory graphs. Be warned, there is 0.00000979% chance of dying during this film. This film is part of the channel’s biomedical science series supported by the Wellcome Trust.

Recommended links:

YourDaysAreNumbered website
Seduced by stats? Significance magazine
Article by Timandra Harkness, A sober reflection on dangerous thinking
WORLDbytes report A Change4life or a life for a change?

Against Austerity: Debt

admin — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 10:50:19 +0000

For this new strand on WORLDbytes guest experts with a critical take unpick orthodox ideas which suggest we should all tighten our belts. For this first programme debt is the issue and with us in the studio is Phil Mullan, Business Transformation Director with Easynet Global Services. He is also researching global economic trends and writing a book on ‘The Limits of Fudge: why muddling through can’t work forever’.

Recommended links:

Article by Phil Mullan, The debt crisis is only the canary in the mine

Tales from the Missionary Hut: Foraging

admin — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 10:42:44 +0000

Ever thought of foraging for your own food but don’t have the know-how? The Sustainable Living Advice Guru shows us how to get all the food we need from hedge-rows and our own back yard. No more visits to nasty big, bright, brash supermarkets will be needed as this a recipe for guilt free, local, unpackaged, non processed, natural, organic, sustainable, delicious eating.

Unrealpolitik: a new world order?

admin — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 10:39:56 +0000

Have today’s statesmen and women lost the knack of serious, calculated diplomacy? Or is old‐style statecraft simply less relevant in a world increasingly dominated by international institutions? In this fascinating debate filmed at the Battle of ideas, panellists explain what’s changed as they see it and the debate gets heated on the best way forward. Speakers include Dr Kerry Brown, author and head of Asia programme at Chatham House; Dame Ann Leslie, journalist at the Daily Mail; Karl‐Erik Norrman, author, founder and secretary‐general, European Cultural Parliament; Brendan O’Neill, editor, spiked; Mark Seddon, writer, broadcaster and author.

Recommended links:

Article by Brendan O’Neill, David Cameron and the death of diplomacy

The trillion dollar question: the US economy

admin — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 10:34:18 +0000

For most of the twentieth century, the US and the dollar reigned supreme. But economic power is shifting more and more away from the US to China and the other emerging economies. How much longer can the world’s biggest borrower be the leading political power? Filmed at the battle of ideas debate gets heated as speakers move from assessing the state of the US economy to suggesting what’s needed to fix it. Speakers include Professor Iwan Morgan, author and head of US Presidency Centre, Institute for the Study of the Americas, University of London; Phil Mullan, economist, author The Imaginary Time Bomb; Martin Wolf, author, associate editor and chief economics commentator, Financial Times.

Recommended links:

Article by Martin Wolf, Fixing Global Finance
Article by Ed Crooks, US shale gas bonanza: New wells to draw on

Fracking and Fukushima: our energy security fears

admin — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 10:27:59 +0000

Events in the Middle East last year caused panic as oil supplies were threatened, while the spectre of nuclear meltdown at Fukushima offered a grim reminder of the risks posed by moving beyond ‘dirty’ fossil fuels. With renewable energy still a long way from being able to meet the shortfall, many gloomily predict a future of brownouts, deep-sea drilling disasters and even bitter resource wars. But others see shale gas and the ‘fracking’ process as a reason for hope. What role can innovation play in keeping the lights on? Speakers include Professor Gordon MacKerron, director of Science and Technology Policy Research, University of Sussex; Tanya Morrison, government relations manager, climate change, Shell International; James Woudhuysen, professor of forecasting and innovation, De Montfort University.

Recommended links:

Article by Tony Gilland, We should aspire to abundant and cheap energy for all
Article by Rob Lyons and Andrew Simms, Is fracking environmentally friendly?

The View On The Streets: The European Union

admin — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:18:43 +0000

On the streets of Walthamstow in East London, we ask the public what they think about the European Union. It’s clear that opposition to the EU is not the preserve of bigoted ‘little Englanders’, far from it. Eloquent, well-informed citizens are seriously concerned at the EU’s undemocratic set-up and want to have their say. Individuals backing the EU are hard to find and are against a referendum as they see their fellow citizens as ignorant and too ill-educated to ‘understand the issues’.

Recommended links:

Article by Bruno Waterfield: The EU crisis
The People’s Pledge website

Don’t shout at the Telly: Queer Progress

admin — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:13:46 +0000

Gay rights have vastly improved over the decades, but have we progressed enough? This lively on-the-sofa discussion with Jason Smith a freelance journalist and director of Birmingham salon explores the state of ‘queer progress’ today, from Clinton and Cameron’s advocacy of tying foreign aid to gay rights to Stonewall calling for a policing of anti-gay speech in the playground. Has intolerance of anti-gay intolerants lead to a tyranny of the minority? Are gay individuals so vulnerable they now need posh protectors to police our views and intervene in African states?

Recommended links:

Article by Frank Furedi, An unholy marriage of snobbery and snideyness
Article by Josie Appleton, Don’t police anti-gay ‘hate’ speech

A glimpse of Debating Matters

admin — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:07:33 +0000

The prestigious Institute of Ideas Debating Matters Competition runs this national debating competition for sixth form students in the UK and in partnership with the British Council in India. Honoured to be partners with this inspiring organisation which privileges content over style, WORLDbytes volunteers have filmed many debates and edited this short glimpse of the toughest intellectual challenge around for 16-18 year olds. With hundreds of schools involved and top level judges, the competition puts learning on a new level, deals with issues which affect us all and never fails to inspire. For full details of the competition and to take part visit http://www.debatingmatters.com/

Recommended links:

Debating Matters UK website
Debating Matters India website

Tales from the Missionary Hut: The Hoe

admin — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:03:24 +0000

This simple make-it-at-home hoe is a powerful device that enables you to plough vast fields in your own back yard, grow all the food and dig all the wells you need. No longer will there be any need for supermarket shopping for groceries or spending hard-earned cash on environmentally-unfriendly packs of bottled water. To top it all off, you get all your daily exercise and a trim figure, just like the cavemen.

Battle against the Fates

admin — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:00:42 +0000

Are we are living in one of the most fatalistic times? Scientists claim everything from sexual preference to criminality is hardwired, behavioural economics suggests we are essentially irrational and what happens in your childhood is said to stay with you. Fighting against the fates in this thought provoking debate are: Jeffrey Rosen, professor of law, George Washington University; author, The Supreme Court: the personalities and rivalries that defined America; Steve Rayner, James Martin Professor of Science and Civilization; director, Institute for Science, Innovation and Society, University of Oxford; Frank Furedi, professor of sociology, University of Kent, Canterbury, author of On Tolerance: in defence of moral independence and Peter Hunter OP, principal tutor, philosophy, Blackfriars Hall; Dominican Friar.

Recommended links:

Article by Jeffrey Rosen, New York Times magazine, The Brain on the Stand
Article by Frank Furedi, Inviting us to bow down in front of the god of fortune

Life off Earth: are the aliens out there?

admin — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:55:00 +0000

What is the likelihood of intelligent life existing elsewhere in the universe? These questions have returned to the centre of attention since the launch of NASA’s Kepler mission. Already, hundreds of so-called exoplanets have been discovered and the first potentially habitable planets are being identified. In this illuminating debate, filmed at the Battle of Ideas a panel of experts consider the possibilities and implications of sentient life being detected elsewhere in the galaxy and how this affects our perception of what it means to be human. Speakers include: Dr John Elliott, Post Detection Task Force member; writer and teacher Richard Swan; author Mark Vernon and the Chair is Sandy Starr from the Progress Educational Trust.

Recommended links:

Battle of Ideas Debate
In-debate Newsletter

The rise of the clicktivists: will the revolution be digitised?

admin — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:49:35 +0000

Is the internet just an echo chamber for the already converted, another tool in the activists’ toolbox or has it brought about fundamental changes? Some argue the uprisings across the Middle East are ‘Wikileaks revolutions’. The English Defence League (EDL) counts the people who have clicked ‘like’ on its Facebook as members. Yet, less than a quarter of those said they’d attended a demonstration. As the audience twitter, Paul Mason, broadcaster, author, Why It’s Kicking Off Everywhere; economics editor, BBC’s Newsnight provides a short lecture with respondents David Babbs, executive director, 38 degrees; Martyn Perks, director, Thinking Apart; Phil Booth, director, TRUTH2POWER.

Recommended links:

Article by Brendan O’Neill, Facebook doesn’t cause riots – or revolutions
Article by Martyn Perks, The revolution will not be digitised
Book by Paul Mason, Why It’s Kicking Off Everywhere: The New Global Revolutions

Trust us, we’re parents

admin — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 17:13:02 +0000

Parents, it seems, are no longer trusted to parent. If you fail to take on the latest childcare fad deemed best by policy makers for your baby, then you risk being judged a ‘bad parent’ – guilty of some kind of negligence and abuse. Hence the recent story in the UK of four children being taken away from their parents, without a right to contact, because the family were fat. WORLDbytes Citizen TV makers visited Jennie Bristow, journalist and writer of Standing Up To Supernanny and Alison Small and Jane Sandeman, members of the Institute of Ideas Parents Forum who provide a critical and thought provoking perspective, questioning prevailing distrust.

The View On The Streets: ethical shopping & fair trade

admin — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 17:08:05 +0000

In the run-up to Christmas, many charities are encouraging us to shop ethically. By making moral choices about what you put in your shopping trolley, these charities say, you will not only have a guilt-free shopping experience but you will be helping millions to escape the worst excesses of poverty. But what exactly are these ethical principles which underlie the fair trade label and what do we really know about it? In this revealing report, we ask the public if they buy into fair trade and the response is a mixed bag. Many base their purchasing decisions on price and need and plenty of people who know the score in the developing world see it as far from fair.

Recommended links:

Article by Tim Black, Why Fairtrade is an unfair deal
Film by WORLDwrite, The Bitter Aftertaste

Is this Africa’s decade?

admin — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 17:03:47 +0000

A far cry from the aid, fair trade and patronising paternalism that still informs NGO speak, the new decade is looking bright for Africa. Speakers in this must watch debate provide the real development picture and shun the West’s myth ridden narrative of Africa as ‘hapless child’ or ‘dark continent’ in need of healing. This year, Angola beat China to the top with annual average GDP growth of 11.1%. In the next five years, African countries are predicted to outperform their Asian counterparts. Of course, it’s easy to grow fast when you are small – but nonetheless the lion is on the move, along with the elephant and the tiger. Growth not aid, we learn is transforming lives and its time to tell the real story. Filmed at the Battle of Ideas, the panellists are: Alice Ajeh, international relations manager, Nigeria, Shell International; Marieme Jamme, CEO, SpotOne Global Solutions; co-founder, Africa Gathering; Angus Kennedy, head of external relations, Institute of Ideas; Sam Mendelson, co-founder, Social Performance Advisory. Chaired by SOAS student Joel Cohen.

Recommended links:

Article by Stuart Simpson, There’s no new ‘scramble for Africa’
Economist article: A road to somewhere: what do Africans need most – aid or infrastructure?

Tales from the Missionary Hut: The Wind Up

admin — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 16:59:17 +0000

The wind up is a small gadget with big uses. This seemingly normal handle is a device designed to power any electrical appliance by simply winding it up. Tipped to become the century’s most important invention preventing trillions of units of carbon emissions from polluting the air, reports suggest the wind up could reverse the effects of global warming within our lifetime.

Recommended links:

21st Century Challenges, Trevor Baylis, inventor of the wind up radio

Is there a ghost in the machine?

admin — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 16:54:05 +0000

The spirit or personality – the concept of a soul, self or mind distinct from our physical shell – has long been a cornerstone of our understanding of what it means to be human. Increasingly, however, scientific fields like neuroscience, genetics and psychology provide intricate explanations for human functioning, rooted in the tangible and the biological. Can we establish an empirically sound view of ourselves, without detracting from the importance of morality, responsibility, solidarity and freedom? Filmed at the Battle of Ideas, the speakers in this contentious debate are Dr Stuart Derbyshire, reader in psychology, University of Birmingham; Martha Robinson, neuroscience PhD student; Richard Swinburne, emeritus professor, philosophy of religion, University of Oxford; Professor Raymond Tallis, fellow, Academy of Medical Sciences.

Recommended links:

Article by Martha Robinson, Independent blog, Surely by now we’ve outgrown the soul?
Article by Sandy Starr, Surely by now we’ve outgrown the body?

Is individualism bad for society?

admin — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 16:48:32 +0000

Everything from social fragmentation to the economic crisis, and the riots that broke out across English cities in the summer, have been blamed on a modern ‘cult of individualism’. But isn’t there something to be said for individualism? Strong individuals have been admired for their courage and imagination and valued for their unique contributions to society. Speakers in this debate filmed at the Battle of Ideas bring fresh thinking and include Dr Maurice Glasman, author, Unnecessary Suffering: managing market utopia; Clifford Longley, leader writer and columnist, Tablet; John Sutherland, author, The Lives of the Novelists; Bruno Waterfield, Brussels correspondent, Daily Telegraph; author, No Means No!

Recommended links:

Article by Kathryn Ecclestone, Remaking citizens for the ‘Big Society’

Eurozonia: too big to fail, too small to succeed?

admin — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 16:39:59 +0000

Is it conceivable that the euro could fail? Can the bureaucrats weather the storm, keeping dissent to the margins? Or is the whole project doomed to failure regardless of their efforts, because it has been fundamentally and deliberately undemocratic all along? Speakers for this illuminating debate filmed at the Battle of Ideas include Philippe Legrain, advisor to Jose Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission (speaking in a personal capacity); Simon Nixon, European editor, Wall Street Journal’s Heard on the Street column; author of The Credit Crunch: how safe is your money?; Bruno Waterfield, Brussels correspondent, Daily Telegraph; author of No Means No!

Recommended links:

Article by Simon Nixon, Solution is at hand – with little courage
Article by Angus Kennedy, La morte de l’Europe
Article by Bruno Waterfield, Eurocrisis: the politics of no-longer great powers

Get off my Planet: Happy Birthday 7 Billion

admin — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 12:39:30 +0000

To mark the world’s population reaching 7 billion on Halloween 2011, WORLDbytes has launched this hilarious parody of modern day Malthusian thinking. The programme features talented Blood Brothers star and ex-RSC actor James Hirst as the central character, Bill. For Bill the news of 7 billion is a Halloween nightmare. His solutions include: getting rid of ‘thickies’, euthanasia, gelding and paying African women not to have children- a carbon offsetting scheme first proposed by the Optimum Population Trust, now rebranded as Population Matters. Bill gets his over-consumption paranoia from the Guardian and he’s going for the cull. This parody reflects WORLDbytes’ concern to challenge the profoundly anti-human roots of overpopulation ideas.

Recommended links:

Telegraph blog by Brendan O’Neill, PC lingo can’t disguise the racist Malthusian subtext of the ’7 billionth baby’ panic
Article by Joel E. Cohen, New York Times, Seven Billion

The View On The Streets: Should a price be put on life?

admin — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 12:37:18 +0000

Innovations in clinical practice, drugs and other technologies can improve the quality and extent of patients’ lives – but they are often expensive. With budget cuts looming, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has been charged with helping the government to decide which treatments are sufficiently cost effective to be made available on the NHS. But for those facing life threatening illnesses, can a price be put on life? We ask the public whether medicine should be rationed due to its price and denied according to your lifestyle. For many, this is an affront to the value of human life and most argue that medicine should not be rationed even it only gives us a few more weeks life. Lifestyle however is a different ball game and sadly the idea that healthcare should be rationed for smokers, drinkers and the obese is gaining ground.

Recommended links:

WORLDbytes report: Rationing and medicine: what price life?
Article by Basham and Luik, Healthcare for all! Unless you’re fat

Dharavi: Reaching for the sky

admin — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 12:34:05 +0000

Welcome to Dharavi where residents are reaching for the sky. They want Dharavi to surpass London as a great city. Unlike the poverty tourism and accolades awarded to communitarian slum living by the likes of Prince Charles and Kevin McCloud, Dharavi residents think big. Sadhvi Sharma takes us through the streets and introduces us to aspirant families for whom Dharavi is a place of transition. The least we can do, she argues, is support their aspirations.

Recommended links

Article by Sadhvi Sharma, Living in filth is no lifestyle choice
Book by Austin Williams & Alistair Donald, The lure of the cities The Lure of the City: From Slums to Suburbs

Tales from the Missionary Hut: Feed the world with one pot

admin — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 12:31:23 +0000

A pot that will grow food for your family and the entire world from the comfort of your own home is now a reality. A breakthrough in food production, a single pot will grow food for an entire household. In less than a week, you can grow your own tomatoes, parsnips, peppers and greens without worrying about the well-documented health and environmental risks of genetically modified food. What’s more, famines will be a thing of the past and nasty supermarkets will die a natural death, as they should. So get your pot, some seeds and start growing.

Middle East ‘revolutions’: Hopes and Fears

admin — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 12:28:44 +0000

This year’s uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa came out of the blue. Beginning with the ‘Jasmine revolution’ in Tunisia, and spreading to Egypt and Yemen, popular protests called for freedom and democracy, with further political drama following in Syria and Libya. While the success of the uprisings has been varied, the toppling of apparently stable regimes challenged many assumptions. So is this truly a new revolutionary moment and will the overthrow of authoritarian governments lead to democratic alternatives? Filmed at the Battle of Ideas, speakers include Dr Maha Azzam, associate fellow, Middle East and North Africa programme, Chatham House; Ghazi Gheblawi, author; blogger, Imitdad; former cultural editor, Libya Today, Dr George Lawson, lecturer in international relations, LSE; author, Negotiated Revolutions: the Czech Republic, South Africa and Chile, and Karl Sharro, architect; writer; Middle East commentator.

Recommended links:

Article by Rob Lyons, Mubarak is gone, but Mubarakans still rule
Karl Sharro’s blog: Karl ReMarks

Has tolerance gone too far?

admin — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 12:25:12 +0000

Do we confuse tolerance with democratic rights or respect and approval? Should we uphold the idea of tolerance while maintaining the right to criticise and judge? Is tolerating the vulgar, the offensive, the shocking, the price of liberty? Speakers on this esteemed international panel at the Battle of Ideas are: Christopher Caldwell, senior editor, Weekly Standard; author, Reflections on the Revolution in Europe: immigration, Islam and the West; Frank Furedi, professor of sociology, University of Kent, Canterbury; author, On Tolerance: in defence of moral independence; Professor Anna Elisabetta Galeotti, chair of political philosophy, University of Piemonte Orienatale; author, Toleration as Recognition; GM Tamás, president, Green Left; author, Les Idoles de la Tribu

Recommended readings:

Book by Frank Furedi, On Tolerance: In Defence of Moral Independence
Article by Christopher Caldwell, Fear masquerading as tolerance
Book by Anna Elisabetta Galeotti, Toleration as Regulation

Sex in the brain: do men and women think differently?

admin — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 12:23:17 +0000

Few today believe women are less intelligent, but some scientists say it’s time to accept male and female brains are differently wired. With the world still divided according to gender, however, critics argue the development of the brain is always influenced by cultural assumptions. In this extraordinary debate filmed at the Battle of Ideas, the issue gets heated with ‘scientism’ turning the clocks back and insisting male and female capabilities are fixed. Speakers include Dr Ellie Lee, reader in social policy, University of Kent, Canterbury; Dr Maurizio Meloni, research fellow, Institute for Science and Society, University of Nottingham; Dr Anne Moir, neuropsychologist; author, Brain Sex: the real difference between men and women & Dick Swaab, professor of neurobiology, Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, University of Amsterdam. The chair is journalist and writer Timandra Harkness. This debate formed part of the Battle for our Brains strand at the Battle of Ideas, supported by the Wellcome Trust.

Recommended links:

Article by Madeleine Bunting, Guardian, The truth about sex difference is that men are from Mars, so are women
Article by Ray Herbert, Association for Psychological Science, The Brain Is Not an Explanation

The IPCC: Can we trust the evidence?

admin — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 12:16:31 +0000

The accusations in late 2009 that the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia had been manipulating or hiding data struck a blow to confidence in the IPCC, with whom the CRU is closely associated. While the researchers were largely absolved, more scandals followed from ‘Climategate’ – IPCC claims about the retreat of glaciers and increased tolls from natural disasters were also questioned. When science and politics become so deeply entwined, can we trust the evidence? Speakers include Tony Gilland, science and society director, Institute of Ideas; director, Debating Matters Competition; Oliver Morton, energy and environment editor, The Economist; author Eating the Sun: how plants power the planet, and Fred Pearce, freelance journalist; environment consultant, New Scientist; author, The Climate Files: the battle for the truth about global warming and Peoplequake. This debate was filmed at the Battle of Ideas at the end of 2010.

Recommended links:

The Independent blog by Craig Fairnington, Can we trust the IPCC’s evidence?
Article by Roddy Campbell, Prospect Magazine, Too hot to handle

The View On The Streets: Riot Control

admin — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 11:14:21 +0000

The decision to punish the ‘Facebook rioters’ with four years in jail is now being appealed, and other cases are sure to follow. Is harsh sentencing the way forward? In this extraordinary report the public are clearly not convinced rather, they suggest, we need to address the loss of adult authority and rift between adults and young people. In other parts of the world we learn, young people know the rules and ‘child centred’ policies have not degraded parent power. This report shows how most people just want to be allowed to raise (and tell off!) their own children with the support of their community but without government interference.

Recommended links:

A report immediately after the riots by WORLDbytes, The View from the streets: The London riots
An article by Brendan O’Neill, Riotous Youth: Hang ‘em High or Hug ‘em Hard?
Sky News article by Rachel Younger, ‘Facebook Rioters’ Appeal Jail Sentences

Why should I be happy?

admin — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 11:08:05 +0000

Governments and policy makers are concerned over our individual happiness. This year, the UK’s Office of National Statistics (ONS) began compiling data for Cameron’s so-called happiness index. Meanwhile at the launch of ‘Action for Happiness’ members made a simple pledge: ‘to try to create more happiness in the world around them through the way they approach their lives’. Both assume that material advancement and economic development can’t buy you happiness. This seems obvious, or is it? Should happiness be our end goal? Is getting rich bad for our wellbeing? Should the government measure our happiness levels? Luke Gittos, a WORLDbytes reporter, investigates the happiness agenda and talks to the Director of Action for Happiness, Mark Williamson and Daniel Ben Ami, author of Ferraris for All.

Recommended links:

Action for Happiness website
Daniel Ben Ami’s blog, Ferraris For All
Article by Tim Black, Dumbing down the idea of happiness
BBC’s The Happiness Formula
Audio of Battle of Ideas debate, From religious bliss to well-being: what does happiness mean today?

Don’t Shout at the Telly: Pain & Animal Experimentation

admin — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 10:44:33 +0000

This special Don’t Shout at the Telly forms the first programme in our new series on bio-medical science, supported by the Wellcome Trust. Dr Stuart Derbyshire, director of Pain Imaging at the University of Birmingham, introduces the issue by experimenting on volunteers. He then argues that as animals have no psychological self and are not conscious they cannot experience pain, as pain is not merely a response to physical stimuli. Discussants grapple with the complexity of the arguments and whether when experimenting on animals their capacity to feel pain even matters if it helps mankind.

Recommended links:

WORLDbytes edited video of the Battle of Ideas debate, Should apes have right?
Article by Tim Black, Man is more than an overdeveloped monkey
Article by Stuart Derbyshire, Humans are more important than animals

The Battle of Ideas: Don’t miss it

admin — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 10:35:34 +0000

This appetiser reminds us there is no feast for the mind like the Battle of Ideas festival. Challenging new ideas blend with historical insights at this ‘free speech allowed’ weekend. This is a must for anyone interested in cutting edge thinking. With 75 debates and 350 speakers, a huge range of contemporary issues are covered. Mixed with snippets of debate, this programme features vox pops filmed by WORLDbytes volunteers at last year’s Battle of Ideas festival and their excitement is infectious. As one attendee tells us: “it covers issues most politicians won’t touch.” The full programme of debates and tickets for this year’s event on Saturday 29^th & Sunday 30^th October 2011 are available now; just visit the Battle of Ideas website.

Recommended links:

Battle of Ideas website

Tales from the Missionary Hut: The Banana leaf Tampon

admin — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 10:31:37 +0000

The banana leaf tampon is all the rage for menstruating women from Sweden to Singapore to Sierra Leone. This made-to-measure tampon is the latest in sustainable gadgetry and a breakthrough in global female sanitary provision, affordable for women even in the most remote parts of the developing world. This is the friend we have all been waiting for. It will help women in rural communities achieve their full potential and take part in all aspects of society. Hail the banana leaf tampon. Here’s how to make one of your own.

Recommended links:

Saathi pads website