Battle of Ideas!

Join me in London for a weekend of debates.

The twentieth annual Battle of Ideas festival is taking place on 18 and 19 October at Church House in Westminster, London. Featuring hundreds of speakers of all perspectives, it’s a way to grapple with the issues that matter most. It’s a real highlight of the year for me.

I’ll be participating in four different sessions across the weekend, covering DEI, political comedy and the decline of wokeness. I’ll also be appearing in a special live edition of the Spiked podcast. But even if you’ve had enough of me, there’s bound to be other panels that will pique your interest. You can browse through the full programme and list of speakers on the festival’s website.

So please do come along! I’ll also be signing copies of my book The End of Woke on the Saturday at 1:30pm. Or just find me on the Sunday and demand a signature then. The festival is run by the Academy of Ideas, whose substack is here.

And on 20 October, I’ll be at the Pavillion Theatre in Glasgow to interview Piers Morgan live on stage about his new book Woke is Dead. He’ll be doing a book signing after our discussion. Tickets available now!

For anyone who happens to be based in Arizona, this is a final call for anyone who’d like to be in the audience for the taping of my series of lectures on Shakespeare’s comedies for the Peterson Academy. It’s this Monday to Wednesday (13 – 15 October) in Phoenix, and you can apply here. In case you missed it, here’s the trailer for my last series of lectures on Shakespeare’s tragedies.

And since I’m giving updates, I’ve reviewed a new two-volume edition of the diaries of A.C. Benson (1862 – 1925), the writer and schoolmaster who penned the lyrics to ‘Land of Hope and Glory’. My review was published here in The Critic. Alternatively, if you want something more intersectional, Titania McGrath’s latest column on why left-wing violence is a right-wing myth is here.

Thanks all for now, folks!

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