Recording of our events in 2020 including those in our new Great Reset programme and Black History Month. Many of these recordings were taken from our Crowdcast and Zoom online films so the quality is sometimes variable as it was dependent on the strength of internet connections on the day.

2020 Festival of Ideas Events

Darwin Day Lecture: How is Technology Changing What it Means to be Human?

Birth, sex and death are not just inevitable (unlike taxes) but are at the core of evolution science. In this special lecture to mark Darwin Day 2020, Jenny Kleeman explored what human beings are doing through technology to change our experience of all these things, and potentially to try and disrupt evolution. Why are people developing these technologies? Does it change the trajectory of humankind? What are the implications for us, as a species, of these developments? Will having artificial companions change the nature of real human relationships?

This event was in association with Bristol Humanists 

Image credit Jenny Smith Photography.

Darwin Day Lecture: Jenny Kleeman 12 February 2020

In this free online event (recorded during Covid-19) Martin Sandbu (Financial Times) discusses his new book The Economics of Belonging with Festival of Ideas Director Andrew Kelly. Sandbu argues that we should step back and take a fresh look at the root causes of our current challenges. He believes that economics remains at the heart of our widening inequality and it is only by focusing on the right policies that we can address it. He proposes a detailed, radical plan for creating a just economy where everyone can belong.

Martin Sandbu 15 July 2020

A House Through Time – the story of those who lived in one house, from the time it was built until now – has captivated viewers with its first two series. Covering Newcastle and Liverpool, it has told the story of a house as well as a place and a city. The next series will feature a Bristol house.

In this online conversation producer and presenter David Olusoga talks about how is the house chosen, what do the findings say about the cities and how they have changed over time? And what do they tell us about the houses and places of the future?

Bristol Festival of Ideas online 2020

David Olusoga 27 May 2020

In the past two decades, deaths from suicide, drug overdose and alcoholism have risen dramatically in the USA. Anne Case and Angus Deaton – known for first sounding the alarm about these deaths of despair – now shed light on the social and economic forces that are making life harder for the working class. In this online conversation with Festival of Ideas Director Andrew Kelly, they demonstrate why capitalism is no longer delivering and paint a troubling portrait of the American dream in decline.

Bristol Festival of Ideas Online 2020

Anne Case and Angus Deaton 26 June 2020

In 2019, Turkish writer, commentator and novelist Ece Temelkuran published How to Lose a Country: The Seven Steps from Democracy to Dictatorship. Philip Pullman called Temelkuran ‘one of the most acute and perceptive analysts of the furtive growth of fascism’ and Margaret Atwood said How to Lose a Country is an ‘essential’ book.

Ece Temelkuran spoke about her work in Bristol when the book was first published and then was writer in residence in our Festival of the Future City (October 2019). Since publication there’s been the British general election which saw a landslide Conservative victory, the formal decision to leave the EU, continuing problems in former Warsaw Pact countries like Poland and Hungary, and Trump’s continuing assault on institutions – all of which have raised further questions about the state and future of democracy. On top of this, there’s the pandemic, the seizure of powers by governments, and some elections have had to be postponed. At the same time, the recent French elections saw significant victories for the Green Party; and the growth of Black Lives Matter and #MeToo have given voices – and seen action – for minorities and women.

In this discussion, we revisit Temelkuran’s original seven steps – create a movement; diminish the truth; slander and dehumanise opponents; dismantle judicial and political restraint; create your own loyal citizens; let them laugh at the horror; build the country you want – to assess where democracy is now, and – critically – what we do to create more and better democracy in the future. Ece Temelkuran is in conversation with Festival of Ideas director Andrew Kelly.

This is part of our Future of Democracy series which is taking place all year and will culminate in a constitutional convention, currently scheduled for November 2020.

Ece Temelkuran 13 July 2020

What if we could have babies without having to bear children, eat meat without killing animals, have the perfect sexual relationship without compromise or choose the time of our painless death?

To find out, Jenny Kleeman has interviewed a sex robot, eaten a priceless lab-grown chicken nugget, watched foetuses growing in plastic bags and attended members-only meetings where people learn how to kill themselves.

Many of the people Kleeman has met say they are finding solutions to problems that have always defined and constricted humankind. But what truly motivates them? What kind of person devotes their life to building a death machine? What kind of customer is desperate to buy an artificially intelligent sex doll – and why? Who is campaigning against these advances, and how are they trying to stop them? And what about the many unintended consequences such inventions will inevitably unleash?

Sex Robots & Vegan Meat is not science fiction. It's not about what might happen one day - it's about what is happening right now, and who is making it happen. In the end, it asks a simple question: are we about to change what it means to be human . . . for ever?

Jenny Kleeman 20 July 2020

Current politics and policy are preoccupied with dealing with the pandemic and Brexit is looming. What about the longer-term future of the city? Three of Bristol’s MPs – Thangam Debbonaire, Darren Jones and Karin Smyth – join us to discuss social care; migration and immigration; the future economy in a developing time of automation; devolution and where it should go next; the housing crisis; growing child poverty and more. We’ll be putting your questions to them as well. Chaired by Festival of Ideas director Andrew Kelly.

This is part of our Future of Democracy series which is taking place all year and will culminate in a constitutional convention, currently scheduled for November 2020.

Please note that Kerry McCarthy was no longer able to attend.

Bristol MPs Question Time 27 July 2020

Why did the wave of enthusiasm for liberal democracy, shared across the political spectrum in the 1980s and 90s, come to an end?  How did we come to be so divided?  Why did everyone get so angry?

Acclaimed historian of totalitarian regimes as well as a penetrating analyst of contemporary politics, Anne Applebaum (Twilight of Democracy: The Failure of Politics and the Parting of Friends), offers an original interpretation of democratic decline. She charts the rise of autocratic and paranoid governments in Poland and Hungary, the cultural despair that fuelled Brexit, the media cacophony that has driven some Spaniards to return to old nationalist slogans, and the apocalyptic pessimism that led many to support the election of Trump.

She examines the cynical use of conspiracy theory as well as the authentic desperation of those who believe that their nation is in danger of extinction; the role of social media in creating anger and anxiety, as well as the anger at a meritocratic system that, by definition, always left some people out; and the intellectual roots of what she calls the ‘seductions of autocracy’ and shows how, given the right conditions, any society can turn against democracy.

Political leaders and historical figures appear in the story, but Applebaum focusses above all on the dissatisfied intellectuals, philosophers, spin doctors and journalists who deliberately sought to create new definitions of “the nation,” new political realities, and sometimes deep new divisions. Many of them – in Poland, the US and the UK – were once Applebaum’s friends. She is in conversation with Festival of Ideas director Andrew Kelly.

Anne Applebaum 30 July 2020

Popular consensus says that the US rose over two centuries to Cold War victory and world domination, and is now in slow decline. But is this right? History's great civilisations have always maintained their supremacy for a much longer period of time, and for all its colossal power, the US was overshadowed by Europe until recently. What if this isn’t the end but only the beginning?

Bruno Maçães is one of the world’s leading commentators with recent books covering the rise of Eurasia and the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative. His new book, History Has Begun: The Birth of a New America, offers a compelling and unnerving vision of America's future.

In this event, Maçães takes us from the early American Republic to the turbulent present, when, he argues, the US is finally forging its own path. We can see the birth pangs of this new civilisation in today's debates on guns, religion, foreign policy and the significance of Trump. What will this new America look like and what will its values be? And what will this mean for the rest of the west and the world? In conversation with Festival of Ideas director Andrew Kelly.

Bruno Maçães 4 August 2020

For most of human history, we have led not just an earthly existence but also a cosmic one. Jo Marchant (author of the New York Times bestseller Cure) argues that our innate relationship with the stars has shaped our religious beliefs, power structures, scientific advances and even our biology. However, over the last few centuries we have separated ourselves from the universe surrounding us, and that has come at a cost.

Has our modern disconnect with the night sky led to a wider ambivalence toward the wildlife around us? Can stargazing benefit our mental health and encourage us to behave more ethically? Marchant discusses humanity’s relationship with the heavens and explores the crucial role it has played in making us who we are today. She encourages us to rediscover the potential of the universe we inhabit, its wonder and potential for inspiration and revelation.

Jo Marchant is in conversation with Anna Starkey.

The Human Cosmos is published by Canongate.

Jo Marchant 22 September 2020

As Bristol’s second City Poet, Vanessa Kisuule has written and performed poems for a wide range of organisations and occasions including: the 100th anniversary of the Addison oak tree in Sea Mills; two State of the City addresses; St Paul’s Carnival; Every Child Needs Christmas; and the University of Bristol. She has run workshops in libraries, worked with children in care and distributed handwritten extracts of her poems around the city for residents to discover. She is increasingly a household name, with appearances on BBC Woman’s Hour and The New York Times, and with her poem Hollow, written in response to the toppling of the Colston statue, having gone viral around the world, receiving plaudits from writers including Malorie Blackman and Philip Pullman.

This online event followed the formal handover from the end of Vanessa’s term and the appointment of Caleb Parkin as the new Bristol City Poet. During a conversation with Professor Madhu Krishnan, Vanessa and Caleb talk together about the difference that poetry makes to a city. Vanessa will perform and talk about some of her favourite commissions and Caleb will read his first official poem in this role.

In Conversation With Bristol's City Poets 23 September 2020

(Please note there were some internet connection issues at the start of the event which the speakers reference.)

What does it take to make it in modern Britain? Ask a politician, and they’ll tell you it’s hard work. Ask a millionaire, and they’ll tell you it’s talent. Ask a CEO, and they’ll tell you it’s dedication. But what if none of those things is enough?

We live in a society where the single greatest indicator of what your job will be is the job of your parents. Where power and privilege are concentrated among the seven per cent of the population who were privately educated. Where, if your name sounds black or Asian, you’ll need to send out twice as many job applications as your white neighbour.

Raised on benefits and having attended some of the lowest-performing schools in the country, barrister Hashi Mohamed knows something about social mobility. He shares what he has learned: from the stark statistics that reveal the depth of the problem to the failures of imagination, education and confidence that compound it.

Hashi Mohamed is in conversation with Marti Burgess.

People Like Us is published by Profile.

Hashi Mohamed 5 October 2020

There’s been talk that the pandemic will mean the end of cities. Cities are resilient, but they face many challenges due to COVID-19. It’s widely accepted that there can be no return to the pre-pandemic society of 2019; that in building back better we need to have recovery strategies that promote social, economic and environmental justice – indeed, solving the problems that existed before the pandemic to create better cities and places for all.

What can cities do? Where is the new thinking? Robin Hambleton’s new book – Cities and Communities Beyond COVID-19: How Local Leadership Can Change Our Future for the Better (Bristol University Press) – draws on a decade of research to show how cities and communities can lead the way in developing a more inclusive post COVID-19 future for us all. He discusses cities after the pandemic with Sheila Foster (Professor of Urban Law and Policy at Georgetown University) and Marvin Rees (Mayor of Bristol). Chaired by Andrew Kelly, director of Festival of Ideas.

Cities and Communities Beyond COVID-19: How Local Leadership Can Change Our Future for the Better is published by Bristol University Press.

Cities And Communities Beyond COVID - 19 8 October 2020

Iain Dale examines the state of public discourse in Britain and the world today. He examines why we’ve all become so intolerant, and explains why it doesn’t have to be this way. Using experiences from his career in politics and the media, he suggests how we can emerge from tribalism and division and become more respectful to each other and those who govern us.

Iain Dale is in conversation with Margaret Heffernan.

Why Can’t We All Just Get Along…is published by HarperCollins.

Iain Dale 16 October 2020

Tom Stoppard is one of our greatest playwrights and has written for radio, television, stage and film. His work covers themes of censorship, human rights and political freedom. His plays include Arcadia, The Coast of Utopia, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, Professional Foul, The Real Thing, Travesties, The Invention of Love, and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead; his screenplays include The Russia House, Brazil, and Shakespeare in Love. He has received four Tony Awards and one Academy Award. He started his writing career on the Western Daily Press in Bristol.

With unprecedented access to private papers, diaries, letters, and countless interviews with figures ranging from Felicity Kendal to John Boorman and Trevor Nunn to Steven Spielberg, Hermione Lee has built a meticulously researched portrait of Stoppard.

Drawing on several years of long, exploratory conversations with Stoppard himself, she tracked his Czech origins and childhood in India to every school and home he's ever lived in, every piece of writing he's ever done, and every play and film he's ever worked on. She discusses the complex, elusive and private man, telling us an enormous amount about him but leaving us with the fascinating mystery of his ultimate unknowability.

Hermione Lee is in discussion with Festival of Ideas director, Andrew Kelly.

Hermione Lee 20 October 2020

Kevin Maxwell served as a detective in both the Greater Manchester and London’s Metropolitan Police forces. He was a dream candidate – he had a long-held desire to serve his community, a strong moral compass and a clear aptitude for both the strategic and practical aspects of policing. As a gay black man from a working-class family, he could easily have been a poster boy for the force’s stated commitment to equal opportunities. Joining just after the 9/11 attacks, he entered policing determined to keep communities safe in the face of a changing world. But instead he came up against entrenched prejudice, open racism and homophobia. For more than ten years, he strove against the odds, until he took the force to an employment tribunal – with devastating results.

Maxwell offers a fascinating insider perspective on day-to-day life in the force, painting a sobering portrait of an institution that has not yet learned the lessons of the past and whose prejudice is informing the cases it chooses to investigate and the way it investigates them. And he asks the important question: what needs to change?

In conversation with Jenny Maxwell.

Kevin Maxwell 21 October 2020

Our Novel Writers series invites debut novelists to read from and talk about their work in an informal setting. Prior knowledge of the text is not essential. Topics of discussion include theme, structure, inspiration and the craft of writing. These sessions are a great way to discover new writing talent and great books.

This October, Diane Cook introduces her debut novel The New Wilderness (shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2020), at once a blazing lament of our contempt for nature and a deeply humane portrayal of motherhood.

Bea's five-year-old daughter, Agnes, is slowly wasting away. The smog and pollution of the overdeveloped, overpopulated metropolis they call home is ravaging her lungs. Bea knows she cannot stay in the City, but there is only one alternative: The Wilderness State. Mankind has never been allowed to venture into this vast expanse of untamed land. Until now.

Bea and Agnes join 18 other volunteers who agree to take part in a radical experiment. They must slowly learn how to live in the unpredictable, often dangerous Wilderness, leaving no trace on their surroundings in their quest to survive. But as Agnes embraces this new existence, Bea realises that saving her daughter's life might mean losing her in ways she hadn't foreseen.

The New Wilderness is published by Oneworld.

Diane Cook 22 October 2020

Entitled: How Male Privilege Hurts Women

Philosopher Kate Manne offers a radical new framework for understanding misogyny. She ranges widely across the culture -- from the Kavanaugh hearings and 'Cat Person' to Harvey Weinstein and Elizabeth Warren -- to show how the idea that a privileged man is tacitly deemed to be owed something is a pervasive problem. Male entitlement can explain a wide array of phenomena, from mansplaining and the undertreatment of women's pain to mass shootings by incels and the seemingly intractable notion that women are 'unelectable'. The consequences for girls and women are often devastating.

As Manne shows, toxic masculinity is not just the product of a few bad actors; we are all implicated, conditioned as we are by the currents of our time. She sheds new light on gender and power and offers a vision of a world in which women are just as entitled as men to be cared for, believed and valued.

In conversation with Julian Baggini.

Kate Manne 23 October 2020

Kadie Kanneh-Mason is a former lecturer at Birmingham University and the mother of seven children. Sheku Kanneh-Mason, her third eldest, was the first black musician to win BBC Young Musician in 2016 and performed at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Two of his siblings are also former BBC Young Musician category finalists and the eldest, pianist Isata, has also presented for the Proms. During the lockdown months, the family garnered huge audiences for their popular Facebook live performances from their family home in Nottingham.

Kadie talks about what it takes to raise a musical family in a Britain divided by class and race. She looks back to 1963 when her mother, the nineteen-year-old daughter of a Welsh family, defied everyone and sailed off to join her fiancé and his family in Sierra Leone. Kadie charts the story of immigration, determination and hard work of a remarkable family succeeding when everything seemed stacked against them.

In conversation with Suzanne Rolt, director, St George’s Bristol.

Kadie Kanneh - Mason 3 Nov 2020

The world has faced two major crises in 12 years. The aftershocks of the 2008 financial crisis are still being felt and the consequences of COVID-19 for economy and society will be with us for a long time. A series of utopian and dystopian visions of the futures of work and capitalism have sprung up alongside these crises, seeking to make sense of an age defined by technological shifts, populist upheaval, digital authoritarianism and global pandemic.

In the immediate wake of the US presidential election, this special event with Political Quarterly picks through these futures and debates their political implications on both the national and international stage. Is global capitalism doomed or under new management? Is the end of work near or a utopian pipedream? Is the big state back, and where should its limits lie in a digital age? And how does a politics of place based in our towns and cities connect with the global common good in a fraying world order?

Speakers include: Jon Cruddas, MP for Dagenham and Rainham and author of The Dignity of Labour (forthcoming, Polity); Lisa Nandy, MP for Wigan and Shadow Foreign Secretary; Paul Mason, commentator and author of How to Stop Fascism (forthcoming, Penguin). The event is chaired by Frederick Harry Pitts (University of Bristol), academic and author of Value (forthcoming, Polity).

This session is based on a special issue of Political Quarterly on “Postcapitalism and the Politics of Work”. Thanks to support from Political Quarterly, this online event was free of charge.

It is a Thinking Futures event at the University of Bristol, part of the ESRC Festival of Social Science 2020, made possible thanks to funding from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), which is part of UK Research and Innovation.

Image credit: Dylan Nolte, unsplash

Future in Crisis 6 November 2020

The audio recordings for all Bristol Ideas work have been grouped into sets by programme and year.  Please note that not all events are recorded. If you notice any gremlins, glitches or other errors in the recordings, please let us know at info@bristolideas.co.uk and we will make the correction, if appropriate or possible.