November 2011
4 posts
Beware the Dragon: Africa Should Not Look to China...
Vote Before - For: 154 Against: 106 Don’t Know: 124 The no-nonsense Chair Lindsey Hilsum kicked off the night in Cadogan Hall, insisting that by the end of the night those who voted don’t know/haven’t a clue what’s going on had made a decision by the end. It set the sharp, divided and yet joshing tone of the event. George Ayittey’s central tenet was that the solutions to African problems lie...
Britain's Former Colonies Should Stop Blaming the...
Pre-Debate Vote: There was everything to play for with 191 for, 136 don’t knows and 68 against. Between them, they’d published enough books to stock a small Waterstones, and yet such is the nature of their subject is that they fail to agree on anything, often opening new avenues of argument to sidestep each others points. It is Cadogan Hall, the speakers an array of respected historians and the...
Still to come this November...
It’s been quite a month for Intelligence2. On November 1st Canadian Cognitive Scientist Steven Pinker, ‘the optimistic voice of science’, told a sell-out Royal Geographical Society that humans are becoming less, not more, violent. Then to Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall on November 9th where Stephen Fry, Sean Penn, Salman Rushdie, Martin Amis and others discussed the life, loves and...
Laurie Penny's Speech: 'The Baby Boomers have...
Believe it or not, Laurie Penny was on the same side as David Willetts, supposedly supporting her team-mate ‘for’ the motion. Here is her speech.
Ladies, gentleman and everyone else here present. My teammate, Mr Willetts, has made worthy representations for the motion, and I am honoured to have been invited by Intelligence Squared to follow his points.
Now, the framing of this...