Great Debates
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The Series
The Great Debates series continues Dartington’s long tradition of tackling the important issues of the day, these Debates can be programmed in advanced or as a reaction to recent events.
Great Debates seeks to encourage understanding and debate on issues of importance to you, believing that the more we know as individuals the better our decisions and the greater our influence.
You – the audience are crucial, we encourage you to be part of the debate, to question and to challenge, to go away better informed than you arrived and spread the debate further. Join the conversation on twitter using hashtag #GreatDebates
Forthcoming Debates
The RSA Fellowship & Dartington Regional Debate Series
‘Can social enterprise fill the public sector gap in service provision?
Austerity has stimulated the exploration of alternative ways of providing public services. One option is through the use of social enterprise but it is not a model that has yet been fully tested centrally or locally. The Dartington Hall Trust and the RSA Fellowship in the South West Region have come together to host a series of debates addressing the question.
The series will culminate in an Open Forum Workshop at Dartington on 28th September where the principal themes and issues raised across the region will be explored in more detail with a view to initiating an RSA/Dartington collaborative project related to social enterprise.
To find out more including Panel information and how to book click here
Sign up for Great Debate email updates
To be kept informed of the latest information about our Great Debates, including dates, times and topics of forthcoming debates please sign up for email updates. Click here to subscribe for email updates
Previous Great Debates at Dartington
Conflict, Change & Reconciliation
Wednesday 4 July, 7.30pm
An Evening Talk with Patrick Magee, Jo Berry & Andrew Woodward
Jo Berry’s father, Sir Anthony Berry MP, was killed in the IRA’s Brighton bombing campaign against the Conservative Government at The Grand hotel in October 1985. Patrick Magee planted the bomb. He was a full member of the IRA.
They will talk about how they got there, challenge the audience to reflect on who is a terrorist and who is a victim, and discuss the value of dialogue as the way forward for many different communities facing conflict arising from resource use, power imbalances, racial tension or social inequality.
The audience will be invited to ask questions and share experiences in an informal and participatory setting. There will be opportunities after the event for people to network and sign up for future activities arising from the issues discussed on the night.
For more information on the speakers please click here
Be part of The Great Wind Debate now
Click here for video & audio from the live Great Wind Debate. Please add to the ongoing debate
Blowing Hot & Cold Chaired by Jonathan Dimbleby
Monday 18 June, 7pm
Can the UK achieve its targets for onshore wind energy in view of resistance applied at local planning level?
The Department for Energy and Climate Change says: “Wind will be a key component in meeting the UK’s 2020 target for energy from renewable sources, and onshore wind could deliver around 15% of the total”. Local communities have a major role to play in making this happen.
Held in association with TRESOC & Schumacher College
Chair:
Jonathan Dimbleby, Any Questions? BBC Radio 4
Panel:
Godfrey Boyle, Emeritus Professor of Renewable Energy at the Open University
Helen McDade, The John Muir Trust
Matt Partridge, Development Director REG Windpower
John Constable, The Renewable Energy Foundation
For more information on the Chair & Panel click here
Does Integrated Medicine Make Sense?
Saturday 26 May 2012, 6.30pm
How would you like to be treated? Should complementary and alternative treatments feature in healthcare? Some say they should all be available so that patients have choice and its provision should be integrated into mainstream health services. Others that it encourages vulnerable people to use unproved, disproved or even dangerous treatments.
In Association with The Disputables
Chair: David Parsley (Totnes FM Radio)
Debaters: click to see full details
- Andy Lewis (quackometer.net)
- Simon Mills (co-lead of Faculty for Self Care, College of Medicine sustaincare)
- Becky Simpson (cancer-survivor)
- Sarah Wollaston MP Totnes (and a GP)
Recordings Made by TotnesFM
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Great Debate 4: Punishing Crime – is it working?
Friday 14 October 2011, 6.30pm
The UK locks up a greater percentage of its population than any developed nation except the USA, yet our reoffending rates remain higher than the rest of Europe. Are Britons worse behaved, is our prison system failing, or are we locking up the wrong people? Experts including Juliet Lyon CBE (Chief Executive of the Prison Reform Trust) and Caspar Walsh (Guardian journalist and Director of Write to Freedom) will debate these issues.
Renewing Trident – are nuclear weapons right for our times?
Friday 15 July 2011, 1pm
Nuclear fuel is in the news, nuclear weapons less so. Buts should Britain have nuclear arms? Should we renew Trident? Should we intervene in problems around the world? Leading independent thinkers unpack the arguments. With politician and academic Shirley Williams and journalist David Aaronovitch, chaired by Peter Stanford.
Part of Ways With Words 2011
The Alternative Vote — a strong voice for the people?
Friday 8 April 2011
How did you vote in the referendum on 5 May? Did you have the information you needed? Will AV eliminate the need for complicated tactical voting or make it more necessary than ever? What kind of system do you think is needed in the 21st century – and is the Alternative Vote the way to get there? The debate team was:
- Rt Hon Ben Bradshaw MP (Exeter) – leader of Labour’s Vote Yes group
- George Eustice MP (Camborne & Redruth) – SW leader of the NOtoAV campaign
- Pam Giddy, director of the Power2010 campaign for democratic reform
- Tony Whitty, Totnes Town Mayor
Tagore and his relevance for international environmental and social action today
Tuesday 15 February 2011
2011 marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of the Nobel Prize winner Rabindranath Tagore, who was a huge influence for Leonard Elmhirst and the Dartington experiment. This debate launched a year of activities across Dartington’s programmes, including the Tagore Festival in May 2011. The debate was combined with a networking dinner to enable further discussion of the topic between the speakers and audience. Speakers included the author and co-founder of Schumacher College, Satish Kumar; Nobel prize nominee Aruna Roy; and leading climate change activist Malini Mehra. Chaired by Charlie McConnell, Director of Schumacher College.