- I didn't go to the Cambridge Ideas Festival or the Radio 3 Freethinking Festival, or the Manchester Science Festivals. It's just too difficult and expensive to travel to from home just to see a few lectures.

- Cambridge Ideas Festival 22-29 October
- mostly kids guess it's a Half Time Thing
- It's worth checking their podcast archives Cambridge Ideas Festival Podcasts on The Guardian website
- checked the peace in Palestine and the Thinking Ideas podcasts .. bit disappointing cos no Q & A

... Other Highlights :
- lecture on Stalin
- Ethnographic Film Show
- Prehistory Day
- A golden age of ideas: Frank Ramsey (1903-1930) and his Cambridge contemporaries
- Problems in the law of murder
- Is language a force for civilisation or domination?
- *CHECK Becoming Barbie: the pros and cons of female stereotypes
- Cultural Treasures of Ukraine and Poland - not available

- as when I listened it seems quite disappointing - "the Essay" lectures were only 15 minutes long, some were dryly told.

- Radio 3 Free Thinking Festival 2009 in Gateshead October 23-25
- good prefest audio from 10 thinkers

- My Highlights
- The Free Thinking LectureTanya Byron - condemned modern media/societies attitude toward children calling them hoodies to be feared - her message respect children and don't fear them

- Free Thinkers of the North East T. Dan Smith: The Man with the Plan - the Newcastle city boss whose architectural "Brasilia of the North" captured the headlines in the 1960s - jailed for corruption- Good

- *CHECK Podcasts
- Event 15. Theory Slam! not yet broadcast
- Event 12. Mike Brearley - Narcissism and Leadership
- Event 28. Free Thinking Question Time: The Next 50 years not yet broadcast
- Event 27. Speed Dating with a Thinker not yet broadcast

- everyday - http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/freethinking/2009/freethoughts.shtml

- *CHECK Archive
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/freethinking/2008/festival-events/event14/
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/freethinking/2007/thought-wall/
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/freethinking/2007/playback/
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/freethinking/2008/festival-events/event28/ Workshop: Thought Into Action
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/nightwaves/pip/u36fp/ Is Liverpool an English City
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/nightwaves/pip/ntpqs/ - brain and memory RAM file
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/freethinking/2007/playback/#jon-jacob - just a promo not much good

*CHECK 2008 podcasts :
7. Is Privacy Dead?
10. Speed Dating With 7 Thinkers
12. Interactive Drama: Scratch
14. Debate: Is Older Peoples Experience undervalued ?
16. John Gray: Being Green can be Dangerous - actually turned out not to be as good as I hoped
18. 24 Weeks - a drama The Bluecoat
19. Words and Music Live: The Seven Ages of Man
23. Interactive Drama Show : "Scratch
29. Speed Dating With 7 Thinkers -
33. Bernard-Henri Lévy - one of the most exciting and dynamic thinkers of today

- At The BBC R3 Freethinking Festival - The winner of the listeners vote was St Bede....For God's sake the winner of the freethinking festival was not a freethinker at all, but someone instrumental in the foundation of modern British Christianity which as all with all religions condemns Freethinking and pushes dogma - how ironic !

- www.manchestersciencefestival.com 24 October - 1 November
videos .. but nothing interesting
mostly kids events, but here are some of MY HIGHLIGHTS :
- Science slam Sat 24 October & Fri 30 October
- How to cut a cake and Math hysteria Tue 27 October
- Deep time cabaret Fri 30 October

- See Robin Ince's School for Gifted Children on Tour this autumn 23 October: Cambridge Junction 25 October: Bath Komedia 29 October: Brighton Komedia 7 November: Folkestone Literary Festival 19 November: Norwich Arts Centre 9 December: Lowry, Salford

- The institute of ideas : Battle of Ideas 2009 - 31 October – 1 November 2009, London hosted by the Royal College of Art,
saturday events
- *CHECK WHEN IS IT RIGHT TO GO TO WAR? KOSOVO, IRAQ AND BEYOND
- *CHECK REVOLUTIONS BALLOON DEBATE

not many interesting to me mostly Frank Furedi and his associates
it's too expensive CHECK Fora.tv for podcasts etc.
- *CHECK Spiked

- The festival was expensive, but it's good that that a whole archive of past lectures is available on the Fora.tv website

SuperFreakonomics talk pretty good

- Stats : Before debate, After debate
- For : 678 32%, 268 12%
- Against : 1102 52%, 1876 86%
- Don’t know : 346 16%, 34 2%
- Totals : 2126 2178

- Yes at the end of the debate the people who didn't believe that the Catholic Church is a force for good outnumbered the others by 8 to 1 with more than 60% changing their opinion against during the debate.
That's pretty conclusive.

- It was an easy debate for the opposers cos
1. It was strong debaters - Christopher Hitchens and Stephen Fry
2. They had some easy arguments : the church has killed millions by banning condoms, it persecutes gays, and it has an abyssmal record of terror and oppression etc. etc.
- The speakers for An African Archbishop and Anne Widdicombe were far weaker, but no one could have done much better.

- *CHECK I see in similar debate 80% of people said "Churchill was more a liability than an asset to the free world"

- http://www.sheffieldfolkfestival.org seems NOT 2009

- Life Science Centre and Newcastle University - was in March

-2009 Doc/Fest in Sheffield 4-8 November http://sheffdocfest.com/ - Only a few non interesting VODcasts found, public events didn't seem that exciting

- YORK - Every month
- CHECK first Wednesday - http://www.sciencecityyork.org.uk/community/events/cafe.html
- The York Brights Meetup Group www.the-brights.net. Wed Oct 15 at 7:30 PM

- Department of Psychology Goldsmiths University of London From: http://www.goldsmiths.ac.uk/apru/speakers.php - Seminars are held on Tuesdays at 6:10 pm in Room 256 Richard Hoggart Building, New Cross London SE14 6NW.