Other talks included:
The Poetry and Music
of Science
Brexit: where are we now
and what next?
Professor Tom McLeish (below), OS and Professor of
Natural Philosophy at York, on his book, The Poetry
and Music of Science, which challenges the received
wisdom that science is less creative than art.
This debate chaired by Adam Boulton, editor-at
large of Sky News, was captivating. The two sides,
pro-Brexit and pro-remain, were represented by Claire
Fox, the Director of the Institute of Ideas, who has
since become a Brexit Party MEP, and Lord Adonis,
Labour peer.
During the debate, all of the main issues surrounding
the original referendum were addressed and the
future of Brexit was speculated upon. While the
audience were largely pro-remain, Ms Fox put forward
points on why Brexit will benefit Britain, believing it
will improve democratic accountability by reducing
remote, technocratic government. She also argued
passionately against a condescending dismissal of the
pro-Brexit vote.
Lord Adonis mainly put forward the case that a
second referendum is lawful on the grounds that the
original referendum was only advisory and, in order
to disprove claims that another referendum would
be ignoring the wishes of a democracy, that nothing
could be more democratic than a referendum.
The ever-sceptical audience were eager to ask
questions on a range of topics from whether Russia
would be more of a threat to a divided Europe to
whether the alleged overspending on the Vote Leave
campaign currently being investigated illegitimised
the result.
The main points of clash between the sides, who
both believed that Theresa May’s deal was not viable,
was the second referendum and whether people
aged 16 to 18 should be able to vote.
Henry Hollingworth, Year 10
16
ACADEMIC REVIEW
America in 1968
Steven L Isenberg, US academic and former Executive
Vice President of the Los Angeles Times, on a defining
year in American politics.