Drawing the battle lines at Free Thinking

Countdown minus two days to the greatest concentration of minds since the Enlightenment – well, maybe that’s a bit much, but certainly the greatest concentration since last year’s Free Thinking Festival. Once again, I’m heading for the Sage Gateshead for Radio 3’s annual festival of headscratching, steam-letting and general high-level cogitation. I’m particularly excited as last year’s event was a lot more fiery than I’d expected – I have particularly vivid memories of architectural history buffs who were vocally determined to salvage Victorian heritage from the wrecker’s ball, starting in the streets of Newcastle if necessary... And this year, as the economic crisis continues to bite, the Festival’s taken on the much-needed theme of Happiness – what is it, how can we get it, and will we know it when we have it?

As an academic myself, I’m particularly looking forward to the debate on academics and the media, asking a question that’s central to the work that some of us do – can we get complex research over to a general public without simplifying it beyond reason? And I also hope we address a point that isn’t always as clearly understood – can we explain to the public why some work isn’t easily explained in general terms, and that it’s the technical and inward-looking nature of the work that makes it so groundbreaking?

And as an avid consumer of snazzy electronics, I’ll be looking forward the debate on 'Do possessions make you happy?' … and perhaps to being strong-armed by a gang of militant ascetics who are determined to prove that possessions certainly don’t make you happy, and prove the point by chucking my new laptop into the Tyne…

But happiness endorphins may have to give way to adrenaline on Saturday night – as I gear up for a radio first – the battle of the radio stations. This makes Eurovision look like a piddling little affair, as the BBC is staging the first ever grudge match – er, I mean civilized debate, between Radio 3 and Radio 5Live, battling it out over the honour of Britain itself. We’ll be debating where our nation’s greatest talent lies – is it in the arts, or the world of sport? 

I’ll be chairing for the Radio 3 side, and we’ll be fielding critics Jonathan Sawday and Sarah Dunant to speak up for the Sage over St James’s Park, for the White Cube Gallery over White Hart Lane. 

But friends have warned me to beware of the demon debating skills of my co-host, Radio 5Live’s Eleanor Oldroyd, honed in the crucible of that station’s fast-talking Fighting Talk show. Well, I reply, we’ve got form too – our side has been sharpening its rhetorical rapiers on numerous editions of Night Waves. So let battle commence, along with the chanting. 

Come on now: Radio 3 – there’s only one Radio 3…

Read 5Live presenter Eleanor Oldroyd's Free Thinking blog by clicking this link.

Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival takes place at The Sage, Gateshead, from 5-7 November.

For a full schedule of events download the Free Thinking festival PDF as a brochure

Visit The Sage website to book tickets.

Or call The Sage Gateshead ticket office on 0191 443 4661

Tickets are free and you can start booking from 16 September.

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