Final week to apply to the Living Freedom Summer School
Get in your application NOW for our three-day residential summer school, taking place in central London, 26 - 28 June!
Aged 18 to 30? Have a thirst for ideas, and a passion for discussion and debate? Then join us at Living Freedom summer school 2025. Apply by May 12!
The Trump 2.0 presidency started with a declaration that the US ‘will no longer be woke’. Yet rather than ushering in an end to the culture wars, recent events – whether on campus or online – appear to have had the effect of posing even more questions on the future of freedom in the Western world.
Questions of what it means to be a free citizen are wrapped in an ever-fraught debate of issues related to issues of immigration, culture and identity. Meanwhile, the recent UK Supreme Court ruling may have clarified the meaning of ‘sex’ under the Equality Act, but nevertheless raises new questions about individuals exercising their rights and liberties, not least in the face of institutional resistance. An important question is as to the prospects for freedom in the face of the ongoing rise of populism - not least because many erstwhile critics of the ‘woke’ tendency to shut down freedom now seem less keen to defend the speech of their own opponents.
From workplaces to schools, the most important issues of our time are often a minefield. But at Living Freedom, we welcome these discussions, and provide a civil space for getting to the bottom of these important but often tricky and contentious debates. For example, we will tackle the questions of the changing media-world head on. Digital censorship has been on the rise as a response to the rise of populism across the West, and with it a boom in new media that has been willing to tackle some of the issues that were ignored by mainstream figures. But recently, on Joe Rogan’s podcast, Douglas Murray put a challenge to the alternative media ecosystem: does the democratisation of media mean that no one is willing to take responsibility for their ideas, and untruths have free rein? Has the alternative media sphere solved the problems of mainstream media, or merely created new ones?
Universities, subject to their EDI overlords, have for a long time been hostile environments for frank discussions of controversial but important issues. Therefore the challenges of EDI and compelled speech is a topic that we want to debate - as well as the rise of wellbeing bureaucracies, the origins and evolution of hate-speech laws, and how young people exercise freedom and autonomy in the new digital world of Only Fans, dating apps and online influencers. Lecturers will deal with issues such as the rise and fall of private life and the relationship between extremism and liberty. Others will tackle love in contemporary literature and take a look back at the classic text Culture of Narcissism by Christopher Lasch.
Our expert speakers certainly have lots of knowledge, insights and opinions. But understanding the problems that we face today and ascertaining a way forward will be a collective endeavour - over the course of the three days, participants are not only able to, but are encouraged to, ask questions, put forward alternative perspectives, challenge speakers and each other, and to make their own arguments. We want to give young people the tools to develop their thinking, sharpen their ideas, and be more confident in expressing their opinions, even in a fraught landscape.
We welcome anyone between the ages of 18-30 who has a passion for debate, and believes in the value of freedom and free speech. Successful first-time applicants will receive a generous scholarship, ensuring that each participant pays just £50, which covers both attendance at the school and accommodation in Central London. We are delighted once again to be supported by the Free Speech Union’s Ian MacTaggart Programme to make this possible.
The deadline for applications is Monday 12 May, so get your application in now! And please share this Substack with anyone you think may be interested.
SESSIONS
FREE SPEECH UNION BLOG
We wrote for the Free Speech Union about Living Freedom and the importance of building a culture of free speech:
We can celebrate some significant victories for the cause of freedom in recent weeks – for women’s rights and for free speech on campus, and against the trend to treat psychological harm as grounds for criminalising dissent.
But responses to such gains make it clear that we cannot rely on the courts or on legislation to protect our freedoms…
You can read the rest on the FSU blog.
READ ON
With our summer school on the horizon, here’s a selection of reading to get you thinking, some from speakers at this year’s summer school!
Europe has a free-speech problem
Jacob Mchangama, Persuasion, 18 February 2025
The limits of multicultural citizenship
Jacob Reynolds, Academy of Ideas Substack, 30 March 2025
Kneecap should be mocked, not censored
Brendan O’Neill, Spiked, 30 April 2025
The fight for academic freedom in the UK
Abhishek Saha, Quillette, 6 April 2025
Social media curfew would be an excuse for state overreach
Timandra Harkness, UnHerd, 25 April 2025