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Illiberal democracy: the future of freedom
 150 150 Time To Talk
While many refugees fled to Europe in 2015, seeking sanctuary within its liberal democracies, many of these same democracies today find themselves in decline, with one of their head's openly speaking of his desire to create an "illiberal state". How has this situation come about, what can we do about it and what does Europe stand for nowadays?
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Does fiction have a stronger impact than journalism?
 326 326 Time To Talk
If folly and ignorance be the curse of mankind and all the world a stage, are plays or the press the best way to inform and and provide perspective? The Index on Censorship Big Debate at Leeds' Big Bookend Festival 2016 asks which medium has the most impact: fiction or journalism?
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Is Europe taking a right turn?
 150 150 Time To Talk
Lately, every new election seems to bring a "shock" result for the right, with parties with views commonly considered to be extreme becoming real political competitors from France to Poland and from Sweden to Italy. This TTT debate with Chantal Mouffe, Gilles Kepel and Phillip Blom asks what is behind this apparent move to the right and whether we should be concerned.
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Reading Orwell today: on freedom & the right to tell people what they don’t want to hear
 150 150 Time To Talk
Books such as Animal Farm and 1984 are known worldwide, but what is George Orwell's relevance today, how prescient were his predictions, how do his writings inform us about our own situations and what impact has his work had posthumously?
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Against silence: on freedom of expression in Europe
 150 150 Time To Talk
Lately, the actions of both state and non-state actors have led to increasing concerns about the state of freedom of expression in Europe. Join Claire Fox, Miklos Haraszti and Agnieszka Holland for a discussion about free speech and censorship in Europe today.
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Social Europe: a progressive utopia or a bitter necessity?
 326 326 Time To Talk
Suggestions for the salvation of the European Economic and Monetary Union are throwing up some surprises, with proposals for a European minimum wage and union-wide unemployment benefits now being taken seriously. To find out why and how feasible such ideas are, join Siman Abdi, Anton Hemerijck, Frank Vandenbroucke & Tom Vrijens.
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Free speech in Central Europe: where are the boundaries?
 150 150 Time To Talk
Project Forum look at free speech in Central Europe and the very different scenarios in Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. A discussion about the slow and legal process of bringing a country's media scene under state control and the free speech/hate speech dilemma in a time of right wing revival.
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What are the merits of economic contraction, is degrowth the way forward?
 150 150 Time To Talk
People are looking for alternative economic models, among them degrowth. deBuren look at the pros and cons, asking whether the prioritisation of economic growth is harmful for our societies and environment and what the implementation of a degrowth influenced economic policy would look like.
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Do we need economic growth?
 150 150 Time To Talk
Since the financial crisis of 2007-2008, there has been much talk about our economic models, with the pre-crisis prioritisation of growth coming into disrepute. This Freiblick debate asks whether we still need economic growth and what the positive arguments for its continued retention would be.
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Europe: too big to fail?
 150 150 Time To Talk
As the Greek and migrant questions have led to discord, borders have closed and European leaders have, at times, appeared unable to come to a common accord, leading some to talk of the European Union's impedending collapse. De Balie ask Ivan Krastev and Paul Scheffer how much substance this talk has and where the EU should go from here.
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Is there an alternative to the growth imperative?
 150 150 Time To Talk
Climate change awareness has moved on leaps and bounds this millenium, but our lifestyles continue to be fossil fuelled, our foodstuffs unsustainably harvested and our companies focused on destructive models of wealth and resource extraction. What impact are these approaches having and how can we respond to form an economically sound and socially justifiable future beneficial to us all?
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The next reset? The West and Russia between the Crimea and ISIS
 150 150 Time To Talk
As geopolitical interests converge, Russia has been begrudgingly accepted back into the international fold. But what of the forgotten shadow war in Eastern Europe? Could conflict in the Middle East and its knock on effect in terms of immigration to Europe lead to a favourable compromise for Russia in the Donbass region and the Crimea?
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