The Academy of Ideas, which I set up in 2000, organises a wide range of public debates, conferences and events to discuss the key political, cultural and social issues of the day.  Two of our flagship initiatives are:

1) The annual Battle of Ideas festival (www.battleofideas.org,uk), featuring 70 debates and 350 speakers over a weekend.  The slogan is Free Speech Allowed and this year the festival dates are 31 Oct - 1 Nov.  

2) The national Debating Matters Competition for sixth formers (www.debatingmatters.com) which this year went international and expanded to India.

Specialties: Chairing debates; facilitaing panel discussions; public speaking.  Areas of 'expertise' = education, free speech, civil liberties, the arts, trends in the media and social policy.  My particular angles are (and excuse the cliches - used only for short-hand): anti 'dumbing down'; education and art for their own sake; anti 'nanny state'; for free speech and civil liberties - no ifs, no buts.