Despite the good offices of the Lecture List London suffers from a remarkable dearth of decent debates. By debate, I don't mean a celebrity Q&A with a few minutes for questions at the end, or a pre-theatre love-in with a director - I mean a debate, with a motion, a bit of back-and-forth and a vote at the end.
I'd go to Intelligence Squared's debate on Wednesday ("Apart from chavs, the British have no class") - except that it's not just sold out, but tickets cost £20. True, the proceeds go to Resources for Autism, but when I'm making a significant donation to charity I like to be able to choose the recipient.
So the Soap Box series of occasional debates at the Menier Chocolate Factory in Southwark - "intended to tackle the big issues in society and the arts" - have proved something of an oasis. Last Friday's, the third, proposed that satire wasn't working (or to put it another way, "has never been more ubiquitous or more impotent".
Previous debates have tackled the hegemony of Shakespeare in British theatre and the place of morality in art. All three have been lively, intelligent and witty - helped by rules restricting each speaker's opening gambit to three minutes, contributions from the floor to less than 60 seconds, and a two-minute limit on summings-up.
Chaired by the journalist Patrick Marmion, and with Claire Fox, A Very Social Secretary writer Alistair Beaton, Idler editor Matthew de Abaitua and comedy critic Bruce Dessau speaking, the exchanges were frank and sometimes rude. Fox wanted less political satire and more attacks on the "green doom-mongers" and Jamie Oliver; Marmion observed that "as a culture we seem to have had a passive reaction" to the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes on Stockwell tube station. Dessau was scathing about the recent Dead Ringers sketch on Children in Need, in which Tony Blair made an appearance.
And entry was a mere £3, including a free drink. Email patrick@patrickmarmion.demon.co.uk if you'd like to be informed of the next debate.
