Welcome to The Leeds Salon

The Leeds Salon is a public discussion forum founded in February 2009. The Salon organises discussions around political, cultural and scientific issues, with the aim of challenging any orthodoxies along the way, defending and developing the legacy of the Enlightenment and, above all, providing a space where free speech can take place. Find out more.

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It's Not About Whiteness, It's About Wealth by Remi Adekoya
Wednesday 24 April 2024

The Economics of Race: Is it About Whiteness or Wealth?

Leeds Salon welcomes author and University of York academic Remi Adekoya to discuss his recent book It’s Not About Whiteness, It’s About Wealth: How the Economics of Race Really Work What really matters when it comes to race? Western conversations on race and racism revolve around familiar themes; colonialism, the Trans-Atlantic slave trade and the ideology of white supremacism form the holy trinity of the race […]

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forthcoming salons

Tamara Menzi on Unsplash - British Museum (Stop W)
Thursday 30 May 2024

What’s the Future for Museums?

To coincide with the UNESCO 24th session of the ‘Return & Restitution’ Committee, we’re hosting a debate on the future of museums. The scandal of the British Museum inside-job theft might well suggest that documenting, preserving and displaying artefacts is no longer museums’ top priority. Certainly, the traditional function of museums – centred around scholarly research and the exhibition of significant objects from past human […]

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Wednesday 19 June 2024

Politicians Under the Microscope

In this election year, we welcome the University of York’s Peter Bull and Maurice Waddle to discuss their recent book The Psychology of Political Communication: Politicians Under the Microscope. Contemporary politics is mass-communication politics. Politicians are not only seen and heard, they are seen and heard in close-up through television and on social media. In this book, the authors analyse the ways in which politicians […]

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salon & school debating news

The Womble Bond Dickinson / Leeds Salon Years 10&11 Debating Competition 2024

2024 Champions Cardinal Heenan with Nat Edwards RAM (L) & John Connor WBD (R)

The Final of The Womble Bond Dickinson / Leeds Salon Years 10&11 Debating Competition 2024 took place Thursday 21st March at Womble Bond Dickinson’s Leeds offices between Abbey Grange CofE Academy, Cardinal Heenan Catholic High, Guiseley School and Mount St Mary’s Catholic High, debating whether we should accept the risks inherent in contact sports and weather billionaires owning media companies is bad for democracy.

Cardinal Heenan were declared 2024 Champions after an excellent final decider versus Abbey Grange on weather monuments to controversial historical figures should remain.

Prize Sponsors were Royal Armouries Museum (Leeds), and  award-wining multi-media technology company Tectonic Interactive, and the Inter-Disciplinary Ethics Applied (IDEA) Centre of the University of Leeds who all contributed to the packages of prizes awarded to the winning team, runners-up and 3 individual prize winners: ‘Best Individual’ Iris Podesta, Guiseley School; ‘Highly Commended’ Korede Ayileka, Cardinal Heenan; and ‘Commended Individual’ Dan Garfield, Guiseley School.

FINAL details can be seen here.

Prize Sponsors

Royal Armouries Museum (Leeds)
Inter-Disciplinary Ethics Applied (IDEA) Centre, University of Leeds
Tectonic Interactive Ltd