Leeds International Festival of Ideas

29/08/2026

We check our phones more than 100 times a day. Social media has changed how we think, vote, shop and date. The obvious question, should we just stop? — turns out to be much harder than it sounds.

Dr Sophie Bishop is an Associate Professor at the University of Leeds and one of the sharpest voices on influencer culture in the country. She advised a parliamentary inquiry on it, co-founded the EU's Influencer Legal Hub, and her book Influencer Creep won awards last year.

"Bringing these conversations out of the university is great."

She joins Mark Farid, Katy Leeson and Megan McKenna for 'Is it time to switch off social media?', hosted by Joe Tidy.

📍 Courtyard Theatre, Leeds Playhouse
📅 Friday 9 October, 7.30–9pm
🎟️ Selling fast https://leedsinternationalfestival.com/event/is-it-time-to-switch-off-social-media/

28/08/2026

The news agenda moved on. The atmosphere didn't.

Close to 490,000 hectares have burned across the EU. France is having its worst fire year on record. The UK's own total is the highest since 2012, and on 14 August the government sent an emergency alert to millions of phones telling people to put the barbecues away.

And yet climate has spent two years drifting down the news agenda. The story got bigger. The coverage got quieter.

Chris Packham CBE hosts Dr Mya-Rose Craig and Juergen Maier CBE at LIFI26 for a conversation about climate fatigue, political inaction, and keeping this on the radar when so many agendas have moved on.

Thursday 8 October, 8pm to 9.30pm, Quarry Theatre at Leeds Playhouse. Tickets on sale now.

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Climate had slipped down the running order. Then the government sent an emergency alert to millions of phones. It sets the scene for one of LIFI26's most u

27/08/2026

Existential risk. Planetary limits. Whether to have kids at all.

Dr SJ Beard on what they actually study, why population is a harder question than the headlines allow, and why they can't wait for LIFI26.

"A sustainable population is one that is aware of its limits, aware of the damage it's causing, and aware of the solutions it can implement."

They're on the panel for 'Are kids still part of the plan?' at the Courtyard Theatre on Sat 10 Oct, alongside Yousra Samir Imran and Betty Mukherjee, hosted by Laura Hamilton.

Tickets on sale now.
🎟️ https://leedsinternationalfestival.com/event/are-kids-still-part-of-the-plan/
📍 Leeds Playhouse 🗓️ Sat 10 Oct, 2pm

25/08/2026

Around three in four suspected su***des in England are men, with the highest rates among men aged 25 to 64. Those proportions have barely shifted, despite a decade of campaigns, documentaries and public figures speaking openly.

That's the uncomfortable thing our new piece sits with: awareness has clearly grown, and it hasn't been enough on its own. Stigma has softened, but silence — the kind that masculinity and "I'm fine" have quietly enforced for generations — hasn't.

On Wednesday 7 October, Roman Kemp, Andy Airey MBE, Professor Rory O'Connor, Donelle Lawrence and Ellie Palma Cass join host Amy Irons to talk about what actually moves the needle.

📍 Courtyard Theatre, Leeds Playhouse
📅 Wednesday 7 October, 7.30–9pm
🎟️ Tickets on sale now

Read it here: https://leedsinternationalfestival.com/the-hardest-conversation-is-still-the-one-we-avoid/

If you're struggling, or worried about someone, Samaritans are free and open 24 hours a day on 116 123.

The most recent figures on su***de in England are a reminder of why silence is so costly, and why LIFI26 is putting the conversation on stage.

24/08/2026

Someone asks if you're alright. You say you're fine. They say good, and you both carry on with your day.

We all do it. Not because we don't care, but because most of us have never been taught what the second question sounds like. We worry about saying the wrong thing, so we say nothing.

That gap is what this event is about.

Roman Kemp, Professor Rory O'Connor and Andy Airey of 3 Dads Walking join host Amy Irons at Leeds Playhouse to talk about why su***de remains one of the conversations we avoid, and what changes when we stop avoiding it.

It isn't an easy conversation. That's exactly why it's worth having.

Wed 7 October, 7.30pm, Leeds Playhouse. Tickets: https://leedsinternationalfestival.com/event/how-do-we-talk-about-su***de/

If you're struggling, Samaritans are there day or night on 116 123.

22/08/2026

For the first time in human history, the global population is on course to decline before the century is out.

The strange part isn't that it's happening — it's that nobody can fully explain it. Housing costs might account for half the drop in some rich countries. Birth rates fell off a cliff around the time smartphones arrived. And young people still say they want around two children.

A new Sky News film sets the scene for 'Are kids still part of the plan?' with Dr SJ Beard, Yousra Samir Imran and Betty Mukherjee, hosted by Laura Hamilton.

📍 Courtyard Theatre, Leeds Playhouse
📅 Saturday 10 October, 2–3.30pm
🎟️ Tickets on sale now

Read the piece
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A new Sky News film on collapsing fertility rates sets the scene for one of LIFI26's biggest conversations.

17/08/2026

On Friday night, every phone in England and Wales went off at once. An emergency alert. Wildfires.

It's Monday evening. Be honest, how much have you thought about it since? That's not a criticism. It's how all of us are wired, and it's exactly what this event is about.

Remember when everyone talked about climate change? Constantly. on the news, in politics, everywhere. So: is the planet fixed now? Obviously not. We just got tired of talking about it.

Chris Packham is coming to Leeds to ask why, alongside Dr Mya-Rose Craig and Juergen Maier CBE. Climate fatigue, political inaction and honestly, what still gives us hope.

📍 Quarry Theatre, Leeds Playhouse 🗓️ Thu 8 Oct, 8pm–9.30pm
🎟️ Tickets moving quickly — link in comments

16/08/2026

Meet your host.

Jamil Qureshi has spent his career in the rooms where pressure is highest — working with world number one golfers, the European Ryder Cup team and FTSE boardrooms. And the thing he keeps coming back to is failure.

Not as a setback. As a method.

On Wed 7 Oct he's at Leeds Playhouse hosting Elizabeth Day for Failure Is An Option — an honest, uplifting hour on vulnerability, resilience and turning the wrong turns into something useful.

Have a listen to Jamil on why he's looking forward to LIFI26 👇

📍 Quarry Theatre, Leeds Playhouse 🗓️ Wed 7 Oct, 8pm–9.30pm
🎟️ Only a handful of tickets left, link in comments

11/08/2026

Australia did what no country had tried before: it banned social media outright for under-16s and threatened the platforms with A$33m fines.

Eight months on, more than 80% of under-16s are still using it. VPNs, borrowed birthdays, fake face scans — the kids found the workarounds you'd expect.

So if the off switch doesn't work, what does? That's the question Dr Sophie Bishop, Mark Farid, Katy Leeson and Megan McKenna take on with host Joe Tidy at LIFI26.

📅 Is it time to switch off social media?
Friday 9 October, 7.30pm, Courtyard Theatre, Leeds Playhouse. Tickets on sale now.

Read the piece:

Australia's world-first ban on social media for under-16s was meant to settle the argument. The first hard data has only sharpened it, and one of LIFI26's

09/08/2026

Imagine being told you can't be a musician because you're deaf. Now imagine becoming one of the greatest percussionists in the world anyway.

That's Dame Evelyn Glennie. And she's joined by Tasha Ghouri, who took being deaf onto Love Island, onto the Strictly dance floor, and made the whole country pay attention.

Two very different worlds. The same story about what happens when the world isn't built for you, and you decide that's the world's problem, not yours.

Hosted by Dr Hannah French. Leeds Playhouse, Thursday 8 October. It's selling fast, so don't sit on it.

🎟 Tickets https://leedsinternationalfestival.com/event/strength-beyond-the-silence/
🎥 Chapter 81