The Battle for Truth

Our history is up for grabs. Who do we honour with statues and what do we celebrate in our museums? Join James Harding and guests to debate how we deal with empire, slavery, and all the rights and wrongs of our past.

Is cancel culture a way to wrest the mic from the powerful? A means of stifling debate? Or both?With guests Suzanne Moore, journalist; Ash Sarkar, Novara Media; Amber Rudd, former Home Secretary; Matt D'Ancona, Tortoise editor and partner.

Public inquiries have been an important clearing house in the battle for truth. They’ve settled arguments about who was responsible for national scandals and tragedies and, crucially, taken the pen away from people in power and given it to victims and campaigners. In the age of social media, when anyone can hold the pen, can the idea of the public inquiry survive?

In theory, it’s the crucible where politicians encounter journalists and a story is revealed in the white heat of the moment. In practice, critics would have it, it’s a cooked-up charade co-produced by the media and politics. What role does the political press conference have now in the battle for truth?

In the court of public opinion, Facebook is Exhibit A in the battle for truth; the most powerful example on the planet of the damage unregulated social media is doing to the public square. Facebook’s response has been to set up a higher court, its own supreme court in fact. Whatever it does, whatever it says, it won’t be the last word.

You will never again see a Tweet from Donald Trump. He’s been banned from Twitter for life without the right to appeal. The world feels quieter, but is it better? The power to hand out megaphones in our democracies, and the power to take them away, now rests in a tiny number of hands.