Ken Macdonald KChas practised at the Bar since 1978 and took silk in 1997. A founder member of Matrix Chambers, he was appointed a Recorder of the Crown Court in 2001, and elected Chairman of the Criminal Bar Association in 2003. He served as Director of Public Prosecutions between 2003-2008, the first prominent defence lawyer to have been appointed to that post, and he was knighted for services to the law in 2007. In 2010, he was appointed to the House of Lords, where he sits as a Crossbencher. He is a former Visiting Professor of Law at the London School of Economics, and he was Warden of Wadham College Oxford between 2012-2021.
Currently, he continues to practice in criminal, regulatory and arbitral law from Matrix Chambers. He is a member of the Legal Advisory Board of the Free Speech Union, President of the Howard League for Penal Reform, and Chair of the Orwell Foundation which awards the UK’s premier prizes for journalism and political writing.
A regulator writer and broadcast commentator on legal, security and political affairs, he co-presents Double Jeopardy, the leading law and politics podcast.
student, Exeter University & founder of Exeter University Speak Easy Society
Jack Barwell is a student at Exeter University studying BA politics, having just finished his 2nd year. At secondary school he set up his own debating competition with all the schools in his trust called the folio trust speaking challenge for year 6 and 7 pupils. After leaving his state school he founded the Charity Bridge the Gap to help state school kids get into top universities through teaching by Oxbridge students. He is the president of the organisation. At university he was speaker secretary and then chairman of the Exeter University debating society for 2 years, hosting debates with speakers such as Ann Widdecombe, Calvin Robinson and David Gauke. He then left the debating society over its refusal to stand up for free speech and set up his own society, Exeter University Speak Easy Society, which he is the President of and is forming a national speak easy movement. Jack has also run as a conservative council candidate in Mincinglake and Whipton in 2021 and now works part time as a parliamentary assistant for Selaine Saxby MP.
Vinay is a 19-year-old Politics student at the University of Warwick. He previously attended John Lyon, Harrow where he served as Head Boy in his final year. Vinay maintains a strong interest in Public Speaking, achieving Distinction in his LAMDA Grade 8 exam. He currently serves as Social Secretary of his University’s Public Speaking Society. Additionally, Vinay is a member of the English-Speaking Union, an organization dedicated to promoting oracy among young people. He is currently presiding over an ideas and discussion society at Warwick, to encourage more open academic discussion and debate. Outside the classroom, Vinay tutors English GCSE and Politics A Level students and enjoys reading the works of Fyodor Dostoevsky.
Jo-Anne Nadler is a writer and commentator, known for analysing the changing fortunes of the Conservative Party. She spent ten years as a producer and reporter with the BBC before going freelance to concentrate on publishing and broadcasting. Jo-Anne is the author of 2 books and contributor to many newspapers and magazines, she regularly appears on the BBC and GB News. In recent years she has become a campaigner for impartial schooling and parental rights, and, having mobilised fellow parents at her son’s school to lobby against uncontested gender ideology and critical race theory, has just published a widely reported essay, ‘Show, Tell and Leave Nothing to the Imagination; How critical social justice is undermining British schooling’, for the think tank Civitas.
Omar Loubak Mohamed is a Politics, Philosophy, and Economics (PPE) student at Royal Holloway and a former committee member of the debating society which he subsequently left due to the disinvitation of Baroness Fox.
He is the co-founder of a new society called SpeakEasy, based on upholding the values of free speech on university campuses. He is the speakers-coordinator for TEDx Royal Holloway and recently organised a TEDx conference at Royal Holloway.
Omar was formerly an intern for the Academy of Ideas. He has been an English Tutor for the last four years for KS3 and GCSE students, specialising in public speaking and debating.
lecturer; writer; acting & vocal trainer; co-host of the Performance Anxiety podcast
Dr Maren Thom has worked in film and theatre, and teaches film, speech and stage-work at university level. Her research and writing focuses on performance and representation as both social and artistic concepts. After working in academia she is now a freelance writer and leads acting workshops for teaching staff at universities.
Maren’s chapter ‘The Backlash Against Woke Aesthetics’ was published in The Conformist Rebellion in January 2022 by Rowman and Littlefield Int.
Engineering Program Manager in International Infrastructure
Ben is an engineering graduate from the University of Sheffield. Since graduating he has worked on international infrastructure projects at a major tech firm as an engineering project manager. The most notable project he has contributed to being the 2Africa cable system, landing in 3 continents and at commencement was the longest cable system in the world spanning over 45,000km. During university he also gained experience in nuclear and aerospace sectors and is up for talking any engineering you like!
In his ‘spare time’ Ben has also set up a charity, reads copious amounts of philosophy and plays a variety of sports very averagely!
political & communications director, Centre for Social Justice
Matthew is the Political & Communications Director for the Centre for Social Justice, the UK’s leading think-tank tackling the root causes of poverty and social breakdown.
Previously, he was Chief Executive of the Mayor’s Fund for London, CEO of The Lord’s Taverners, and founding CEO of global sports and entertainment agency, M&C Saatchi Sponsorship.
Matthew was a Member of the European Parliament and sat on the EU’s Employment & Social Affairs Committee and was spokesperson for children & young people.
His non-executive Director roles have included St John Ambulance, London Funders, The Oxford Literary Festival, The Centre for Brexit Policy, and Chair of Governors at Ipswich High School.
Matthew describes his greatest achievement as delivering his third son. The midwives were late, there was nothing else to be done, and fortunately his wife knew exactly what to do.
Follow Matthew and the Centre for Social Justice on Twitter – @csjthinktank
Kathryn is a currently a statistician working in the Civil Service, however she spent many years in education, teaching English and psychology both in the UK and abroad. She debated competitively in high school in the USA and continued to stay involved in debate as a tournament judge while studying psychology at UNC Chapel Hill. She later pursued an MA in Applied Linguistics (TEFL) at the American University in Cairo, which kickstarted her career in international education, teaching in Egypt, the USA, Thailand and Jordan before settling in the UK in 2013.
Felice is a 21-year-old student from Copenhagen, Denmark studying history at Trinity College Dublin. She volunteered at the Battle of Ideas 2022, and is currently interning with Ideas Matter, helping to organise the Living Freedom Summer School, and the Academy, as well as supporting the Academy of Ideas with the Battle of Ideas 2023.
Felice has written for online publications on free speech, activism, and university life and is hoping to pursue a career in journalism. She is the president of the student run non-profit organisation Nordic Study Abroad Community which runs an annual conference for high school and university students, and she is the treasurer of the Trinity College Hiking Society. Until last year she was also a competitive figure skater and placed third at the Danish national championships in 2021.