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.
next salon
Wednesday 17 September 2025
Anti-Semitism: Canary in the Coal Mine?
For our first satellite event for the Battle of Ideas 2025* we’re discussing historical and contemporary anti-semitism The number of anti-Semitic incidents across the western world has surged since the Hamas assault on southern Israel on 7th October 2023. They have included physical assaults, harassment of Jewish students on university campuses as well as attacks on synagogues and Jewish businesses. According to a recent UK government-backed […]
forthcoming salons
Thursday 9 October 2025
Comedy: Are You Having a Laugh?
For our second satellite event for the Battle of Ideas 2025* we’re discussing the state of contemporary comedy. The old joke has it that analysing comedy is like dissecting a frog: nobody laughs, and the frog dies. Fair enough. But comedy raises all sorts of moral and philosophical issues – particularly today when it seems increasingly polarised along ‘left/right’ or – perhaps more accurately – social […]
salon & school debating news
The Womble Bond Dickinson / Leeds Salon Years 10&11 Debating Competition 2025
The final of the ‘The Womble Bond Dickinson / Leeds Salon Years 10&11 Debating Competition 2025’ took place on Wednesday 2nd April at the WBD Leeds offices – the third year leading transatlantic law firm Womble Bond Dickinson (Leeds) has been Headline Partner in the twelfth year of our annual competition for 14-to-16 year-olds.
The three qualifying rounds winners – Abbey Grange CofE Academy, Carr Manor Community School and Guiseley School – completed over three debates on: ‘Humanity should fear advances in artificial intelligence‘, ‘Western museums should repatriate culture artefacts‘ and ‘Assisted dying should be legalised‘.
Carr Manor Community School were declared 2025 Champions for the first time in only their third final.
There were also three individual prizes awarded to: ‘Best Individual’ Molly Megginson of Carr Manor; ‘Highly Commended Individual’ Eliza Salmon of Guiseley, and ‘Commended Individual’ Felix Whittaker of Carr Manor.
Prize Sponsors for the final were Royal Armouries Museum (Leeds), the University of Leeds’ Inter-Disciplinary Ethics Applied Centre and UKREiiF – the Leeds-based UK’s Real Estate Investment and Infrastructure Forum – who all contributed to the packages of prizes.
Thank you to our teams of panel and individual judges: John Connor, David Cole and Razvan Popa of Womble Bond Dickinson; Director General of the Royal Armouries Nat Edwards, the University of Leeds’ Dr Mark Westgarth and Ruby Hornsby, artist and director of The Firmament Annabel Carington, co-founder of Freedom in the Arts Denise Fahmy, BBC Leeds journalist Julia Bryson, assistant director at HMRC Russell Thomas, NHS Englands’ Paul Butterworth, law student Sasha Watson and Leeds Salon co-founder Michele Ledda.
Prize Sponsors
