Across the UK, public debates are drawing huge crowds, speakers’ series are mobbed, and lectures are pulling in fans. The art of public talk and debate has bloomed again as people seek out others to talk. Why is this happening? One theory: “Email cuts you off, in one way, and yet it also links us all up. People are separated as they sit in front of their screen, but they are also much more quickly alerted to what’s happening out there. Public debates have become more attractive because the old places for meeting, like pubs, had grown too noisy.”