Gallery · By area

Society and culture

74 public ChatShows on Society and culture, by sub-topic. Each ChatShow is a spoken discussion of one question by AI heads under a chair, held to a standard set before it starts and checked by a fact desk after. Anyone hears the first minute free; a new account starts with free credits.

Education 26

• Should US Libraries Buy More Manga for Teens on Shrinking Budgets? Which public library system in the United States should expand its manga and graphic novel collections for teen readers, and how many titles per year should it budget given shrinking acquisition funds? 3 heads · 15 min · 6.8
• Should a Texas County Require a Roman Britain and English Law Unit? As a Texas county weighing its own history curriculum, should it adopt a required unit on the Roman occupation of Britain and its legacy in English law, or keep its standard American history sequence unchanged? 3 heads · 15 min · 8.4
• Bell-to-Bell Phone Bans: Funding, Enforcement and Exemptions for Pennsylvania Schools How would Pennsylvania's public school districts handle students' smartphones during the school day, given that some districts already ban them outright while others allow them at lunch, and what should the state require by the 2026 school year? 3 heads · 15 min · 5.1!
• Private Austen Fans, Not Taxpayers, Should Fund Chawton Teacher Trips Given that Jane Austen's novels are taught in nearly every American high school English class, should the Austen Museum in Chawton, Hampshire, be part of a US-funded exchange program that brings American teachers there, and what should it cost? 3 heads · 15 min · 5.0!
• Should Dearborn Fund Arabic Bilingual Classes, and Should Other Cities Copy It? Is Dearborn, Michigan, right to fund Arabic-language bilingual instruction in its public elementary schools, and should other American cities with large immigrant communities copy it? 3 heads · 15 min · 9.0
• Who Should Fund Free After-School Childcare for Primary Pupils in Wales and the North Who should decide whether councils in Wales and northern England may fund free after-school childcare for every primary pupil from 2027, and what share of the cost should fall on council tax versus central government? 3 heads · 15 min · 5.6
• Should Zurich Make Shakespeare, Austen and Dickens Compulsory Reading? Factoring in Zurich's bilingual signage tradition and the fact that Swiss schools teach English as a third language, should the Canton of Zurich make English-language editions of Shakespeare, Austen and Dickens compulsory reading in its upper secondary schools from 2027? 3 heads · 15 min · 5.5
• Should Vienna Teach Residents to Spot Fallacies in Its Libraries? Given that Vienna's coffeehouse culture rewarded long, contentious debate over a single cup, should the city require public debating forums in its municipal libraries to teach residents how to spot fallacies before the 2027 local elections? 3 heads · 15 min · 8.1!
• Shared Phones, Primary Pupils and When Paper Should Come First When would South African parents in Gauteng townships with limited data and shared phones be right to let primary-school children use a smartphone for online learning, and what daily screen limit should they set? 3 heads · 20 min · 7.3
• Should New Zealand cap university fees to wages? Panel splits on the lever Where do New Zealand's universities and polytechnics stand on student fees, and should the government cap domestic tuition fees at a set percentage of average wages by 2030 to make a degree worth the debt? 3 heads · 15 min · 8.1
• Should Cape Town Libraries Fund Free Board Game and Toy Lending? As a Cape Town parent planning a 2025 school holiday, should the city's libraries and community centres in Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain fund a free loan programme of classic board games and outdoor toys, given their limited budgets? 2 heads · 15 min · 7.6
• Should Canadian Humanities Degrees Require Latin or Greek? Why would a Canadian university in Toronto or Montreal be right to make Latin or ancient Greek a requirement for a humanities degree, and what minimum course load should it set? 2 heads · 20 min · 7.0
• Should Houston teach Tejano English alongside standard English in required classes? If a Houston school district decided to teach Spanish-influenced English varieties alongside standard American English in its required reading and speaking classes, should it adopt that policy starting in the 2026-27 school year, and what evidence about student outcomes should decide it? 4 heads · 15 min · 6.4
• Should a Sheffield school ban slang or teach code-switching instead? If a secondary school in Sheffield banned all swearing and slang from its classrooms from next September, should it instead teach pupils a registers-based code-switching policy, and what evidence from UK schools would decide it? 3 heads · 15 min · 7.1
• Should Utah Schools Teach World Religions, and How Firmly? By when should Utah's public schools in Salt Lake County be required to teach comparative world religions, including afterlife beliefs like heaven, hell and reincarnation, and what should the curriculum drop to make room? 2 heads · 15 min · 4.8!
• Standard English, Dialect and Pupils Learning a New Language Where do UK schools teaching English to pupils from abroad, such as in Leicester or Bradford, should draw the line between standard English and local dialect, and should they be teaching pupils to switch registers at all? 4 heads · 15 min · 6.8
• Should Manchester Fund Free After-School Clubs Through a Council Tax Rise? Would a council in Manchester be right to fund free after-school clubs for every primary pupil until 6pm, paying for it with a 2% rise in council tax, given that working parents there report the most trouble covering childcare gaps? 4 heads · 30 min · 7.1
• Breakfast Clubs or Adult Skills: Which Deserves Stoke's Council Money? Why would a council in Stoke-on-Trent that wants to raise social mobility commit to funding universal breakfast clubs at primary schools for three years, rather than spending the same money on adult skills courses in the Potteries, and what figure should decide it? 4 heads · 15 min · 6.2
• Should Beloved replace Gatsby? Panel says teachers should choose and Indonesian writers come first Why would a Jakarta high school literature teacher be right to replace The Great Gatsby with a Bahasa Indonesia translation of Toni Morrison's Beloved in the national curriculum by 2027? 3 heads · 15 min · 7.6
• Should Vienna ban phones in primary schools and fund it per pupil? What happens if Vienna's primary schools ban smartphones during the whole school day from September 2026, and should the city fund it with a figure per pupil? 3 heads · 15 min · 7.7
• Dual-Language Classes and English Learners in Texas Schools What could Texas school districts do about the growing number of Spanish-speaking kindergartners entering classrooms with little English, given that dual-language programs have shown strong results for both languages? 3 heads · 15 min · 8.4
• Choosing Māori and Pasifika Children's Novels: Partnership or a Fixed Share How would a New Zealand public library in Christchurch or Dunedin decide which contemporary novels by Māori and Pasifika writers to stock for its children's and young adult shelves, and what budget share should it commit to them? 3 heads · 15 min · 4.8
• Why Capping Tuition Fees May Miss the Poorer Students It Aims to Help Ensuring that graduates from low-income families are not priced out of the most selective degrees, should governments cap university tuition fees at a fixed share of median graduate earnings and fund the shortfall from general taxation? Wilson · 5 min · 7.6
• Funding Writers' Rooms in Edinburgh Libraries Without Displacing Readers What would it take for Edinburgh's city council to fund a permanent reading room in the Central Library so that aspiring novelists from Leith and Wester Hailes can write and workshop their fiction for free, and what annual budget should it be given? 6 heads · 20 min · 8.1
• Should States Decide Which Languages Their Schools Must Teach? Should Indian states like Tamil Nadu be allowed to require that public schools teach the regional language alongside Hindi and English, and how should Bengaluru balance that with its large migrant workforce? Wilson · 5 min · 8.4
• Should Lahore Schools Teach Stoicism Alongside Islamic Studies? Should Pakistani secondary schools in Lahore make Stoic philosophy, drawn from Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius, a compulsory part of the ethics curriculum from Grade 9, and how should it be taught alongside Islamic Studies? Wilson · 5 min · 5.6

Gender and identity 1

• Should Texas and Ohio Schools Match Women's Coach Pay to Football Coordinators? Why would a US state university athletic department in Texas or Ohio need to decide whether to pay its women's basketball head coach at least as much as its men's football assistant coaches, and what figure should it commit to by the 2026 budget cycle? 5 heads · 30 min · 7.8

Schools and exams 16

• Should Struggling Districts Replace End-of-Year Exams With Portfolios? Where do American districts with chronically absent students and falling test scores need to decide whether to end standardized end-of-year exams in favor of portfolio assessment, and what should the state's policy on that be by the 2026 school year? 3 heads · 15 min · 6.5
• Teach the Switch, Not the Ban: Slang and Profanity in Texas Classrooms What could Texas school districts do about students' slang and profanity in class, given that Gen Z and Gen Alpha words like 'rizz' and 'skibidi' spread through social media faster than any dictionary can track? 3 heads · 15 min · 8.1
• Should Houston Teach a Required Semester on India, China and Japan? What would it take for Houston's public schools to adopt a required semester on the history of India, China and Japan, and should Texas legislators fund it with state grants by 2027? 3 heads · 15 min · 4.5
• Should Stockholm swap religious education for a humanist ethics course? Would Sweden's Stockholm school system be right to replace compulsory religious education with a mandatory course on humanist ethics and world religions taught by secular teachers from 2027? 3 heads · 15 min · 6.7!
• Should Schools Let Parents Opt Out of Evolution Lessons? Why would a South African school in Stellenbosch or Gqeberha that teaches evolution under the national curriculum need to decide how to handle parents who object on creationist grounds, and what policy should the Western Cape Education Department adopt by 2026? 4 heads · 30 min · 8.1!
• Should a Leeds School Ban Phones All Day, and How Would It Know? How would a secondary school in Leeds restrict phone use across the school day, and what evidence should decide whether it keeps the ban beyond the first year? 3 heads · 25 min · 8.7
• Scrap the League Tables or Reweight Them? Panel Splits on Schools Now that England's Ofsted inspections have been reshaped and schools face rising pressure over exam results, should the Department for Education scrap GCSE league tables in favour of a broader measure that includes wellbeing and creative subjects, and by what date? 2 heads · 15 min · 4.2
• Should Texas Make Personal Finance a Free, Graded High School Course? By when should the state of Texas require every public high school to offer a free, graded course in personal finance, and should that course replace an existing elective or add to the credit load? 2 heads · 10 min · 6.5
• Should England Make Phone-Free Secondary Schools Mandatory From September 2026? Now that the UK has seen rising reports of teenagers struggling with attention and sleep, should the government in England make smartphone-free secondary schools mandatory from September 2026, and what evidence should decide it? 4 heads · 15 min · 6.8!
• Separating Imagination from Accuracy in Pupils' Stories How far should schools in Wales and England stop marking pupils down for spelling and punctuation errors in creative writing, given the 2014 national curriculum's emphasis on accuracy? 2 heads · 15 min · 5.0
• Detroit Magnet Admissions: Screening, Lotteries and Funded New Seats What would it take for Detroit's public schools to adopt a race-conscious admissions lottery for its selective magnet programs by the 2026 enrollment cycle, and should the district do it? 3 heads · 30 min · 6.5!
• Should statistics be compulsory in Scottish maths? The panel split on the fix Should Scotland's secondary schools make statistics and probability a compulsory part of the maths GCSE exam, rather than leaving it as a minor topic that many pupils in Glasgow and Edinburgh barely study? 3 heads · 30 min · 6.7
• Should Texas High Schools Start Later, and Who Pays for the Buses? By when should American high schools in states like Texas start first-period classes later than 8:30 a.m. to match teenagers' sleep, and should districts fund that change with bus budgets or with earlier school-day caps? 4 heads · 15 min · 8.4!
• Should Texas Replace Graduation Exams With Portfolios by 2027? Is it time for Texas to replace its statewide high-school graduation exams with a single portfolio-based pathway, and what would it take for Houston and Dallas districts to adopt it by 2027? 2 heads · 10 min · 4.6!
• Should Chicago Swap Ninth-Grade Algebra for Data Science by 2026? Where do American school districts stand on replacing traditional algebra with data science courses, and should a district like Chicago's Public Schools make that switch for ninth graders by 2026? 2 heads · 10 min · 8.2!
• Should a student-written poem replace a standardised poetry exam question? Should schools replace one standardised poetry exam question each year with a student-written poem that is read aloud to the class, and if so, how should it be assessed fairly? 3 heads · 15 min · 7.6

Friendship 3

• Dating Apps Versus Friends and Clubs: Should Councils Fund Social Events? Where do young adults in Auckland and Wellington stand on dating apps versus meeting people through friends and clubs, and should councils or community groups fund more in-person social events to help them find partners? 3 heads · 15 min · 7.6!
• Making Conversation with Strangers Through Shared Tasks and Moments Younger generations are becoming introverted as they become tied to their mobile phones and games consoles. They are losing the ability to converse in person with one another. What is the art of conversation, what are the ingredients to striking up a successful conversation with a total stranger? 5 heads · 30 min
• Pick a Recurring Group and Stick With It for Twelve Weeks What is the psychology of friendship? Why do some people make friends easier than others? Does physical appearance factor in making friends, are any skills involved? Give a practical guide to making friends. 6 heads · 35 min

Class and caste 2

• Apprenticeships or university places for working-class talent in the North East Ensuring that children from working-class towns in the North East of England, such as Hartlepool, get a fair shot at professional jobs, should the government fund targeted university places or paid apprenticeship routes into law firms and accountancy, and at what annual cost? 3 heads · 25 min · 7.9
• Should Pool Fees Follow Household Income? Wilson Weighs the Melbourne Question Should Melbourne's city council replace its flat-rate public swimming pool entry fees with a sliding scale tied to household income, given that the Yarra pools serve both wealthy inner-north residents and low-income families in Dandenong, and what would that change cost per year? Wilson · 5 min · 5.8

Generations 1

• Can Sheffield's Homeshare Plan Ease Generational Housing Tension? Should Sheffield City Council use its planned pensioner-to-young-renter housing swap scheme, pairing empty family homes owned by over-70s with under-30 renters at a discount, to ease generational tension over housing in South Yorkshire? Wilson · 5 min · 7.6

Community and neighbours 5

• Should Ohio fund paid mentors for isolated rural residents, or build roads and broadband first? Factoring in the well-documented rise in loneliness among young adults in Ohio's rural counties, should the state fund a five-year program that pays volunteer mentors to meet weekly with isolated residents, and what evidence would show it actually raises life satisfaction? 3 heads · 15 min · 7.6!
• Should Cardiff Keep the Old Swings in Roath Park or Replace Them All What happens if Cardiff's council replaces the Victorian-era playground toys in Roath Park with a modern adventure play area, and should it keep the old swings and roundabouts for nostalgia? 3 heads · 15 min · 7.8
• Should Wrocław fund a public friendship programme for residents over sixty? Would a city like Wrocław be right to fund a publicly run friendship-matching programme for residents over 60, and what budget per participant should it commit to for its first three years? 3 heads · 15 min · 8.2
• Accessible Bus Stops or Evening Paratransit: Where a Mid-Sized Ohio City Should Spend If a mid-sized Ohio city must spend its federal transit grant on either new accessible bus stops or extended paratransit hours for residents with disabilities, which should it choose, and what would that choice mean for people who rely on both? 2 heads · 10 min · 4.6
• Neighbours on a Leeds Terrace: Notes, Logs and Bin Corrals In a terraced street in Leeds where residents rarely speak, what practical steps should neighbours take this year to build a shared bin-day and noise agreement, and how many households should sign it before the council takes it seriously? 2 heads · 10 min

Charity and volunteering 4

• Overhead Ratios Mislead: Why Charity Rules Should Measure Outcomes, Not Costs Which single reform should governments require of large charities, mandatory publication of how much of each donation reaches the cause after overheads, or a cap on administrative spending, and at what threshold would it apply? Wilson · 5 min · 7.0
• Public Art in Glasgow: Survey First, Then Let Residents Choose the Split Why would Glasgow's public art budget be better spent commissioning local ceramicists and textile craftspeople for permanent street installations than funding a single monumental bronze, and what share of the budget should each take? 3 heads · 20 min · 6.4
• Are UK charities being hijacked by political activists? The panel weighs the evidence Is there any evidence that UK charities are being hijacked by political activists to purposely appropriate or misdirect funds to finance activity outside there charitable remit, examples may include RSPCA, The National Trust, City Bridge Foundation, .. What action/have the Charity Commission taken? 5 heads · 40 min · 8.1!
• Charity Overhead Ratios: Why Lean Accounts Can Mislead Donors Should large charities be required to publish, within a year, the share of each donated dollar that actually reaches the intended beneficiaries, and should donors be allowed to withhold gifts until they can see that figure? Wilson · 5 min

Holidays and festivals 2

• Should Leeds churchyards close to burial by 2030, or stay parish by parish? Should the Church of England's parish burial grounds in Leeds, which are nearly full, be closed to new plots in favour of a shared memorial and cremation-only policy by 2030? 4 heads · 25 min · 8.4
• Should Holy Island, Iona and St Davids Become a Shared UK Pilgrimage Network? What would it take for Lindisfarne, Iona and St Davids to be promoted into a coordinated UK pilgrimage network with shared funding, and should the government or the churches pay for the trail signage, accommodation and transport links? 2 heads · 10 min · 6.9!

Work-life balance 1

• Four Days, Smaller Flat: Test the Trade Before You Commit If a 34-year-old nurse in Leeds earning around 31,000 pounds a year could cut her hours to four days a week and move to a smaller flat in Hyde Park to pursue a slower, simpler life, should she make that trade, and what would a fair test of whether it is good for her well-being look like? 2 heads · 10 min · 6.4

National identity 4

• Immigration, Birth Rates and Whether Housing Decides the Outcome What is the consequence of reduced birth rates and higher immigration, define the cultural and economic outcomes both positive and negative. 3 heads · 20 min · 6.7!
• Community radio, local languages and who should fund the airwaves Where do Pakistani community radio stations in Sindh and Balochistan, which often broadcast in Sindhi, Balochi and Brahui, stand on licensing reform, and should the regulator PEMRA fund local-language podcasts by 2027? 3 heads · 15 min · 7.8
• Should Texas and California Mandate a Civics Course on National Symbols? Given the rising share of Americans who say they do not feel proud of their national identity, should Texas or California require public schools to teach a standardized civics course on national symbols, flags and the Pledge of Allegiance, and what evidence should decide it? 3 heads · 15 min · 6.5
• Who Should Own and Keep New Zealand's Te Reo Audio Archive Can Radio New Zealand and the regional iwi-owned stations in Te Tai Tokerau afford to keep their Māori-language podcast archives free to download, given the funding cuts they face, and should Wellington's public broadcasting budget fund a dedicated Te Reo audio archive by 2030? 2 heads · 10 min · 7.8

News and journalism 6

• Should Poland Set a Duty of Care for Talent Show Contestants? When would a Polish public broadcaster like TVP be justified in cutting a reality or talent show such as Poland's Got Talent after a contestant's on-air breakdown, and should Warsaw set a written duty-of-care rule for such programmes by 2026? 3 heads · 15 min · 7.6
• Should Every Radio Programme Come With a Transcript Within 48 Hours? Ensuring BBC Radio 4 and independent UK podcasts stay accessible to listeners who are deaf or hard of hearing, should Ofcom require full transcripts of every spoken programme published within 48 hours, and who should pay for it? 3 heads · 15 min · 6.5
• Should Blackpool fund a public museum of childhood favourites? Now that Blackpool's seafront arcades are struggling and many 1990s toys and games are being re-released as nostalgia products, should the council in Blackpool fund a publicly backed museum of childhood favourites, and if so, what should it cost and which decade should it prioritise? 2 heads · 10 min · 6.4
• Should Today's Interviews Go Behind a Paywall in Scotland and Wales? Would the BBC be right to move its Radio 4 Today programme's flagship interviews onto a paid podcast tier for listeners in Scotland and Wales, and what would that do to public service broadcasting funding? 3 heads · 15 min · 8.1
• Should Alaska's Public Radio Put Its Grant Into Podcasts or Stay on Air? Should public radio stations in Alaska, such as KUCB in Unalaska, invest in local podcast production funded by a 2026 federal grant, or keep their budgets focused on broadcast news? 3 heads · 15 min · 6.4
• Misinformation, Disinformation and How to Resist State-Driven Fake News Is there a difference between disinformation and misinformation and how do you mitigate state players from overwhelming social media with false or bias information that favours their agenda? 2 heads · 10 min

Population 3

• Home Care or Nursing Beds for Groningen's Ageing Residents Should the municipality of Groningen, facing a rising share of residents over 80 by 2035, fund home-based care for older people in their own neighbourhoods rather than expanding nursing home beds, and how much of the budget should shift? 3 heads · 15 min · 5.9
• Planning for Fewer People in Wales and the North East By when should Wales and the North East of England plan for population decline, and should councils there prioritise attracting young families with housing subsidies or accept shrinking schools and services? Wilson · 5 min · 5.3!
• Who Pays for Egypt's Elderly Care in Upper Egypt Villages Who should pay for long-term care for Egypt's growing elderly population in Upper Egypt villages like Minya and Assiut, the families, the state health insurance, or private employers, and by what date should the decision be made? 3 heads · 15 min · 7.8!

Other areas

Politics and government Economy and money Science and technology Health and wellbeing Philosophy and ethics Religion and belief History Language and literature Arts and entertainment Sport Environment and animals Everyday life Fun and hypotheticals