SPEECH Good morning ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the 2018 Festival of Dangerous Ideas. I am here today to examine whether the greatest threat to civilisation is humanity itself? I strongly believe that, humanity is most definitely the greatest threat to civilisation. Lord of the Flies has many parallels with our real world both historically and currently in 2018 with leaders such as Adolf Hitler and Kim Jon Un, who have proven that mankind itself is the principal threat to our civilisation because of man’s inner evil and greed for power. I will today convince you how the main threats to civilisation and social order both in the play and our real world is definitely humanity itself. “Which is better - law and rescue or hunting and breaking things up? To have rules and agree or to hunt and kill like a pack of savages?” These powerful questions are asked by Piggy in Act 3 of the play to the group of boys on top of the mountain just before he is murdered by Roger. These questions go to the core of the main theme in the play – the conflict between civilisation and savagery. The theme is communicated through the battle for power between Ralph and Jack who each represent civilisation and savagery respectively. Ralph as elected leader represents democracy, civilisation and order in the play. He uses his authority to set rules to protect the common good of the group by trying to enforce morals and laws. Ralph supports the idea of Piggy and introduces the rule of the