Ideas

The ecologist, Carwyn Graves discusses our landscape, how we have formed it and how we might continue to do so, in conversation with Welsh presenter and producer Meinir Howells. Graves gives a tour of the Welsh landscape, from the ffridd (mountain pasture) to the rhos (wild moorland). He dives deep into their history and ecology in his book Tir (‘Land’) offering hope for a future with richly biodiverse landscapes, still full of humans working the land.

Is there any coming back from the ways in which capitalism and wealth inequality have shaped the world? Yes, argues Treasury Minister Liam Byrne, but only if we rebuild instead of trying to fix broken systems. Byrne discusses his ideas for radical and meaningful change with writer Oliver Bullough.

Join author Gareth E Rees and academic Fiona Stafford on a journey through hidden spaces, forgotten gardens and natural and man-made phenomena that tell us about our past, present and future. Rees is author of Sunken Lands: A Journey through Flooded Kingdoms and Lost Worlds, which uncovers what our submerged past and shifting boundaries between land and water can tell us about our imminent future as rising sea levels transform our planet once more. In Time and Tide: The Long, Long Life of Landscape, Stafford combines local, literary and her own family history to look at the natural and human forces that transform places, and where we can find clues to the past. In conversation with Tom Bullough, author of 5 books, most recently, Sarn Helen - A Journey Through Wales, Past, Present and Future.

How can you fight something if you don’t know it exists? We live under an ideology that preys on every aspect of our lives: education, employment, healthcare and leisure; our relationships and mental wellbeing; even the planet we inhabit. So pervasive has it become that it seems unavoidable. But trace it back to its roots, and we discover that neoliberalism was conceived, propagated and concealed by the powerful few. It’s time to bring it into the light – and to find an alternative worth fighting for.

Environmental campaigner George Monbiot's previous book was Regenesis: Feeding the World without Devouring the Planet. His latest is The Invisible Doctrine: The Secret History of Neoliberalism (& How it Came to Control Your Life).

Few are better placed to discuss how the UK can meet its climate and biodiversity obligations than Chris Skidmore, the former Energy Minister who resigned as an MP in protest at the government’s plans to expand oil and gas production in the North Sea. Skidmore, who was responsible for signing Net Zero into law and chairing Mission Zero, the largest independent engagement exercise on Net Zero conducted to date, outlines the key ways in which the UK can deliver its commitments as part of the global Net Zero strategy, highlighting not just the challenges but also the opportunities for new jobs and investment in a better way of living. In conversation with Nik Gowing, the Founder and Co-Director of Thinking the Unthinkable, and former BBC News Presenter.

How do we save the planet? Political economist and economic geographer Brett Christophers argues that first we need to look at our understanding of capitalism and climate, and accept that saving the planet is not profitable enough for markets and the private sector. Today’s consensus that curbing climate change can be done through green electricity and measures such as ever-cheaper solar and wind power aren’t the key, says Christophers, because investment is driven not by price but by profit. He talks about his illuminating book The Price is Wrong: Why Capitalism Won’t Save the Planet, challenging our long-held views about how to combat climate change.

Ruby Wax speaks with Hay Festival guests about mental health issues. She is well known for advocating an open and honest approach, most recently in her book and touring show I’m Not as Well as I Thought I Was. Wax is one of our Hay Festival 2024 Thinkers in Residence – a group of writers and readers hosting events throughout the week questioning norms, finding new perspectives and challenging us to action.

Writer and broadcaster Horatio Clare is the author of Heavy Light: A Journey Through Madness, Mania and Healing. Journalist Bryony Gordon's latest book is Mad Woman and Robin Ince is a comedian, author and broadcaster.

Radical cultural historian, writer and activist Dr Diarmuid Hester brings to life the stories of seven remarkable figures – from EM Forster to Derek Jarman – and illuminates the connections between where they lived, who they loved and the art they created. He shows that a queer sense of place is central to the history of the twentieth century and powerfully evokes how much is lost when these spaces are forgotten. Hester is a research associate of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and a BBC New Generation Thinker. He co-founded Cambridge’s queer performance and music night Club Urania.

On an Eardisley farm, in conservative, rural Mid Wales, lives Dean Goodwin-Evans aka Boo La Croux: farmer, organiser of Hereford Pride, professional hairdresser, son of an Aston Villa footballer, husband of Paul, lover of horses, and Miss Drag UK 2021. Billie Charity is an award-winning portrait and reportage photographer who has worked closely with David Hurn, John Bulmer and Niall McDiarmid. She has published two critically-acclaimed photo books, People of Hay and Colour.

How many times have you wished you were able to explain something clearly and confidently? In this event, the BBC presenter and journalist Ros Atkins, creator of the Ros Atkins on… explainer series, shares the secrets he’s learned from years of working in high-pressure newsrooms, identifying the ten elements of a good explanation and the seven steps you need to take to express yourself as persuasively and accurately as possible.

Whether you’re preparing for a presentation, taking an exam or interviewing for a job, in The Art of Explanation Atkins provides the ultimate guide to communicating as effectively as possible. Atkins is BBC News’ analysis editor and the creator and presenter of Outside Source on the BBC News Channel and BBC World News. In conversation with journalist and author, Oliver Bullough.

Start your day at Hay Festival with our daily news review. Join our leading journalists and special guests as they take us behind the headlines with insider perspectives, insights and an eye on what’s next. Strong coffee recommended!

Among today’s guests are Areeba Hamid, Co-executive Director of Greenpeace UK and former leader of the global finance programme at The Sunrise Project, and Patrick Vallance, former UK Government Chief Scientific Adviser (GCSA) from 2018-2023, Chief Scientific Advisor for COP26 and Chair of the Natural History Museum. Chaired by The Independent editor Geordie Greig.

Broadcaster and author Kate Humble talks to three remarkable individuals who created leading climate projects, igniting hope and progress, all inspired by events at Hay Festival in previous years.

Film producer Franny Armstrong honed the groundbreaking 1010 Campaign with Ed Miliband on the train back from Hay Festival in 2009; Garry Charnock was inspired by an event at Hay Festival 2005 featuring Sir David King to create the first carbon neutral village, in Ashton Hayes; and Professor Ed Hawkins created the Climate Stripes, illustrating temperature change, as part of the Hay Festival Trans.MISSION project in 2018.

Come along and be inspired to create your own projects and help transform our society to meet the challenges and opportunities of the future.

In our modern world democracy and ethics aren’t always a perfect pair. Throw in the financial markets, and societies built on supposed meritocracy and the result is rising inequality, anger and frustration. Philosopher Michael J Sandel, who teaches political philosophy at Harvard University, gives an insight into how we reconfigure our thinking and our societies. Sandel’s course ‘Justice’ was the first Harvard course to be made freely available online and on television and has been viewed by tens of millions of people. He is author of What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets, Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do? and The Tyranny of Merit.

Bring your best ideas to this solutions-focused workshop session. Facilitated by sustainability entrepreneur Andy Middleton and joined by key speakers to be announced, we’ll look at the key issue of the economy, discussing the scale of the issue and a range of solutions.

Speakers include remarkable individuals leading climate and biodiversity resilience projects, igniting hope and progress in their neighbourhoods and the wider community. We want you to share your ideas and to be inspired by those making a difference. Be part of the change in this two-hour thought laboratory.

The International Booker Prize celebrates the world’s best fiction in translation. It’s awarded annually for a single book and celebrates the vital work of translators, with the £50,000 prize money divided equally between author and translator. The prize will be announced in May, and we present the winners in conversation with Booker Prize Foundation Director Gaby Wood and one of the judges, Booker Prize-shortlisted novelist Romesh Gunesekera.

It is now indisputable that we are in a climate emergency. Soaring levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, particularly methane, mean more extreme weather events at greater frequency. As tipping points are exceeded, some irreversible changes have already been triggered in our climate systems. Join us on a deep dive into the pivotal moments of the climate crisis. David King will identify the tipping points that could shape our planet’s future and in response, Ed Miliband will lay out the decisions ahead and the opportunities we have to create a sustainable, fairer future for all. Professor Sir David King is Emeritus Professor of Chemistry at the University of Cambridge, Chair of the Climate Crisis Advisory Group and Founder of the Centre for Climate Repair in the University. He was the UK Government Chief Scientific Adviser, 2000–07, and the Foreign Secretary’s Special Representative on Climate Change, 2013–17. Ed Miliband is MP for Doncaster North and Shadow Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero.

Take a tour of the 88 constellations and explore the science, history and romanticism behind these celestial bodies with the science communicator and presenter of The Sky at Night. Maggie Aderin-Pocock considers looking up at the night sky from different cultures across the globe rather than just focusing on the Western Greek interpretation of the stars. Join her to share in the tranquil joy that is stargazing, reconnecting with both the natural world and our ancestors. You’ll learn how to identify stars, the basics of naked-eye observation, and advice on the best kit and ‘dark sky’ locations.

Start your day at Hay Festival with our daily news review. Join our leading journalists and special guests as they take us behind the headlines with insider perspectives, insights and an eye on what’s next. Strong coffee recommended!

Among today’s guests are activist and journalist Laura Bates, founder of the Everyday Sexism Project, journalist and author Peter Pomerantsev, and Labour MP and Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting. Chaired by The Independent editor Geordie Greig.

Is AI something we need to be terrified of, or something that will provide an answer to all our ills? The truth is somewhere in the middle, as our panel of experts tells author and scholar Carl Miller. Hear about how AI will affect humans: take a look at the past, present and future potential of the technology, as well as how and where we live alongside AI, and where and how we resist its presence.

Miller speaks to Madhumita Murgia, the first artificial intelligence editor for the Financial Times; David Runciman, professor of politics at Cambridge University; Stuart Russell, director of the Center for Human Compatible Artificial Intelligence at the University of California, Berkeley; and Carissa Véliz, an associate professor at the Faculty of Philosophy and the Institute for Ethics in AI at the University of Oxford.

The Indiana Jones of the botanical world recounts his quest to find and save Rafflesia, the world’s largest flowers, from extinction. Talking to writer, photographer and broadcaster Robert Penn, botanist Chris Thorogood offers a fantastic glimpse into the world of extreme fieldwork, with local guides and foresters, braving leeches, kidnap, monitor lizards and lethal forest swamps.

Finding Rafflesia completes Thorogood’s childhood obsession with these plants. From the age of eight he was growing vines up his curtain pole. Today that boy is a world specialist on parasitic plants, Deputy Director of Science at the Oxford Botanic Gardens and a regular panellist on Gardeners’ Question Time.

Bring your best ideas to this solutions-focused workshop session. Facilitated by sustainability entrepreneur Andy Middleton and joined by key speakers to be announced, we’ll look at the key issue of food production, discussing the scale of the issue and a range of solutions.

Speakers include remarkable individuals leading climate and biodiversity resilience projects, igniting hope and progress in their neighbourhoods and the wider community. We want you to share your ideas and to be inspired by those making a difference. Be part of the change in this two-hour thought laboratory.

Our connection to nature is essential both for our own health and the health of the environment. Author and naturalist Mark Cocker and Right to Roam’s Nick Hayes and Nadia Shaikh join Green MP Caroline Lucas to explore the interconnections that underpin the natural world and explore a new moral framework for relating to nature, putting belonging before ownership and co-dependence above competition. Lucas is a Hay Festival 2024 Thinker in Residence, questioning norms, finding new perspectives and challenging us to action.

Start your day at Hay Festival with our daily news review. Join our leading journalists and special guests as they take us behind the headlines with insider perspectives, insights and an eye on what’s next. Strong coffee recommended! Among today’s guests are journalist James O’Brien, judge Lady Hale and comedian Doon Mackichan.

Doon Mackichan is best known for her comedy characters in the hugely popular Brass Eye, Smack the Pony and Toast of London. Lady Hale is former President of the UK Supreme Court and James O'Brien is a British radio presenter, podcaster and author. Chaired by The Independent chief books critic Martin Chilton.

Every day we’re sold a dream life through adverts: sun-soaked holidays, beautiful interiors, perfect home-brewed coffees. We consume goods like there’s no tomorrow, and if advertising continues as it is, that might indeed become true. Leo Murray and Andrew Simms, authors of Badvertising: Polluting our Minds and Fuelling Climate Chaos, raise the alarm about an industry that is making us both unhealthy and unhappy, and that is driving the planet to the precipice of environmental collapse in the process. They address the psychological impact of being barraged by thousands of adverts a day, how commercialisation of public spaces weakens our sense of belonging and what we can do to change things for the better.

The roots of Western civilisation lie in ancient Greek and Rome, and values like freedom, rationality, justice, democracy and tolerance originated in the West. But what if that’s not true? Covering 4,000 years of history, Josephine Quinn calls for a major reassessment of the West, arguing that many of the values we hold close are not only or originally western, and that the West is a product of longstanding links between a large group of cultures, from the Gobi Desert to the Atlantic Ocean, Scandinavia to the Sahara. Quinn, a professor of ancient history at the University of Oxford, puts forward a rich new narrative that has the power to change how we see the world.

Bring your best ideas to this solutions-focused workshop session. Facilitated by sustainability entrepreneur Andy Middleton and joined by key speakers to be announced, we’ll look at the key issue of transport, discussing the scale of the issue and a range of solutions.

Speakers include remarkable individuals leading climate and biodiversity resilience projects, igniting hope and progress in their neighbourhoods and the wider community. We want you to share your ideas and to be inspired by those making a difference. Be part of the change in this two-hour thought laboratory.

Start your day at Hay Festival with our daily news review. Join our leading journalists and special guests as they take us behind the headlines with insider perspectives, insights and an eye on what’s next. Strong coffee recommended! Among today’s guests are American literature and culture specialist Professor Sarah Churchwell, author of The Wrath to Come, and David Runciman, professor of politics at Cambridge University and author of Political Hypocrisy and The Confidence Trap, and Lionel Shriver, renowned journalist and author of We Need to Talk about Kevin and Mania. Chaired by The Independent chief books critic Martin Chilton.

Journalism is the pursuit of the truth, and that’s what Tom Burgis and Carole Cadwalladr have spent their careers working towards. But what happens when people don’t want the truth to get out? Burgis and Cadwalladr talk to writer Oliver Bullough about the society-changing work they have done, and how strategic lawsuits against public participation (known as SLAPPS) are increasingly being used to tie up journalists’ time and funds to stop their work.

For three years, Burgis followed a lead that produced his new book Cuckooland: Where the Rich Own the Truth. He hunted down oligarchs and traced vast sums of money flowing between multinational corporations, ex-Soviet dictators and the West’s ruling élites. Guardian writer Cadwalladr exposed Cambridge Analytica’s role in mass-harvesting data to influence elections in the UK and US. Bullough is author of Butler to the World: How Britain Became the Servant of Tycoons, Tax Dodgers, Kleptocrats and Criminals.

Bring your best ideas to this solutions-focused workshop session. Facilitated by sustainability entrepreneur Andy Middleton and joined by key speakers to be announced, we’ll look at the key issue of health, discussing the scale of the issue and a range of solutions.

Speakers include remarkable individuals leading climate and biodiversity resilience projects, igniting hope and progress in their neighbourhoods and the wider community. We want you to share your ideas and to be inspired by those making a difference. Be part of the change in this two-hour thought laboratory.

Join WOW (Women of the World) founder Jude Kelly for an evening of optimism, determination and laughter, exploring the exasperating and confusing journey towards gender equity, covering everything from money, sex, race and food to ageing. Extremely and equally suitable for men!

WOW is a network of arts festivals that celebrate the achievements of women and girls as well as highlighting the obstacles that face them. It was founded by Kelly, former Artistic Director of London’s Southbank Centre, in 2010.

Start your day at Hay Festival with our daily news review. Join our leading journalists and special guests as they take us behind the headlines with insider perspectives, insights and an eye on what’s next. Strong coffee recommended!

Today’s guests include comedian Marcus Brigstocke, the British Antarctic Survey’s physician Gavin Francis, former Secretary of State for Education Justine Greening and science journalist Layal Liverpool.

Our panel of experts talk to Dr Peter Olusoga – senior lecturer in psychology at Sheffield Hallam University and host of the award-winning performance psychology podcast, Eighty Percent Mental. They share long-term strategies and offer unique advice on looking after your physical and mental health.

Dr Federica Amati is a medical scientist, researcher and head nutritionist at ZOE, and combines nutrition, medical science and public health advice in her book Every Body Should Know This. Dr Alex George’s The Mind Manual shows readers how to assess their mental health and understand their own normal. George is a TV doctor, bestselling author and Youth Mental Health Ambassador to the government. Ultra-athlete Josh Llewellyn-Jones was born with cystic fibrosis and given a 10% chance of surviving his first night due to complications. He’s now a World Record-holding endurance athlete and founder of the extremely inclusive and inspirational Lift Club, a community focusing on the mind, body and health.