There is a variety of sessions including talks, conversation with the hosts and questions from the audience. Some of the sessions will be followed by live virtual book signings.

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Friday 5th March 2021

7.30pm Baroness Shami Chakrabarti: Unity, Diversity and Hope for the Future

 

A talk followed by discussion with the host, author and historian Rachel Holmes, and questions from the online audience.
 

Sharmishta "Shami" Chakrabarti, Baroness Chakrabarti, CBE, PC  is a British Labour Party politician, barrister, and human rights activist. She served as the director of Liberty, an advocacy group which promotes civil liberties and human rights, from 2003 to 2016. From 2016 to 2020, she served as Shadow Attorney General for England and Wales.

Chakrabarti studied Law at the London School of Economics. After graduating, she was called to the Bar and then worked as an in-house legal counsel for the Home Office.

When she was the director of Liberty, she campaigned against "excessive" anti-terror legislation. In this role she frequently contributed to BBC Radio 4 and various newspapers, and was described in The Times as "probably the most effective public affairs lobbyist of the past 20 years". She was one of the panel members of the Leveson Inquiry into press standards throughout 2011 and 2012. Between 2014 and 2017, she served as Chancellor of the University of Essex.

In April 2016 she was appointed as chair of an inquiry into antisemitism and other forms of racism in the Labour Party. In August 2016, Chakrabarti was made a life peer in the Prime Minister's Resignation Honours. 

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Saturday 6th March 2021

10am-11am Ms Rachel Holmes: Sylvia Pankhurst: Natural Born Rebel

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In conversation with author, journalist and campaigner Melissa Benn about her recent moving and powerful biography of Sylvia Pankhurst, and answers questions from the online audience.

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Rachel Holmes is a cultural historian whose work combines meticulous biographical research with an ability to bring the lives and times of her 19th-century subjects vividly to life.

Her particular interest is in medical and gender issues, and she connects her subjects to current debates and points up their contemporary relevance. Holmes has been Director of Literature at the South Bank Centre in London and is a frequent broadcaster and journalist. Her most recent biography is of the life of Sylvia Pankhurst, political rebel, human rights champion and radical feminist. 
 

11.30pm-12.30pm Professor John Ashton: Blinded by Corona: How the Pandemic Ruined Britain's Health and Wealth and What to Do about It

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John talks about his analysis of the pandemic with public health physician and Member of Independent SAGE, Gabriel Scally, and answers questions from the online audience.
 

John Ashton is a British doctor and academic. Ashton previously held positions at the University of Southampton, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the University of Liverpool School of Medicine and as Regional Director of Public Health for North-West England for 13 years.

He was one of the initiators of the World Health Organization's Healthy Cities Project from 1986 to 1988 during which time it went from being a European project to a global movement and a pioneer of three public health initiatives.
 

2pm-3pm Sir Vince Cable: Money and Power

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Vince Cable talks about his new book Money and Power (February 2021) and answers questions from the audience, hosted by Malvern councillor Ronan McLaverty-Head.
 

Vince Cable is a British politician and author who was Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 2017 to 2019. He was Member of Parliament for Twickenham from 1997 to 2015 and from 2017 to 2019. He also served in the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills from 2010 to 2015. In May 2019, Cable led the Liberal Democrats to their best national electoral performance since the 2010 election, gaining fifteen seats in the European Parliament election. His books include Money and Power: The World Leaders Who Changed Economics (2021), China: Engage!: Avoid The New Cold War (2020) and After the Storm: The World Economy and Britain's Economic Future (2016).

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3.15pm-4.15pm Dr Grace Wolf-Chase: Community Building with Zooniverse: Empowering Participation in Scientific Discovery

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Using the award-winning Zooniverse online platform for “citizen science,” people of all ages from all walks of life are making exciting new discoveries in the sciences and humanities. Check out zooniverse.org/projects and come learn how to join a worldwide community of people who are actively participating in cutting-edge research projects!

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This is a free family workshop.

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3.30pm-4.30pm Lord Mervyn King: Radical Uncertainty: Decision-making for an unknowable future

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Mervyn King is interviewed about his book, Radical Uncertainty, by award-winning writer, curator of Salon London and founder of the Also Festival Helen Bagnall and takes questions from the public.

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Mervyn King, Baron King of Lothbury, KG is a British economist and public servant who was appointed as Governor of the Bank of England in 2003, succeeding Edward George. Most notably, he oversaw the bank during the financial crisis of 2007–2008 and the Great Recession. King retired from his office as governor in June 2013. He was appointed a life peer and entered the House of Lords as a crossbencher in July 2013. 

Since September 2014 he has served as a professor of economics and law with a joint appointment at New York University's Stern School of Business and School of Law.
 

5.15pm Professor Clifford V. Johnson in conversation with Philip Ball: Uniting Art and Science: Empowering engagement and discovery

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Professor Clifford V. Johnson, physicist and author of The Dialogues and award-winning science writer Philip Ball, author the forthcoming The Beauty of Chemistry, will discuss themes and ideas from their latest books about the interplay of art and science, how it enhances engagement with the world around us, and whether it even plays a role in research and discovery.

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Clifford V. Johnson, is a Professor of Physics at the University of Southern California. His award-winning work in science ranges from research and teaching to public engagement, where he strives to put science back into the general culture. His research explores the origin and evolution of the universe and its fundamental constituents, as well as the nature of space and time, including objects such as black holes. Clifford works regularly with authors, filmmakers and other artists to help embed science into their storytelling, and he recently wrote and illustrated a graphic novel featuring science called The Dialogues: Conversations about the Nature of the Universe (MIT Press).

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Philip Ball is a freelance science writer. He worked previously at Nature for over 20 years, first as an editor for physical sciences (for which his brief extended from biochemistry to quantum physics and materials science) and then as a Consultant Editor. His writings on science for the popular press have covered topical issues ranging from cosmology to the future of molecular biology.

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Philip is the author of many popular books on science, including works on the nature of water, pattern formation in the natural world, colour in art, the science of social and political philosophy, the cognition of music, and physics in Nazi Germany. He has written widely on the interactions between art and science, and has delivered lectures to scientific and general audiences at venues ranging from the Victoria and Albert Museum (London) to the NASA Ames Research Center, London's National Theatre and the London School of Economics.

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7.30pm Mr Paul Mason: Clear Bright Future: A Radical Defence of the Human Being

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Paul is interviewed on After Trump and Brexit, the prospects for liberalism and the left and answers questions from the audience.

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Paul Mason is a British commentator and radio personality. He was Culture and Digital Editor of Channel 4 News, becoming the programme's Economics Editor in 2014, a post he formerly held on BBC Two's Newsnight programme. He is the author of several books including Clear Bright Future: A Radical Defence of the Human Being (2019) and PostCapitalism: A Guide to our Future (2015).

He is a visiting professor at the University of Wolverhampton. Mason won the Wincott Prize for Business Journalism in 2003, the Workworld Broadcaster of the Year in 2004, and his work was cited when Newsnight was awarded the Orwell Prize in 2007. 
 

Sunday 7th March 2021

 

10am-11am Professor Mark Maslin: Welcome to the Anthropocene: from environmental destruction to redemption?

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A talk covering the whole of human history! Followed by questions from the online audience. Hosted by leading research scientist David Lowe
 

Mark Maslin FRGS, FRSA is a Professor of Climatology at University College London. He is science advisor to the Global Cool Foundation and the Sopria-Steria Group and a member of Cheltenham Science Festival Advisory Committee. Maslin is a leading scientist with particular expertise in past global and regional climatic change and has published in journals such as Science, Nature, and The Lancet.  He has written several popular books including The Human Planet: How We Created the Anthropocene (2018), The Cradle of Humanity: How the changing landscape of Africa made us so smart (2017) and Climate Change: A Very Short Introduction (2014). 
 

11.30pm-12.30pm Dr Roman Krznaric: The Good Ancestor: How to Think Long Term in a Short-Term World

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Roman discusses The Good Ancestor, a book with the power to shift a mindset, with award-winning writer and founder of the Also Festival Helen Bagnall and answers questions from the online audience

 

Roman Krznaric is a public philosopher who writes about the power of ideas to change society. His latest book, The Good Ancestor: How to Think Long Term in a Short Term World, has been described as ‘the book our children’s children will thank us for reading’. His previous books, including Empathy, The Wonderbox and Carpe Diem Regained, have been published in more than 20 languages.

He is founder of the world’s first Empathy Museum and is currently a Research Fellow of the Long Now Foundation. His writings have been widely influential amongst political and ecological campaigners, education reformers, social entrepreneurs and designers. 
 

2pm-3pm Professor Kalwant Bhopal: White privilege: The myth of a post-racial society

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Kalwant discusses issues raised in her book White Privilege with Unitarian minister Winnie Gordon and answers questions from the online audience.

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Kalwant Bhopal is Professor of Education and Social Justice and Director of the Centre for Research in Race & Education at the University of Birmingham. Her work explores the achievements and experiences of minority ethnic groups in education with a focus on how processes of racism, exclusion and marginalisation operate in predominantly White spaces. Bhopal has claimed that racism is present in academia in various ways; including the marginalisation of black and minority ethnic staff, their exclusion from decision-making, frequent micro-aggressions, implicit bias and open prejudice. Her books include White privilege: The myth of a post-racial society (2018) and Gender, 'Race' and Patriarchy: A Study of South Asian Women (2018). 

 

3.30pm-4.30pm Ms Amelia Gentleman: The Windrush Betrayal - why justice remains elusive for so many of those affected

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Award-winning journalist Amelia Gentleman in conversation with award-winning writer and founder of the Also Festival Helen Bagnall  about her book, The Windrush Betrayal, explaining what has happened in the three years since the government apologised for the Home Office mistake, which led to thousands of people who had lived legally in the UK for decades being misclassified as immigration offenders. Although three successive Home Secretaries and two prime ministers have apologised and promised reform, the hostile environment policies which caused the problems remain in place. Questions from the online audience.

 

Amelia Gentleman is a journalist and reporter, named as the Political Studies Association's journalist of the year for 2018, with Carole Cadwalladr, and as journalist of the year in the British Journalism Awards, 2018. 

 

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