Speakers include journalist Emily Maitlis, political sketch writer John Crace, Professor David Runciman, former host of the respected Talking Politics podcast and Dorothy Byrne, president of Murray Edwards College and former Head of News and Current Affairs at Channel 4.
One of the largest festivals of its kind in the country, the annual Cambridge Festival, which features over 360 mostly free events, runs from Friday 17th March until Sunday 2nd April.
Is populism destroying the media? on 20th March Emily Maitlis, Gates Cambridge Scholar and Ayala Panievsky discuss the impact populism is having on the media. Maitlis cited Panievsky’s work in her recent James MacTaggart lecture. Chaired by Dorothy Byrne, she and Panievsky will discuss how populism is affecting how and what journalists write and how we can ensure reporters don’t self censor in an age where accurate information is vital.
Two events at the Festival focus on British identity amid seismic changes such as Brexit, the pandemic and resurgent nationalism. In Untied Kingdom: a global history of the end of Britain historian Stuart Ward discusses his new book, Untied Kingdom, which tells the panoramic history of the end of Britain, tracing the ways in which Britishness was imagined, experienced, disputed and ultimately discarded across the globe since the end of the Second World War. From Indian Independence, West Indian immigration and African decolonisation to the Suez Crisis and the Falklands War, he uncovers the demise of Britishness as a global civic idea and its impact on communities across the globe. For the first time the book puts recent developments in their full global perspective as part of the much larger story of the progressive rollback of Britain’s imaginative frontiers. [22nd March]
A panel discussion on 31st March provides a more contemporary perspective on British identity. Britain: a crisis of identity? will look at how Brexit and its ongoing implications, including for devolution of power, the death of the Queen and the future of the Commonwealth have all contributed to discussions about how Britain sees itself today amid shifting global geopolitics. It asks what all these developments mean for Britain’s place in the world in the 21st century. Panellists include Professor Michael Kenny, Inaugural Director of the Bennett Institute for Public Policy at the University of Cambridge, Chandrika Kaul, Professor of Modern History at the University of St Andrews, Saul Dubow, Smuts professor of Commonwealth history at the University of Cambridge, and Zoë Billingham, director of the IPPR North think tank.
Other events that address the turbulence and pace of political change today include How can we keep up with political change? The Guardian’s John Crace and David Runciman, professor of politics at the University of Cambridge, converse about the struggle journalists, let alone academics, face to keep up with and make sense of the fast-moving nature of today’s politics. [30th March]
And in Beyond online safety: AI, web3, and the Metaverse experts will discuss whether the Online Safety Bill can keep up with advances in Artificial Intelligence, increasing adoption of web3 technologies like blockchain and big tech investing billions in building the all-encompassing virtual world known as the metaverse. [20th March]
Another panel event looks at the power implications of the big tech firms. Big tech: the new colonialists? asks whether big tech owners are now acting like the colonialists of the past as they assert their power both in space and on Earth - controlling not just the products we buy, but also the ways we communicate and, in the case of Elon Musk, the voices we hear? Are governments able to restrain them? Speakers are: Jaideep Prabhu, Jawaharlal Nehru Professor of Indian Business at Judge Business School, Sebastián Lehuedé from the University of Cambridge and Harvard, Gates Cambridge Scholar Alina Utrata and Jennifer Cobbe, a Senior Research Associate in the Department of Computer Science and Technology at Cambridge. The event will be chaired by award-winning former foreign correspondent and editor Chris Mann from BBC Cambridgeshire. [29th March]
In another tech-related event, Right To Repair [28th March], Professor John Naughton, Microsoft researcher Marco Caballero and other experts discuss why it’s important to take back control of things we own.
John Naughton, professor of the public understanding of technology at the Open University and senior research fellow in the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities at Cambridge University, says: “The right to repair is about taking back control of the things we own. Through this event, we will examine this growing global movement that campaigns for the right of individuals and small businesses to repair and modify their own electronic devices without being hindered by restrictive policies and anti-competitive practices of manufacturers.”
Other politics-related events include:
The rise and fall of the neoliberal world order - US historian Gary Gerstle speaks to Rana Foroohar, author, business columnist and an associate editor at the Financial Times, about his latest book, The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Order: America and the World in the Free Market Era, which won the 2022 FT Business Book of the Year Award. [22nd March]
How to counter political extremism and misinformation - Political neuroscientist Leor Zmigrod and social psychologist Sander van der Linden, author of the recently released book Foolproof, talk about their work on understanding what causes people to turn to political extremism and tackling the virus of misinformation. [20th March]
Could workarounds be the answer to the world’s complex problems? - Oxford University professor and award-winning researcher Paulo Savaget talks to Professor Steve Evans about his new book on how the most valuable lessons about problem-solving can be learned from the scrappiest, poorest groups. The ground-breaking book, published in March, draws examples from organisations dedicated to social action that have made an art form out of subverting the status quo, proving themselves adept at achieving massive wins with minimal resources. [28th March]
Edible economics: how much can food tell us about economic change? - Professor Ha-Joon Chang and food archaeologist Martin Jones talk about Professor Chang’s new book Edible economics: A hungry economist explains the world. The book makes challenging economic ideas more palatable by plating them alongside stories about food from around the world and shows that getting to grips with the economy is like learning a recipe: if we understand it, we can change it - and, with it, the world. [21st March]
How can we improve our food security? - The war in Ukraine and climate disasters have focused people’s minds on issues of food security. Can researchers help to address the practical and political problems and what does history teach us? With Professor Tim Lang, plant scientist Anoop Tripathi, Professor David Rose and food historian Emelyn Rude. [27th March]
The full programme launches and bookings opened this week and events can be booked via the Festival website: www.festival.cam.ac.uk
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