Lord Adebowale will formally open the festival followed by opening remakes from the Festival Co-founders Peter Jukes and Stephen Colegrave as well as the vice chancellor of Keele University
The opening panel explores the main theme of the festival of Defending Truth and Democracy against the backdrop of rising extremism.
In a world where Trump America is tearing up Transatlantic alliances where does this leave the UK, Europe and the world?
The aim of this panel is to discuss how we can bring back human values into politics and allow politicians to be more vulnerable and also be more humane in their actions and policies.
Kate Raworth, an economist focused on making economics fit for the 21st century’s social and ecological realities. She is the author of the best-selling book Doughnut Economics: seven ways to think like a 21st century economist, which has been published in over 20 languages. She is also co-founder of Doughnut Economics Action Lab, and Senior Teaching Fellow at Oxford University’s Environmental Change Institute.
The Byline Times team will discuss how they are tackling the extraordinary times we are living through and how this affects their editorial approach
This panel brings to Byline the radical idea that our only chance of tackling the power of the tech oligarchs, the rise of authoritarianism, climate collapse, perpetual wars for the last resources, AI unchecked... is to address the fundamental crisis which is in the way humanity comes together to make decisions. Four speakers with varied but deep experience and reflections on this idea, whose time has come.
In a world where we’re constantly plugged in, it can be hard to figure out what’s real, what matters, and how to actually thrive online. This panel brings together creators, activists, digital natives to unpack what it really means to grow up in the age of algorithms, cancel culture, and endless scrolling. Expect real talk, honest takes, and advice you won’t find in a generic “how to be safe online slideshow.
Hardeep Matharu interviews Carole Cadwalladr, a British author, investigative journalist, and features writer. She was a features writer for The Observer and formerly worked at The Daily Telegraph. Cadwalladr rose to international prominence in 2018 for her role in exposing the Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal, for which she was a finalist for the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting, alongside reporters from The New York Times.
This year’s Bad Press Awards with Rosie Holt, Peter York and John Mitchinson are likely to be even more vitriolic than in previous years and just as funny – this cross between the Oscars and The Bad Sex awards always has billionaire press magnates on the hop.
The AI Goosebumps Club is based on the simple idea of creating thought experiments to explore questions such as ; Could an AI get goosebumps? Could it? No way? Is that a good question? If so, why? If not, why not? Could an AI be a “Member of the Family”? Exert authority over you? Be wistful? Four panelists will each create a thought experiment, exploring the emerging relationship between our embodied human selves and AI. Thinking through these issues, whether you are “in the business” , a partner, a colleague, son or daughter will give you some “tools for your head”, some of thinking, in a number of contexts both person and professional about your relationship with AI. These are issues about power and politics, poetry, intelligence, meaning and responsibility.
