In some ways, British culture and politics have coarsened in recent times. Post Brexit the language and tenor of public conversation are rougher, darker. Deliberate falsehood seems easier to pass off.
Bit here, at Hay, the air is heady, the talk sophisticated and passion for truth unabated. In this binary age, which is the truer representation of who we are and who we might become? If Hay goers and presenters are the ‘liberal elite’, long may we contend.
Hay does show our better selves, our possibilities and aspirations – not towards specific national or policy objectives but to the ideal of free, frank, open, inclusive conversation. Hay is about words and words can be civilising.
Thirty years … and many more!