Hay Festival Winter Weekend 2025

As both a former British deputy prime minister and president of global affairs at Meta, Sir Nick Clegg has the authority and expertise to understand the ever-uncertain world we’re rapidly heading towards: online and offline.

In his book How to Save the Internet, Clegg looks at what is happening to the internet as democracies seek to rein in the power of Big Tech, and the most powerful tool ever created for bringing the world together risks being dismantled.

Clegg speaks to acclaimed journalist and broadcaster Decca Aitkenhead about the relationship between governments and big technology. With behind-the-scenes insights at Number 10 and at Meta, Clegg offers up a clear understanding of our online future, from why we need to keep the internet’s openness and whether Big Tech can be reformed, to how to stop AI and political conflict from stymying progress. Join us for this unmissable conversation as we open Winter Weekend 2025.

When it comes to groups that can harness the power of art and culture to resist, there is one name that comes to mind: Pussy Riot.

This event is a rare chance to hear directly from the legendary Russian collective’s founder member Maria Alyokhina, who served time in a penal colony after performing the punk prayer Virgin Mary, Banish Putin with her friends at the Moscow Cathedral of Christ the Savior, and eventually escaped from Russia dressed as a delivery food courier in the face of a new prison sentence. She talks to Oliver Bullough, author of the best-selling Butler to the World and award-winning investigative journalist.

Providing inspiration to a new generation of activists, Alyokhina, author of Political Girl, shares first-hand experiences of the way Russia treats dissidents, emphasises the importance of grassroots opposition and explains how she continues to oppose Putin’s regime.

And as the UK government tightens restrictions on protests, learn from Alyokhina why standing up to state-sanctioned repression is vital.

By 1942, after the German invasion of Russia and the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, the British-Soviet-American alliance was in place, yet it was a partnership divided by ideology and politics and riven with mistrust and deceit.

Delve into rarely seen material – including previously unpublished diaries – found from more than 100 archives, and hear about the political rivalry between Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin from historian Tim Bouverie, as told in his acclaimed book Allies at War, which offers history fans a new perspective as the world marks the 80th anniversary of the end of the war. Taking readers into the rooms where critical decisions were made, Allies at War also takes a look at the origins of the Cold War.

Bouverie is interviewed by acclaimed historian, bestselling author and broadcaster David Olusoga, recent interviewer of former President Barack Obama.

Two of Britain’s leading historians – Sarah Churchwell and David Olusoga – open a year of reflections on the United States of America, as it prepares to celebrate 250 years of independence.

The consequences of America’s experiment in democracy are still unfolding, and the contradictions, battles and ideals that continue to define it are still under debate.

Churchwell and Olusoga look at what the formation of America meant for the world, whether its vision of liberty has come true, and whether American democracy can survive the challenges it now faces.

Churchwell is chair of public humanities at the University of London and author of Behold America: A History of America First and the American Dream.

David Olusoga is professor of public history at the University of Manchester and author of Black History for Every Day of the Year, and co-host of the podcast Journey Through Time.

How did little-known kickboxer and failed reality star TV Andrew Tate rapidly rise to become an icon for a generation of young men? And is there any stopping the dangerous ideology he has unleashed?

Award-winning documentary maker Jamie Tahsin, who has been investigating Tate since 2019, leads us backstage at Tate’s world, sharing insights gained through spending time with the man himself.

From going behind-the-scenes at his Bucharest compound to breaking down how Tate – who is facing criminal charges in countries including the UK – weaponises marketing techniques to spread the message of his “manosphere”, a world that centres men, misogyny and masculinity, Tahsin exposes Tate’s dark secrets and the machine that made him.

Tahsin speaks to Ben Mercer, an expert on sport, social media and masculinity.

As Wales prepares for next year’s Senedd elections, Reform is mounting a huge challenge to the established political landscape, threatening the biggest upset in Wales for a century.

Our panel of experts, who live and breathe Welsh politics, look at what lies ahead, from whether Labour can keep their 100-year winning streak going and why Reform has so much momentum to what the electoral maths means for the country’s first Plaid Cymru First Minister, and what impact the election will have on the rest of the UK.

Ruth Mosalski, the political editor of Wales Online; multi-award winning investigative journalist and Guardian columnist Will Hayward; and presenter of BBC Wales’ flagship politics TV programme, Politics Wales, Teleri Glyn-Jones, speak to Rob Osborne, award-winning journalist, presenter of Wales This Week, and National Correspondent for ITV Wales.

Two veteran journalists with first-hand experience of Afghanistan offer a deep insight into a country betrayed by the West and Taliban alike, and assess the ongoing impact of its turbulent politics on its allies.

The BBC’s chief international correspondent Lyse Doucet first visited Kabul’s Inter-Continental Hotel – opened in 1969 and a symbol of the country’s hope for modernisation – in the late 1980s. Returning to the hotel multiple times in the decades since, she uses it and its workers as a lens into the country’s modern history in her book The Finest Hotel in Kabul: A People’s History.

Wall Street Journal correspondent Sune Engel Rasmussen offers another perspective in Twenty Years: Hope, War, and the Betrayal of an Afghan Generation, drawing on over a decade of reporting to tell how 9/11 shaped – and shattered – the lives of young Afghans.

MP Kim Leadbeater knows all too well how the world of politics can be rife with tension, disagreement and even violence. But she also knows better than anyone that politics is a place that demands compassion, and that all sides can operate with respect and care.

Leadbeater, who became MP for Batley and Spen a few years after her sister Jo Cox was murdered, is behind assisted dying legislation which passed the House of Commons last year.

A year on from that landmark achievement, Leadbeater talks to broadcaster and founder of the ThinkTank Compassion in Politics, Jennifer Nadel, about the state of British politics today, how laws can solve some of the difficult problems society faces, and what we can do to combat the divisive discourse the UK is currently seeing.

What does it mean to tell the stories of the Middle East in a time of conflict, displacement, and rapid change? How do reporters deal with challenging conditions? And what is the mental toll of covering war?

Renowned BBC journalist Lyse Doucet, British-Palestinian journalist Jehan Alfarra, and Aljazeera Middle East correspondent Imran Khan take us behind-the-scenes in a wide-ranging conversation about the power of personal narratives, the responsibility of journalists to amplify voices often unheard, and how to navigate truth.

They speak with Bethan McKernan, former Jerusalem and wider Middle East correspondent, who is now focusing on Wales in her role as Wales correspondent for the Guardian.

Doucet is the BBC's chief international correspondent and has led BBC coverage of events ranging from the Arab Spring to the Sudanese Civil War.

Alfarra is a British-Palestinian multimedia journalist, editor and writer with over a decade of experience covering Middle Eastern current affairs and politics, culture and human rights. She has lived and worked for years in both Gaza and London and has reported from across Europe and the Middle East.

Khan became a correspondent for Al Jazeera English in 2005 and is known for his extensive reporting from Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Palestine and Libya, Syria, Ukraine and more, as well He continues to work as a correspondent for Al Jazeera English, dividing his time between the Middle East, South Asia and London.

Chew over the biggest news stories of 2025 in our review of the year, led by historian David Olusoga. David will be joined by ITV Wales Correspondent Rob Osborne and other leading journalists, and together they will revisit the good, the bad and the I-forgot-that-happened moments of the year, and bring personal perspectives and first-hand experiences of the stories that defined 2025.

They'll dissect Trump's unique approach to foreign policy, spawning unforgettable moments including President Zelensky being thrown out of the White House for not wearing a suit, assess the prospects of a ceasefire in Ukraine and the Middle East, and pick out the moments that defined the 2025, from protests over immigration to the bin strikes in Birmingham.

But it’s not all bad news, you’ll also have the chance to relive the year's good news stories, including triumphant sporting successes from the Lionesses and Luke Littler.

Our News Review of the Year is the perfect way to begin your Sunday at the Hay Festival Winter Weekend.

Criminal psychologist Julia Shaw investigates gangs who terrorise communities, committing horrendous environmental crimes against people and the planet.

In her book Green Crime, she looks at cases – including the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the Dieselgate emissions scandal, and the Shuidong wildlife crime syndicate – and reveals how, following their every move, are secret agents, vigilantes and scientists fighting to foil their criminal acts.

She talks to scientist, writer and broadcaster Adam Rutherford about who commits these crimes against the planet, and how we can better protect our natural resources.

Politician and academic Vince Cable examines what the rise of Asian superstates means for the future of the world.

The former leader of the Liberal Democrats is the author of Eclipsing the West, an incisive look at what the new international order will be. As the Western-dominated world we have known for the past 300 years comes to an end, and as America withdraws from its role as enforcer of the international order, Cable looks at the other countries moving to fill the void, including superstates China and India.

Cable, who has insight into both countries as a professional economist and later as a senior government minister, draws on his lifetime of experience to offer a compelling account of what comes next when it comes to global power.