Hay Festival announces return of expert panel series The News Review for 2025
Spread over 11 days, festival-goers will be treated to an overflowing itinerary of over 600 events in Hay-on-Wye between 22 May and 1 June 2025. The star-studded lineup includes Yulia Navalnaya, Michael Sheen, Jameela Jamil, and many more.
The Independent will host nine sessions of The News Review each morning, with the publication's journalists exploring current affairs with leading figures from politics, science, the arts and comedy.
Joining TheIndependent to dissect the breaking news of the day will be historians David Olusoga and Kehinde Andrews, comedian Sara Pascoe, broadcasters Jon Sopel and Anushka Asthan and world-renowned philosopher AC Grayling.
Journalists Lyse Doucet and Misha Glenny will address the shifting nuances of geopolitics while the subject of climate science will be discussed by academic Friederike Otto.
Hay Festival president Stephen Fry highlighted the festival's important role in this year's tumultuous social and political climate, stating: 'Besides the fun and joy of gathering to share stories, it is also the antidote to disinformation and division.'
Geordie Greig, Editor-In-Chief of The Independent, said: 'Hay Festival remains the world's greatest exchange for the best works of literature and a forum for ideas, philosophy, politics and provocative debate. I am so pleased that The Independent can once again be at the heart of this meeting of minds, bringing together our journalists with luminaries from all walks of life to discuss the pressing matters affecting us all.
'The Independent has more than 20 million readers in the UK alone, many of whom are passionate about culture in all its forms. I'm looking forward to a fascinating, thought-provoking series, discussing and shaping the news of the day.'
Meanwhile, Julie Finch, Hay Festival Global CEO, added: 'We're delighted to be working with The Independent on the News Review series, gathering festival guests each morning to discuss and debate the day's headlines. With the news agenda changing so quickly, this opens up a space in our programme to be reactive and keep pace with the world around us.'
The full breakdown of this year's News Review line-up can be found below:
Saturday 24 May 2025, 10am –Wye Stage
Mike Berners-Lee, sustainability researcher and professor in the Institute for Social Futures at Lancaster University, author of There is No Planet B; Misha Glenny, geopolitics journalist, author of McMafia.
Sunday 25 May 2025, 10am – Global Stage
Friederike Otto, Senior Lecturer in Climate Science, Imperial College London.
Monday 26 May 2025, 10am – Meadow Stage
David Olusoga, historian and author of Black and British, presenter of Britain's Forgotten Slave Owners; Helen Rebanks, farmer and author of The Farmer's Wife.
Tuesday 27 May 2025, 10am – Discovery Stage
TBA
Wednesday 28 May 2025, 10am – Global Stage
Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson, Paralympic athlete and presenter; Sara Pascoe, award-winning comedian, host of BBC2's Great British Sewing Bee, author of Sex Power Money.
Thursday 29 May 2025, 10am – Meadow Stage
Kehinde Andrews, Professor of Black Studies at Birmingham City University, author of The New Age of Empire; Havana Marking, award-winning director of Undercover: Exposing the Far Right.
Friday 30 May 2025, 10am – Discovery Stage
AC Grayling, philosopher, founder and principal of the New College of the Humanities at Northeastern University, London; Jon Sopel, former BBC North America editor, host of The News Agents, author of Strangeland.
Saturday 31 May 2025, 10am – Discovery Stage
Anushka Asthana, ITV's deputy political editor, author of Taken As Red: How Labour Won Big and the Tories Crashed the Party; Lyse Doucet, the BBC's Chief International Correspondent and Senior Presenter.
Sunday 1 June 2025, 10am – Wye Stage
Sigrid Rausing, publisher of Granta magazine and Granta Books; Philippe Sands KC, Professor of Law at University College London and author of East West Street.
Special guests at Hay this year include Good Omens star Michael Sheen, The Good Place actor Jameela Jamil, artist Grayson Perry, comedian Miranda Hart, musician and author Paloma Faith, ITV presenter Lorraine Kelly and activist Katie Piper. They will be joined by British screenwriter and producer Jesse Armstrong, one of the minds behind Succession, Peep Show and Four Lions.
As well as its usual literary offerings, the Festival will launch its first cinema section with the MUBI cinema hosting screenings of Bergman Island; How to Have Sex; Fallen Leaves; Queer; First Cow; Alcarràs; Dahomey; Decision to Leave; Aftersun; Priscilla; Perfect Days; Petite Maman; and The Worst Person in the World.
They will be followed by discussion and analysis by screenwriters including Hot Milk's Rebecca Lenkiewicz, The Power's Sarah Quintrell, and His Dark Materials producer Jane Tranter. Conclave novelist Robert Harris will also discuss the Oscar-nominated adaptation of his work.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
9 hours ago
- Yahoo
Tennis star Sachia Vickery defends having OnlyFans account: ‘Easiest money I've ever made'
Pro tennis player Sachia Vickery is drawing major attention both on the court and off as she competes in the U.S. Open 2025 qualifiers while defending her career on OnlyFans. During an Instagram Q&A amid her qualifier run in New York City, the 30-year-old Florida native, who is ranked No. 559, wrote, 'I'm very open-minded and I don't care what people think of me,' calling OnlyFans 'the easiest money I've ever made.' Vickery said she also has a newfound respect for fellow creators on the platform. 'I will never talk s*** about girls on OnlyFans ever again for the rest of my life,' she added, citing how overwhelmed she was by the revenue she made in just her first two days on the platform. A representative for Vickery clarified to The Independent that her OnlyFans content remains suggestive rather than explicit and should not be considered 'sex work.' They stressed there is 'no full nudity or sexual acts performed' on her page, asserting that reports elsewhere misrepresented her content. They also noted that Vickery "was off 6 months due to a major injury and in that time, OnlyFans was pursued, tennis was not stopped to go into OnlyFans." Also on her Instagram Stories, Vickery revealed her new dating policy, which includes a mandatory $1,000 pre-date deposit. "I no longer date for free due to the behavior of men...I now require a pre-date deposit send me 1,000 and we can make it happen my cashapp is $Sachiavick," she said, according to The Daily Mail Hours later, Vickery shared a screenshot of a $1,000 CashApp credit labeled 'go out on a date.' "Y'all thought I was joking," Vickery wrote over the screenshot, per the outlet. "1k pre date deposit is now my requirement I no longer date for free due to male behavior think if it as a future investment like this gentlemen." Vickery's male counterparts, Alexandre Müller and Nick Kyrgios, also post content on OnlyFans. Vickery's next match in the U.S. Open qualifiers is Thursday at 11 a.m. against German Ella Seidel.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Peppa Pig Is a Total Brat. Here's Why I'm Fine with My 4-Year-Old Girl Watching Anyway
When my daughter graduated from Ms. Rachel to Peppa Pig, the overall vibes in my home shifted from cloying repetitive singalongs (that no doubt young kids soak up and love) to tea time at Harrod's. We became, dare I say, more sophisticated. My 4-year-old used adjectives like 'quite' and nouns like 'cinema.' The potty was gone; replaced with 'the loo.' So, I was surprised to learn that so many parents have placed Peppa Pig on the no-watch list because the titular character is—gasp!—rude. One Houston mom told The Independent she refuses to let her kids watch because Peppa is bossy, rude and models unkind behavior. Another mother banned the show altogether after her toddler parroted Peppa's go-to insult—'you're not my best friend'—at daycare. Parenting experts have even chimed in: Emma Kenny listed Peppa among the shows that should be switched off for encouraging 'rude family dynamics.' And over on Reddit, parents vent about how Peppa fat-shames Daddy Pig and teaches kids to hang up on their friends mid-call. 'Peppa is an entitled little shit,' says one commenter. Growing up in the '90s, we had our own cartoon witch hunt; my mom banned us from watching Beavis and Butthead because the news said it was making kids do bad things—like burn their own houses down. I was more of a Simpsons fan anyways. And even though Bart Simpson was a 'bad boy' who couldn't stay out of trouble if he tried, despite hours up hours of time with The Simpsons, I never told a teacher to 'eat my shorts' or pranked an entire town by placing a radio in a well and claiming to be a trapped little boy. Oh, and I don't remember anyone saying we shouldn't watch the show because it modeled 'rude family dynamics.' And for anyone who's actually familiar with the Peppa canon, you know that Daddy Pig is the Homer Simpson: a bumbling, donut-guzzling oaf. The posh accent might throw off the scent, but Daddy Pig is written in that same tradition—kindhearted but clueless, forever mocked for his weight or lack of skills. But somehow, it's his confident, imperfect daughter who draws the ire of parents everywhere. A hapless dad is comedy. A sharp-tongued girl is a menace. But honestly? Peppa's not even that sharp-mouthed. Her so-called 'brattiness' amounts to speaking her mind, hanging up on a friend once, and engaging in preschool drama. If you think that's irredeemably bad behavior, I have concerning news: Kids test boundaries. They try on phrases. They say mean things. This is what makes the pearl-clutching about Peppa so revealing. If Homer Simpson or Daddy Pig can be endlessly excused because 'that's just how dads are,' but a 4-year-old piglet experimenting with boundaries is branded an 'entitled little shit,' maybe the problem is our discomfort with girls being anything other than sweet, pliant and agreeable. I'd much rather raise a menace. If my daughter is going to model herself after a cartoon, I'll take a cheeky, loud, pink pig over a cow-towing 'perfect' nothing (looking at you, Angelina Ballerina). She can be rude, opinionated, dramatic—it puts her in a lineage of great loud women. In fact, Amy Poehler recently paid homage to this type of woman on Las Culturistas: 'For me, growing up, there was one woman who I just related to. She just felt very strong. She had a really specific POV. She kinda asked for what she wanted. She always had really good jokes. And that woman was…Miss Piggy.' If my daughter comes out of childhood with a British accent and a little sass, I'll take it. Maybe she'll learn a karate chop from Miss Piggy while she's at it. The 16 Best Shows for Toddlers to Turn on When You Need Some Downtime Why You Should Trust Us PureWow's editors and writers have spent more than a decade shopping online, digging through sales and putting our home goods, beauty finds, wellness picks and more through the wringer—all to help you determine which are actually worth your hard-earned cash. From our PureWow100 series (where we rank items on a 100-point scale) to our painstakingly curated lists of fashion, beauty, cooking, home and family picks, you can trust that our recommendations have been thoroughly vetted for function, aesthetics and innovation. Whether you're looking for travel-size hair dryers you can take on-the-go or women's walking shoes that won't hurt your feet, we've got you covered. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Jack White slams Trump's ‘vulgar' Oval Office transformation after Zelensky meeting
Grammy-winning artist Jack White took aim at President Donald Trump's White House redecoration efforts on Monday after the leader's meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The former White Stripes frontman, who has been an outspoken critic of Trump's, shared a photo of the two politicians sitting in the Oval Office, surrounded by gold ornaments. 'Look at how disgusting trump has transformed the historic White House,' he began. 'It's now a vulgar, gold leafed and gaudy, professional wrestler's dressing room. Can't wait for the UFC match on the front lawn too, he's almost fully achieved the movie 'Idiocracy.' Trump last month announced his plans for a UFC fight at the White House to celebrate 250 years of American independence. White, who previously labeled Trump an 'obvious fascist' and a 'wannabe dictator' after he won the 2024 election, continued: 'Look at his disgusting taste, would you even buy a used car from this conman, let alone give him the nuclear codes? 'A gold plated Trump bible would look perfect up on that mantle with a pair of Trump shoes on either side wouldn't it? What an embarrassment to American history.' The Independent has contacted the White House for comment. White, meanwhile, heaped praise on Zelensky, concluding his post with the comment: 'Also pictured in this photograph, a REAL leader of a nation in a black suit.' Trump quickly had the Oval Office redecorated after his inauguration in January, switching the pictures, busts, and ornaments around and introducing as much gold as possible. As CNN noted earlier this year: 'There is gold everywhere: new gold vermeil figurines on the mantle and medallions on the fireplace, gold eagles on the side tables, gilded Rococo mirrors on the doors, and, nestled in the pediments above the doorways, diminutive gold cherubs shipped in from Mar-a-Lago.' Trump also tripled the number of pictures of his predecessors on the walls, adding portraits of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D Roosevelt, Thomas Jefferson and Ronald Reagan, amongst others. He further reinstated his signature Diet Coke button on the Resolute Desk and a bust of Sir Winston Churchill last seen during his first term. White's criticism comes after Trump hosted the Ukrainian president and several European leaders at the White House on Monday to advance peace efforts aimed at ending the ongoing war in Ukraine.
