Latest news with #Hayfestival
Irish Examiner
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
Gisèle Pelicot's daughter believes online pornography played role in rape case
There is 'no way' that Gisèle Pelicot would have been raped more than 200 times without the existence of pornography websites, her daughter has said. Caroline Darian said there were 'so many social problems like online porn' that can lead to instances of abuse. Pelicot survived nearly a decade of rapes by dozens of men, including her then husband Dominique Pelicot, Darian's father, who drugged his wife and facilitated the abuse. Pelicot rose to international fame last year for waiving her right to anonymity in the trial of her ex-husband and other defendants. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Darian was at the Hay festival in Wales promoting her book, I'll Never Call Him Dad Again. Asked by a male audience member how men can 'step up' and be part of breaking cycles of abuse, she said 'you need to talk between guys' about pornography, because it is 'part of the system' of misogyny and violence. The actor and activist Jameela Jamil, who was chairing the event, said that 'there are so many men in my life, even, who don't know all of the facts of this case in the way that women do'. What we 'desperately need' men to do 'is to check your mates' and challenge their misogynistic comments and behaviour, she said. Darian is a pen name, a combination of her brothers Florian and David's names, because she wanted to honour the fact that they have been so involved in the process of telling her story. Caroline Darian spoke with great compassion and admiration about her mother Gisele Pelicot (pictured). File photo: Christophe Simon/AFP via Getty Images The author spoke with great compassion and admiration about her mother, but explained that they were not currently on speaking terms. In her book, she wrote that they reached a 'point of no return' in their relationship after her mother did not believe Darian when she claimed her father had raped her. Darian told the Hay audience that she thinks her mother's reluctance to support her was a 'way for her to protect herself'. It's 'quite difficult' to accept that your child has been abused, she said. 'I think my mum is not able to recognise it because otherwise I think she's going to die.' Dominique Pelicot's actions have 'really impacted the whole family, and everyone from her family had a different position', she added. 'But I just have to be grateful for what [Gisèle Pelicot] did.' Telling her son, who was six at the time, about her father's actions was particularly hard, Darian said. She felt a responsibility to tell him the truth but 'it was a shock' as he had previously had a good relationship with his grandfather and 'loved him very much'. Her son saw a psychiatrist for almost four years after finding out the news, and Darian said she was 'trying to educate him about what is consent'. Raising a young man in a positive way was 'a question of open dialogue', she said, and 'a question of education'. The Guardian Read More Dominique Pelicot's daughter presses charges accusing him of sexual abuse
Business Mayor
25-05-2025
- Politics
- Business Mayor
Challenge use of ‘nefarious' news sources, says environmentalist
People should confront their family members who read news from 'nefarious' sources, suggests the environmentalist Mike Berners-Lee. 'Challenge your friends and family and colleagues who are getting their information from sources that have got nefarious roots or a track record of being careless – or worse – with the truth, because we need to make this sort of thing socially embarrassing to be involved in,' said Berners-Lee, the brother of the World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee. Speaking at Hay festival on Saturday about his most recent book, A Climate of Truth, the writer encouraged people to ask themselves 'really discerning questions' about their basis for trusting the media they consume. Berners-Lee, 61, said that lack of progress on climate issues comes down to political 'deceit', which he likened to abuse. If a media personality 'is found to have groped someone even once, that's the end of their career, because we've decided collectively that that's abuse, and it's disgusting, and we're not having it', he said. 'If a politician abuses us' by being deceitful, 'we need to start screaming about that' too. Though there have been 29 Cop conferences in the past 30 years, there is 'no evidence whatsoever that those Cops have made any difference' to the rising trajectory of the global emissions from fossil fuel use, he said. 'Those 29 Cops have been totally corrupted and destroyed by the very cynical, very well-funded, very calculating, very sophisticated efforts of the fossil fuel industry to make sure those Cops don't get where they need to get to,' he said. While energy companies argue they are helping the world meet rising energy needs, Berners-Lee said: 'We don't have rising energy needs, not at the global level.' Technology is not the obstacle to solving the climate crisis, he said. 'We've got all the technology we need, for example, for an energy transition and vast improvements to our food system.' The 'simplest mechanic by a mile' for 'helping the fossil fuel to stay in the ground' is a carbon price, he suggested. This creates a revenue stream which can be used for 'all kinds of great things' including relieving poverty and supporting 'all the technologies that we need'. He said that humanity's 'time is going to be up' if we carry on business as usual. 'We've got all this energy and technology at our fingertips, and we don't yet have the wisdom and care to be able to wield it,' he said. 'We're like children running around the playground with machine guns, and we've got to put that straight, otherwise we're going to be in for a very, very, very nasty time, and I don't think it's too far away.'
The Guardian
24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Stephen Fry's ‘vocal double' to be used in AI installation at Hay festival
An AI version of Stephen Fry's voice is to give a talk at Hay festival this year. Visitors will be able to step into a soundproof booth to hear the clone of Fry's voice running a voiceover training session. Guided by his 'vocal double', participants will record their own voice reel, 'until the experience takes an unexpected turn', say organisers. The installation, called Vocalize, 'is a brilliant fusion of art and entertainment, revealing both the wonders and pitfalls of AI', said Fry. 'As this technology shapes our future, it urges us to pause, reflect, and question: where are we heading and who gets to decide?' In 2023, Fry revealed that his recordings of the seven volumes of the Harry Potter books had been used to create an AI version of his voice for the narration of a historical documentary. 'I said not one word of that – it was a machine. Yes, it shocked me', he said at the time. The AI tool could 'have me read anything from a call to storm parliament to hard porn, all without my knowledge and without my permission.' On hearing about it he told his agents, who 'went ballistic'. He has since spoken about AI multiple times. In January, he compared AI to contaminated water, warning that in the future it could have 'raw sewage and chemicals and all kinds of nonsense in it'. Sign up to Bookmarks Discover new books and learn more about your favourite authors with our expert reviews, interviews and news stories. Literary delights delivered direct to you after newsletter promotion 'All of you with children worry about the fact that, as it were, the air they're breathing is contaminated and that the lines of communication they have through apps and social media is polluted with raw sewage of people's hatred, weirdness and grooming and all the other terrors. AI is not immune to that, obviously, because it is entirely composed of everything out there,' he told the The British Educational Training and Technology Show, reported the Standard. The Vocalize installation will run from 22 May to 1 June. It was created by arts production company Sage & Jester, and is partly supported by Arts Council England among other organisations. 'We wanted audiences to feel what manipulation truly means', said Vocalize's creators. 'When the viewer becomes the protagonist, the boundary between truth and fabrication starts to dissolve… As artists, we're drawn to exploring AI not only to unlock its creative potential, but also to confront the risks and ethical dilemmas it presents.'
The Guardian
11-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Michael Sheen, Jameela Jamil and Hanif Kureishi join packed Hay festival lineup
Michael Sheen, Yulia Navalnaya and Miranda Hart are among those due to appear at the 2025 Hay festival, organisers have announced. The UK's most famous literary festival has unveiled its 2025 programme, made up of more than 600 events set to take place between 22 May and 1 June in Hay-on-Wye, Powys. The core themes for the 38th iteration of the spring festival will be 'the impacts of AI, health and wellbeing, new political orders and intergenerational exchanges,' according to Hay festival CEO Julie Finch. As well as Navalnaya, the widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, there are a number of activists set to speak at the festival, including the US president's niece, writer and psychologist Mary Trump and Gisele Pelicot's daughter Caroline Darian. Chef and Guardian writer Yotam Ottolenghi, artist Grayson Perry and actor and podcaster Jameela Jamil are also due to appear, as are broadcasters Susie Dent, Stacey Dooley and Lorraine Kelly. Novelists make up much of the programme, and this year's lineup includes Hanif Kureishi, Nobel laureate Abdulrazak Gurnah and Elif Shafak. Young readers will be able to attend events with children's authors including Jacqueline Wilson, Julia Donaldson and Katherine Rundell. And fans of music and comedy also have plenty to look forward to, with Paloma Faith, Brian Eno, Sara Pascoe and Katherine Ryan among those due to speak and perform. Hay festival president Stephen Fry said he is 'delighted to be returning to Hay Festival – one of my favourite places on Earth.' 'Besides the fun and joy of gathering to share stories,' the festival is 'also the antidote to disinformation and division,' he added. Last year, two days into the festival, Hay dropped its principal sponsor Baillie Gifford after boycotts from speakers and performers over the firm's links to Israel and fossil fuel companies. The investment management company subsequently cancelled all of its remaining sponsorship deals with literary festivals, and, last November, the 2024 winner of the Baillie Gifford prize for nonfiction, Richard Flanagan, refused to accept the £50,000 prize money unless the fund manager shared a plan to reduce its investment in fossil fuel extraction and increase investments in renewables. Hay festival organisers have confirmed that Baillie Gifford will not be sponsoring this year's festival. Sign up to Bookmarks Discover new books and learn more about your favourite authors with our expert reviews, interviews and news stories. Literary delights delivered direct to you after newsletter promotion Tickets for the 2025 Hay festival are on sale now to Hay festival members, patrons and benefactors at General sale tickets are available from noon on 14 March.
