Lewes, Brighton & Hove
Speakers Festivals
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BRIGHTON SPEAKERS FESTIVAL
11th October 2026
The Old Market, Upper Market Street, Hove, BN3 1AS
Sunday 11th October 2026
Peter Kyle MP in conversation with Dr Fola Yahaya
AI: Threat, Tool or Transformation?
Sunday 11th October 10.20am – 11.30am
Artificial intelligence is transforming every part of our lives — but is it a threat, an opportunity, or both? We've been told AI will destroy and create jobs, supercharge and stifle creativity, serve us faithfully and deceive us cleverly. In this lively and sharply insightful session, AI expert Dr Fola Yahaya sits down with Peter Kyle MP — one of the most prominent voices in British politics on the future of technology — to cut through the hype and explore what artificial intelligence really is, how it works, and what's coming next.
Drawing on the clarity and humour that reviewers have praised as "the most accessible explanation of AI available today" and "a talk that replaces fear with understanding", Yahaya shows where AI genuinely excels, where it reliably fails, and how individuals, businesses and governments can prepare for the seismic changes ahead. With Kyle bringing the perspective of a politician who has engaged with these questions at the very highest levels of government, this promises to be a conversation that is both practically grounded and genuinely urgent. Expect helpful visuals, real-world insight, and a fiercely down-to-earth guide to thriving — not merely surviving — in an AI-driven world.
Peter Kyle is the Labour MP for Hove and Portslade and has served in two of the most significant cabinet roles in Keir Starmer's government. As Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology from 2024 to 2025, he was responsible for the UK's approach to AI regulation, championing a framework that reduced unnecessary barriers to development while protecting users. He subsequently became Secretary of State for Business and Trade and President of the Board of Trade. Born in West Sussex and educated at the University of Sussex and with a doctorate in community development, Kyle worked as an aid worker in Eastern Europe and the Balkans before entering politics. He has been one of the most consistent advocates in Parliament for harnessing technology in the public interest — and brings to this conversation the rare perspective of someone who has not only debated AI policy but had to make it.
Dr Fola Yahaya is the founder of Strategic Agenda and holds a PhD from the London School of Economics. He has served as an economist for the United Nations and an e-strategist for Morgan Stanley, and is now one of the leading communicators on artificial intelligence in the UK, specialising in making complex ideas clear, practical and engaging for everyone.
A Q&A Session will follow.
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Sam Freedman
Failed State: The Sunday Times Bestselling Investigation Into Why Britain is Struggling
Sunday 11th October 11.50am – 1.00 pm
Why does nothing work in Britain?
It’s harder than ever to get a GP appointment. Burglaries go unpunished. Rivers are overrun with sewage. Real wages have been stagnant for years, even as the cost of housing rises inexorably. Why is everything going wrong at the same time?
It's easy to blame dysfunctional politicians who are out for themselves. But, in reality, it’s more complicated. Politicians can make things better or worse, but all work within our state institutions. And ours are utterly broken.
In this gripping talk, Sam Freedman—former Senior Adviser to Education Secretary Michael Gove and now one of the UK’s most trusted political analysts—lays bare the systemic failures behind Britain’s broken state. Drawing on his top five Sunday Times bestselling book – ‘Failed State’, described as “Excellent . . . persuasive . . . convincing'” (The Times) and 'funny, whipsmart and devastating. Sanity on steroids' by Emily Maitlis, Freedman dissects the culture of short-termism, chaos and incompetence that has hollowed out our institutions.
With forensic clarity and insider experience from the heart of Whitehall, Freedman explores how decades of neglect, partisan tribalism and constant ministerial churn have left Britain in disarray. Yet this is not a counsel of despair—Freedman also outlines how a renewed focus on professionalism, accountability and long-term vision could begin to rebuild trust and capacity in public life.
Sam Freedman is a political commentator, Senior Fellow at the Institute for Government, and a regular columnist for the Financial Times. He has advised at the highest levels of government and is renowned for his sharp, accessible insight into how politics really works.
A Q&A Session will follow.
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John Kampfner
Braver New World
Sunday 11th October 1.20pm - 2.30pm
Britain feels stuck. The NHS creaks, the housing crisis deepens, social care remains unresolved, and a growing fatalism has settled over public life — the sense that nothing can really change. John Kampfner has spent three years travelling the world to challenge that assumption, and the result is a book the Financial Times calls "rattlingly readable... inspiring" and the New Statesman praises as "a rare example of a Broken Britain book with answers."
At a time when democracies seem paralysed by fear and populations are turning inward, Kampfner visited ten countries confronting our shared challenges with bravery and imagination. Taiwan's health system achieves 90% patient satisfaction at a fraction of the cost of the NHS. Vienna has pursued affordable social housing for a century, with 60% of residents living in subsidised accommodation without stigma. Costa Rica has tripled its economy while doubling its forest cover. Finland's schools prepare children for an uncertain world that Britain's teaching-to-the-test system cannot match.
These are not distant utopias. They are practical, working models chosen precisely because they demonstrate that difficult problems are not unsolvable. As the Observer puts it, Braver New World is "engaging and informative, imploring us not to lose hope" — a top ten bestseller that Radio 4's Start the Week simply called "a ray of sunshine."
In this session, John Kampfner will bring these stories to life and ask the question at the heart of his book: solutions exist — do we have the courage to learn from them? For an audience in Brighton and Hove, a city that has long been willing to think differently about politics and public life, it is a talk that could hardly feel more timely.
John Kampfner is an award-winning author, broadcaster, and foreign affairs commentator who began his career reporting from East Berlin during the fall of the Wall and from Moscow during the collapse of communism. He went on to cover British politics for the Financial Times and the BBC before editing the New Statesman. His previous book, Why the Germans Do It Better, was a top ten bestseller and Book of the Year in the Guardian, the Economist, and the New Statesman. Braver New World is his eighth book, published by Atlantic Books in 2026.
A Q&A Session will follow.
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Jeremy Hunt
Can We Be Rich Again?: The Surprising Potential of Britain's Economy
Sunday 11th October 2.50pm – 4.00pm
Britain's economy is stuck. A succession of shocks has left the country with low growth, stagnant living standards and divided politics. Debt and taxes have reached record levels, and many fear the UK has fallen into a low-growth trap with ruinous consequences for future generations.
Jeremy Hunt knows this territory better than most. As Chancellor of the Exchequer, he navigated the economy through both inflation and recession — the man Nick Macpherson, former Treasury Permanent Secretary, describes as delivering "a compelling recipe for growth from the man who pulled Britain back from the abyss in October 2022." Now, freed from the constraints of office, he makes a frank and surprisingly optimistic case for what comes next.
Despite widespread pessimism, Hunt argues that Britain still has a great deal going for it: the third largest technology ecosystem in the world, a formidable financial services sector, globally admired universities and respected institutions. The solutions to our economic malaise, he contends, are hiding in plain sight — if we are willing to learn from what works elsewhere.
Can We Be Rich Again? sets out a clear eight-point programme for renewal, drawing on Hunt's unique experience of power to argue, as Andy Haldane, former Chief Economist at the Bank of England puts it, that Britain's "vast potential can be uncorked." Emma Duncan of The Times calls it "an uplifting counterweight to the usual gloom-mongering — a book by a man who understands government intimately, and knows that — and how — it can be done better." The Telegraph, naming it among their Best Summer Books of 2026, noted that Hunt "might just have the road-map for our future prosperity."
Whether you agree with his politics or not, this is a rare thing: a serious, evidence-based argument for optimism about Britain's future, from someone who has sat at the centre of power and lived the consequences of his actions.
Jeremy Hunt served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2022 to 2024, having previously held the offices of Foreign Secretary and Secretary of State for Health — one of the longest-serving Health Secretaries in British history. Before entering politics he built and ran Hotcourses, his own educational publishing business. He is also the author of Can We Be Great Again? and Zero, and continues to serve as Conservative MP for Godalming and Ash. He lives with his wife, son and two daughters between Godalming and London.
A Q&A Session will follow.
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Jeremy Corbyn
A Life in Politics: Reflections from the Backbenches to Downing Street's Door
Sunday 11th October 4.20pm - 5.30pm
A candid conversation with one of British politics' most consequential and closely watched figures — and the man who has just won a second parliamentary term as an independent. What is it like to spend four decades as a backbench MP, then suddenly find yourself leading a major political party? What did Jeremy Corbyn learn from the extraordinary swings of fortune in his career — from years as a rebel on the margins, to a leadership campaign few predicted, to a general election that defied expectations, to losing the whip and winning re-election as an independent?
In this wide-ranging and personal talk, Corbyn reflects on the arc of his political life: the values that have remained constant, the moments that tested them, and what he's learned about the realities of power, party loyalty, and public service along the way. Rather than a policy platform, this is a personal reckoning — Corbyn talking frankly about his own journey through some of the most turbulent chapters in recent British political history, what surprised him, what he'd do differently, and what has kept him going through decades in public life.
Drawing on his experience as a backbench rebel, a party leader who came within reach of Downing Street, and now as an independent MP with a renewed mandate, Corbyn offers a frank and personal account of a life spent in politics — without script or spin. Whether you are a long-standing supporter, a sceptic, or simply curious about one of the most debated figures in modern British politics, this is an unmissable opportunity to hear Corbyn reflect on the values and experiences that have shaped his remarkable political career.
Jeremy Corbyn served as Leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020, having represented Islington North as a Labour MP since 1983 — one of the longest-serving members of his generation. A consistent voice on the left throughout the Blair and Brown years, he was elected Labour leader in a landslide membership vote that transformed the party and redefined the terms of British political debate. His 2017 general election campaign, widely written off as unwinnable, produced a remarkable swing and denied Theresa May her majority. Following the 2019 defeat he stood down as leader, and was subsequently suspended from — and ultimately had the whip removed by — the Labour Party. In 2024 he stood as an independent in Islington North and won, defeating the Labour candidate in one of the most closely watched contests of that election. He remains one of the most recognisable and in-demand political speakers in the country.
A Q&A Session will follow.
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Rachel Millward
From Film Festivals to Frontline Politics
Sunday 11th October 5.50pm – 7.00pm
Rachel Millward's path into politics is anything but conventional. Before ever standing for election, she built an award-winning career in the creative industries — founding and directing a successful international film festival and a national charity supporting women filmmakers. In this session, she talks about that journey: the leap from the arts world into local government, what it actually feels like to lead a council for the first time, and how creative-sector instincts around storytelling, community and collaboration have shaped her approach to public life.
Since 2021 Rachel has served as Wealden District Councillor for Hartfield, and since 2023 as co-leader of the council — a role that has given her first-hand experience of the practical realities of local government: housing pressures, environmental challenges, and the day-to-day work of trying to improve a community's wellbeing. She'll share candid reflections on what surprised her about political life, the compromises and trade-offs of coalition leadership, and what she's learned about the gap between political ideals and the messier business of actually delivering change.
A familiar voice on BBC Politics, ITV, LBC and Times Radio, Rachel brings a thoughtful, personal perspective on public service, leadership, and what drew a career creative into frontline politics.
A Q&A Session will follow.
Jung Chang
Fly, Wild Swans: My Mother, Myself and China
Sunday 11th October 7.20pm – 8.30pm
Nearly fifty years ago, Jung Chang's Wild Swans told the story of three generations of women in her family, and became a global phenomenon that sold in the tens of millions and introduced the world to the human reality behind decades of Chinese history — from the last emperor, through Mao's rule and the horrors of the Cultural Revolution, to the reforms that followed.
Now, in the hotly anticipated Fly, Wild Swans, already an instant Sunday Times bestseller and named a Book of the Year by the Times, the Daily Telegraph, the Financial Times and Waterstones, Jung brings that story up to date, tracing her family's — and China's — journey through the decades since, as China has transformed from an isolated, war-scarred state into a global superpower shaping the twenty-first century.
At its heart, this is a love letter to Jung's mother, and a meditation on how the past continues to shape the present, as the era of Xi Jinping reshapes the lives of Jung and her family once again. Writing in the Observer, Elif Shafak described the book as beautiful and moving, while Rory Stewart has called it "profoundly revealing as a portrait both of a family and of the deeper traumas that lie at the heart of modern China" — this is a rare opportunity to hear one of the most important chroniclers of modern China reflect on memory, family, and a nation in flux.
Jung Chang is the author of Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China, one of the bestselling non-fiction books of all time, alongside acclaimed biographies of Mao Zedong, Empress Dowager Cixi, and the Soong sisters. Her books have been translated into more than forty languages and have sold more than fifteen million copies worldwide, though all remain banned in mainland China. She was born in Sichuan, China, and left for Britain in 1978, where she has lived ever since.
A Q&A Session will follow.