A NUMBER of prominent speakers are taking part in one of Malvern’s popular annual festivals this year.

The Malvern Festival of Ideas, due to take place in early-March, will see figures including Shami Chakrabarti and former cabinet minister Vince Cable among others.

Being held virtually this year, the festival gets underway on the weekend of March 5-7 and is themed around “unity and diversity”.

The opening speaker is Shami Chakrabarti, speaking on ‘Unity, Diversity and Hope for the Future’.

Other speakers include author and historian Rachel Holmes; doctor and academic John Ashton; politician and author Vince Cable; economist Mervyn King; political commentator Paul Mason; climatologist Mark Maslin; philosopher Roman Krznaric; academic Kalwant Bhopal; and journalist Amelia Gentleman.

A festival spokesman said: “Over recent years there has been increasing polarisation in debates in the public domain, fuelled in part by Brexit but also other factors.

“More recently, there has been much talk about unity as brought about internationally by the global pandemic.

“Is the uniting force in some ways is stronger than divisions? What can we learn from our (positive) experiences and build on to face future threats and how? How do we need to change? What reforms are needed?”

Registering for the Festival enables participants to put their questions to the speakers via the session host.

In addition, there is a programme of open-access science talks for all ages on Saturday, March 6.

These include topics such as The Science of Superheroes with Robert Walsh; Zooniverse for community building,led by Chicago-based astrophysicist Grace Wolf-Chase; and environmental impact of everyday tasks led by Scientists for Global Responsibility.

Details of the Festival can be found at http://www.malvernfestivalofideas.org.uk/.