It was a joy last Friday evening to catch a lively debate on Radio 4 featuring one of our finest speakers, Matt Ridley. The discussion, hosted by Melvin Bragg, centered on the significance and value of culture in the twenty-first century, with specific reference to Matthew Arnold’s famed quote that culture is “the great help out of our present difficulties”.

Matt’s inspirational speeches and talks often focus on the necessity of culture and the beauty of collective human intellectual achievement, so he was on his home turf. To paraphrase Boris Johnson’s review of Matt’s book, ‘The Rational Optimist’, his contributions to the show were most certainly a “triumphant blast on the vuvuzela of common sense”. You can listen to this show yourself by clicking here.

If you’d like to book Matt, or indeed any of our other exclusive speakers, please email Alex Hickman.