The author of the excellent book ‘Values, Voice and Virtue’, Matt Goodwin (a book I’m currently reading and loving what I’ve read so far) has pointed out that out of the many literary and culture festivals that happen across the country, none of them have invited him to speak. I’m very surprised to hear this as the author of one of the most popular political books of the year should be a good fit for somewhere like the Hay Festival. I suspect that Mr Goodwin by taking aim at an increasingly out of touch cultural and political elite has ruffled so many feathers with his book that the cultural guardians at places like the Hay Festival just don’t want to hear what he has to say.

A Twitter user made a comment that was in my view very much to the point.

Like the commenter above I try to take in at least some of the Hay Festival but having perused some of the programme for this years gig, I’m at a loss to find anyone that I would willingly shell out money to go and see, apart from a few history based talks but that’s still not enough to encourage me to make the long journey to Hay. Hay this year really is the liberal-left Blob on display and there’s very little this year that enthuses me. It’s a cavalcade of green bollocks, socialist bollocks and monothought clique bollocks. I’ve been going for years and Hay has continually got worse with regards viewpoint diversity but this year really is the worst its been in my view.