Wednesday, August 7, 2019
HowTheLightGetsIn announces Comedy Programme for 2019 London festival
6th August 2019 By PRESS RELEASE
HowTheLightGetsIn, the world’s
largest philosophy and music festival that gathers Nobel Prize winners,
politicians and comedians together with the hottest music performers, has today
announced its comedy line up for this year’s festival, September 21st-22nd 2019.
Following a sold-out debut in
London in 2018, HowTheLightGetsIn returns this September to Hampstead Heath in
the idyllic setting of Kenwood Housegardens, for a packed weekend of
world-changing ideas, music, comedy and culture – right in the heart of our
capital city.
The full programme features
over 50 debates and talks with 100 of the world’s
leading thinkers, plus 40 music and comedy acts across 8
stages. This year’s comedy line up features some of the most exciting comedians
on the UK comedy circuit, with rising stars alongside established favourites.
Leading the bill is Tony
Law, simply the greatest surrealist stand-up of the past 10 years. He has
previously been nominated for Best Show at the Edinburgh Comedy Awards, and
appeared on Have I Got News For You, Russell Howard’s Good News andNever
Mind the Buzzcocks. In 2017 he co-created ‘The Battle for Icetopia’ – an
experimental comedy opera on ice that won the Chortle Award for Event of the
Year. This is post-modern stand-up taken to dangerously funny new levels.
Over 100 events, with more
than 70 debates & talks from the world's leading thinkers across
philosophy, politics, science and the arts, plus over 40 music & comedy
acts. Our official trailer for #HTLGI London 2019 is now
here! See you in September...
http://bit.ly/2ItTgIl
The charismatic and completely
unique Olga Koch returns to HowTheLightGetsIn after garnering rave
reviews for her 2018 debut show Fight, nominated for Best Newcomer at the
Edinburgh Comedy Awards. She’s been described as “one to watch” by Metro,
listed as one of the Guardian’s “best new comics” at the Edinburgh Fringe,
and has appeared on The Now Show, Mock the Week and Pls Like. Also
featured is the provocative and dangerously funny Alfie Brown, whose
stand-up masterfully blends eye-watering confessionals, political commentary
and wild improvisational tangents. He’s been hailed as “quite simply the
future of British stand-up” (The List), and a string of ambitious shows to his
name continues to bear that out. “Brown’s is one of the boldest new voices I’ve
encountered… mapping a route to a different class of humour.” Guardian
Self-described “sexy-cerebral
comedy underdog,” Sophie Duker is fast establishing herself as one of
the most exciting new acts on the British stand-up circuit, and comes to
HowTheLightGetsIn fresh from her debut at the Edinburgh Fringe. A comedy writer
whose credits range from the BBC’s Famalam and Radio 4’s The
News Quiz, to Cartoon Network’s The Amazing World of Gumball, she
has also recently starred in a brand new comedy pilot for Channel 4
called Riot Girls. “Laugh-out-loud funny” The Telegraph
And let’s not forget Heidi
Regan, winner of the 2017 BBC New Comedy Award and So You Think You’re Funny.
Heidi’s quirky, absurd and philosophical brand of comedy has been acclaimed by
industry insiders and audiences alike, and has seen her star rise fast since
her first stage appearance just four years ago. She has been nominated for no
fewer than 12 comedy awards for her whip-smart writing and inimitable live
performances – though Regan is prone to make light of her success with her
trademark brand of deadpan Australian humour as she riffs on everything
from her love of shark B-movies to her coming-out story.
Also featured at
HowTheLightGetsIn 2019:
Rising star of the British
comedy scene Alex Kealy, “a reservoir of memorable gags” (The List) / acclaimed
live act Pierre Novellie, nominated for Chortle’s Best Club Comic for two
years running / Star of Radio 4’s The News Quiz and Where’s
the F in News? Eleanor Tiernan /writer, director and comedian Stuart
Laws, “fantastically funny” (EdFestMag)
Said festival director Hilary
Lawson:
“Rising star of the British
stand-up scene Alex Kealy has curated our comedy line up for the last six
years, and has a real talent for catching some of the UK’s most exciting
comedians, like Nish Kumar, Aisling Bea and Phil Wang, before they became
household names. With an indecently funny comedy line-up, we’re incredibly
excited that this year’s festival promises Edinburgh headliners rubbing
shoulders with some of the best up-and-coming talent on the comedy circuit.”
Speaker Highlights:
Philosopher, sociologist and
cultural critic Slavoj Zizek / former Lib Dem
leader Vince Cable / Conservative leadership
candidate and rising political star Rory Stewart / economist
and best-selling author Mariana Mazzucato / Astronomer RoyalMartin
Rees / former Green Party leader Natalie Bennett / best-selling
philosopher Julian Baggini / co-founder of Novara
Media and author of Fully Automated Luxury Communism Aaron Bastani / author
of The Precariat and founder of the Basic Income Earth
Network Guy Standing / BBC News presenter Joanna
Gosling / political theorist Chantal Mouffe / novelist,
poet, playwright and former Children’s Laureate Michael Morpurgo /
author and parapsychology researcher Rupert Sheldrake / writer,
critic and broadcaster Shahidha Bari / and
many more
Tickets for the full weekend
are available from £98. All students and under 25s are eligible for a 30%
discount.
For tickets and details please
visit howthelightgetsin.org/london
Twitter: @HTLGIFestival
Facebook: HowTheLightGetsIn
Festival
Instagram: @howthelightgetsinfestival
#HTLGI
Tuesday, August 6, 2019
'Biggest Crisis No One Is Talking About': Quarter of Humanity Faces 'Extremely High Water Stress' Intensified by Climate Emergency
"A new generation of
solutions is emerging, but nowhere near fast enough."
An analysis released Tuesday
warns that 17 countries which are collectively home to a quarter of the global
population face "extremely high water stress" that is on track to get
worse—particularly because of the human-caused climate emergency.
The data is part of the World
Resources Institute's (WRI) Aqueduct
Water Risk Atlas, a publicly available database and interactive tool
designed to enhance global understanding of water scarcity, which WRI calls
"one of the defining issues of the 21st century."
"The newly updated
Aqueduct tools allow users to better see and understand water risks and make
smart decisions to manage them," WRI president and CEO Andrew Steer said in
a statement. "A new generation of solutions is emerging, but nowhere near
fast enough. Failure to act will be massively expensive in human lives and
livelihoods."
"Water stress is the
biggest crisis no one is talking about," said Steer. "Its
consequences are in plain sight in the form of food insecurity, conflict and
migration, and financial instability."
The WRI statement noted that
"the world has seen a string of water crises in recent years, as what's
now known as 'Day Zero'—the day when the taps run dry—has threatened major
cities from Cape Town to São Paolo to Chennai."
Betsy Otto, who directs WRI's
global water program, told The
New York Times that "we're likely to see more of these Day Zeros in
the future."
Otto, speaking to The
Guardian, added that
"our populations and economies are growing and demanding more water. But
our supply is threatened by climate change, water waste, and pollution."
In a blog post announcing the
new data, WRI outlined three
ways that communities and countries around the world can reduce water stress,
regardless of where they rank on the group's list:
Increase agricultural
efficiency by using seeds and irrigation techniques that require less water,
investing in developing technology that improves farming, and cutting back on
food loss and waste;
Invest in "grey"and
"green" infrasturcture, improving everything from pipes and treatment
plants to wetlands and watersheds.
Treat, reuse, and recycle
"wastewater."
The blog explained that
countries rank at WRI's highest level for water stress if their "irrigated
agriculture, industries, and municipalities withdraw more than 80 percent of
their available supply on average every year."
A dozen of the top-ranked
countries are located in the Middle East and North Africa. "The region is
hot and dry, so water supply is low to begin with," wrote WRI, "but
growing demands have pushed countries further into extreme stress."
India, which has a population
exceeding 1.3 billion, also ranks among the most water-stressed nations.
Shashi Shekhar—former
secretary of India's Ministry of Water Resources and a senior fellow at WRI
India—noted that "the recent water crisis in Chennai gained global
attention, but various areas in India are experiencing chronic water stress as
well."
"India can manage its
water risk with the help of reliable and robust data pertaining to rainfall,
surface, and groundwater to develop strategies that strengthen
resilience," Shekhar said. "Aqueduct can help identify and prioritize
water risks in India and around the world."
Behind the 17 nations at WRI's
top level are 44 countries—collectively home to another third of the world's
population—that face "high" water stress, withdrawing on average more
than 40 percent of their available supply annually.
However, as WRI's blog post
pointed out, "pockets of extreme water stress exist even in countries with
low overall water stress."
"For example, South
Africa and the United States rank #48 and #71 on WRI's list, respectively, yet
the Western Cape (the state home to Cape Town) and New Mexico experience
extremely high stress levels," the group explained. "The populations
in these two states rival those of entire nations on the list of most
water-stressed countries."
"The data is clear: There
are undeniably worrying trends in water," WRI concluded. "But by
taking action now and investing in better management, we can solve water issues
for the good of people, economies and the planet."
See the group's full
ranking—which is based on United Nations member countries and does not include
some small island nations due to model limitations—below:
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