Braver New World – The Countries Daring to Do Things Others Won’t

At a time when democracies seem paralyzed by fear and populations are turning inward, award-winning journalist John Kampfner has travelled to ten countries confronting our shared challenges with bravery and imagination.

In Japan, he discovered inter-generational care homes ensuring dignity in later life – while Britain ducks the social care question. He visited Vienna’s century-old housing projects where 60% of residents live in subsidised accommodation without stigma and communities thrive. Taiwan’s health system achieves 90% patient satisfaction at a fraction of the cost of the NHS.

From Moroccan solar panels in the Sahara producing enough clean energy to power two million homes to Finnish classrooms preparing children for an uncertain world that Britain’s teaching-to-the-test system cannot match – Kampfner will introduce us to the people making radical change happen.

These aren’t utopias. But what unites them is a refusal to accept that difficult problems are unsolvable. The countries showing true innovation are often those with their backs against the wall – not wealthy nations assuming they have all the answers.

This is an urgent reminder that solutions exist. The question is whether we have the courage to learn.

Event Schedule

6:15pm: Pre-event socialising and networking
A cash bar will be available for refreshments.

6:30pm: Event begins

7:30pm: Event ends

Speakers

John Kampfner is an award-winning author, broadcaster, foreign-affairs commentator and conference speaker. He began his career reporting from East Berlin (during the fall of the Wall) and Moscow (during the collapse of communism) for the Telegraph. After covering British politics for the FT and BBC, he edited the New Statesman. He has been Chair of several organizations. He is a regular TV and radio pundit, documentary maker and author of seven previous books, including the bestselling Blair’s Wars. Why the Germans Do it Better, published in 2020, was a Top 10 bestseller and Book of the Year in the Guardian, Economist and New Statesman, and sold over 150,000 copies in all editions. His most recent book, In Search of Berlin, was longlisted for the Ondaatje Prize.

Robert Peston is ITV’s political editor, presenter of the politics show Peston and the podcast The Rest is Money, and founder of the education charity, Futures for All. He has written seven critically acclaimed books, including his two latest, How to Run Britain – on fixing the malaise in the UK and the West – and a thriller set in the financial crisis, The Crash. His latest novel, The Kill Switch, will be published in July 2026. For a decade until the end of 2015, he was at the BBC, as economics editor and business editor, and in the 1990s he was at the Financial Times, as political editor, financial editor and head of investigations. Peston has won more than 30 awards for his journalism, including Journalist of the Year, Specialist Journalist of the Year and Scoop of the Year (twice) from the Royal Television Society.