Ed Miliband & Ece Temelkuran: The World We Want

Around the world, politics has been trending towards infantilisation. Careful discourse is often replaced by lies, media stunts and juvenile sloganeering. What can be done to recalibrate democratic discourse? Well, maybe thoughtful Book Festival discussions can play a part. Ed Miliband and Ece Temelkuran have each written books aiming to ‘fix our world’ and to ‘build something better’, but to what extent do their visions stack up? Miliband has remained in British politics since ceding the Labour leadership, and his book Go Big – based on his popular Reasons to be Cheerful podcast – argues that we are at a rare moment in history when people everywhere see the need for big change. But solutions to the world’s problems already exist if you have the courage to ‘think big’. Meanwhile in Together, acclaimed Turkish political commentator Temelkuran shuns the dominant Anglo-American political perspective to offer a fresh and at times surprising approach to recalibrating inequalities. The answers, she argues, lie in choosing determination over hope, and having faith in our fellow humans. Join Miliband and Temelkuran for a fascinating and far-reaching conversation.

This event was filmed live at the 2021 Edinburgh International Book Festival. The authors took part remotely while the interviewer was live on stage, in the venue.