Hay dispatch: The dark side

As night fell I was joined by my friend Sarah, a researcher for documentary maker Nick Broomfield. We attended a talk by William Cohen, an investigative journalist who told us that Goldman Sachs really is the evil corporation that everyone says it is, but before long we succumbed to the dark side. That is to say, we venture into How The Light Gets In, a rival festival organised by the Independent. The musical entertainment was Disraeli and the Small Gods, a very competent Ska outfit headed by an intensely annoying Bristolian wide boy, who I suspect may be posher than he would like to let on, followed by a cheesy DJ.

How The Light Gets In has an impressive bill of speakers, including Simon Armitage and AC Graying, and is aimed at a younger crowd, but the real benefit is that they have some good food on offer, which the official Hay Festival does not.