Peter Ricketts – Hexham Book Festival

One of Britain’s most experienced senior diplomats highlights the key dilemmas Britain faces, from trade to security, arguing that international co-operation and solidarity are the surest ways to prosper in a world more dangerous than ever.

Expertly delivered and highly readable, Hard Choices is both a timely analysis of the key challenges the UK faces today and an impassioned call for national conversation about the country’s Post-Brexit, post-pandemic future.

After decades of peace and prosperity, the international order put in place after World War II is rapidly coming to an end. Disastrous foreign wars, global recession, the meteoric rise of China and India and the COVID pandemic have undermined the power of the West’s international institutions and unleashed the forces of nationalism and protectionism.

Chaired by Richard Moss BBC Political Editor NE & Cumbria