For as long as humans have farmed and traded, fought and governed, they have taken on — and imposed — obligations. Debt is one of civilisation’s oldest tools and oldest burdens: a promise, a punishment, a bond, and sometimes a shackle.

We trace the long arc of clean slates and broken promises — from ancient debt jubilees to medieval usury laws, from moral theology to modern monetary theory.

In this session, an economist, a classicist and a virtue ethicist debate the enduring tension between mercy and obligation — exploring debt and default not just as financial instruments, but as moral and cultural forces that shape societies.

The 'pro-growth' lobby position themselves as “a real alternative to decline,” arguing that Britain is held back by sclerotic systems and politicians unwilling to deliver the changes they believe are necessary. It’s an appealing narrative: cut through the red tape, unleash innovation, and prosperity follows. But is it really that simple? Or is it just shortcut that avoids grappling with Britain’s underlying social and economic fractures.

Are their ideas bold solutions — or oversimplified answers to deeper problems? Is this the reset Britain needs to get its mojo back?

Agree or not, this panel promises to get you thinking.

Britain’s public-sector pension promise was built on a simple act of faith: each generation would fund the retirement of the one before.

But what happens when the maths no longer works — and the generation footing the bill faces very different economic prospects, values, and expectations?

The total public-sector pension liability is vast, estimated at around £2.4 trillion — roughly 100% of UK GDP. This system places a heavy burden on younger taxpayers, who are increasingly expected to fund both today’s public-sector retirees and their own future pensions under the same model.

In this timely session, we explore whether Gen Z will uphold the social contract their parents relied on or quietly conclude that the deal is broken. From the politics of intergenerational fairness to the hard economics of an ageing society, we ask whether the next wave of voters will continue to bankroll a system designed for a very different Britain — or demand something radically new.

For centuries, falling behind on what you owed could land you behind bars — ‘doing time’ has long been both punishment and deterrent for debt and default.

The Romans formalised it, the Georgians made it infamous, and the Victorians finally dismantled it — debtors’ prisons have a longer, stranger history than you might think.

Join Ray Perman, author of Edinburgh: The Rise and Fall of the City of Money, in discussion with Professor Paul Cartledge, a leading authority on classical civilisation, for a vivid journey through the long history of punishing debt and default.

In this session, we follow the stories of people imprisoned not for crimes, but for obligations they couldn’t meet. From ancient systems of bondage to Dickensian London, early American jails and the modern echoes found in credit scores and coercive collection, we explore how societies have chosen to deal with unpaid debts — and what those choices reveal about power, morality and mercy.

The rules of corporate survival are being rewritten. We still picture bankruptcy as a final implosion — failure, collapse, the dust settling on the wreckage — but the reality is shifting fast.

The UK has quietly become a more company-friendly restructuring environment. Management can now seek increased protection from creditors, tilting the balance toward rescue rather than receivership. And with US-style bankruptcy tools increasingly embedded in UK law, distressed companies now have a better chance of surviving intact.

But new legal tools alone don’t save companies — leaders do. Sam Payne, Head of Restructuring and Insolvency at HCR, and our expert panel will unpack the practical mechanics of corporate rescue: when to seek breathing space, how to negotiate with creditors, how to protect the talent and assets that matter, and how to communicate when confidence is collapsing.

Bankruptcy is no longer the end of the story. In the new landscape, it can be a beginning.

The UK’s water industry is in deep trouble — collapsing infrastructure, rising bills, sewage spills, strained regulators, and companies drowning in debt. Whether you live beside a river or simply drink the stuff, water matters.

This session unravels how governments, regulators and water companies collectively created the crisis — and what solutions are actually on the table.

Join our expert panel including Ed Richards who spent more than eight years as the Chief Executive of Ofcom, the UK’s communications regulator for a fast-paced discussion as we wade through the quagmire to ask the question that matters: how do we put it right?

Enjoy a dedicated break to explore Hay Castle — including an exclusive tour of its Norman, Jacobean, and Victorian wings — or wander into town to savour the bookshops and atmosphere.

When a debt crisis unfolds behind closed doors, who really has the upper hand? In this live recording of the hit podcast A Long Time in Finance, hosts Jonathan Ford and Neil Collins lift the lid on some of the murkiest manoeuvres in modern finance.

Drawing on decades of collective experience — and more than a few colourful war stories — they’ll unpack how supposedly sophisticated lenders keep getting squeezed, and how the same tactics echo across restructurings, workouts, political careers, and even entire economies.
Smart, sharp, and unafraid to name the behaviours no one admits in public, this session puts A Long Time in Finance right at the centre of this year’s theme: Default — the history, art and ethics of not paying back what you owe.

An unmissable chance to hear finance’s favourite double-act dissect the games, gambits and characters behind some of the most consequential deals in the business.

Around the world, for years the state has been quietly muscling its way into the marketplace, blurring the line between state interests and the interests of the politicians who run it.

What happens when governments don’t just shape markets, but actively compete in them? How do global markets cope when subsidies, state-backed firms and strategic investment distort competition and reshape entire industries? And what does it mean for the world when geopolitics spills into supply chains, technology and capital flows, turning investment into a tool of national strategy?

In this session, Ilias Alami — a leading scholar of state-capitalist finance whose work spans sovereign wealth funds, state-owned enterprises, and the political power behind global investment flows — examines how state capitalism has surged back to the centre of economic life and explores how ‘Trumponomics’ is really just America showing up late to a game that other countries have been playing for quite some time.

Why do players and agents make so much money while many clubs struggle to break even? Can commercial innovation outrun soaring wages? And what happens when Hollywood ownership rewrites the rules for smaller clubs, shifting expectations, markets and fan cultures in its wake?

Football may be the world’s most loved sport — but its money flows in strange and fascinating directions.

Join Mark Oliver and our panel as they explore the economics of the beautiful game — and find out who really wins when the whistle blows.

From the 1950s to the 1970s, the Mafia controlled many of New York’s gay bars — including the iconic Stonewall Inn. The State Liquor Authority refused licences to most queer venues, and those that stayed open were routinely raided. The mob stepped into the gap, paying off police to keep bars operating and effectively selling LGBTQ people access to semi-safe social spaces in a hostile legal environment.

Organised crime offered protection — through bribes and muscle — while at the same time profiting from patrons via overpricing, unsafe conditions, blackmail and skimming. Was this genuine protection, or a quasi-protection racket targeting a community the state was actively persecuting?

Professor Anja Shortland, an expert in the economics of crime and the stabilisation of illicit markets, and author of Kidnap: Inside the Ransom Business and the forthcoming We Know You Can Pay a Million, examines this compelling story of truly strange bedfellows.