Owen Jones on Optimism at The School of Life

From Trump to Brexit, Syria to ISIS, we live in dark and turbulent times. Hardly a day passes without new stories of terrorism, tragedy and turmoil somewhere around the globe, while our own nation has never looked more divided or uncertain of its place in the world. Faced with such a grim picture on every newsfeed and doorstep, it’s hard to feel anything other than pessimistic about the present and future – whatever your politics.

But are we right to look back on 2016 in anger and ahead to 2017 in fear? In this Sunday Sermon, we’re going to take a different look at the world today and celebrate what we’ve got to be grateful for.

Bestselling author and columnist Owen Jones is a one of the most original and popular thinkers in our culture. In Chavs he turned our perception of the working classes on its head in one of the most powerful polemics of our time. In The Establishment he brilliantly told the truth about power in modern-day Britain. In his columns for The Guardian and The Independent he gives us insightful, nuanced and important insights in the way we live now. He joins The School of Life just before Christmas to teach us to look differently and suggest that maybe, just maybe, there is lots that we have to be cheerful about.

Join us for the final Sunday Sermon of the year. They’ll be pop songs hymns, tea and biscuits and a parish newsletter. Most important of all, we’ll be hearing new ideas from one of the great voices of his generation to lift our spirits in this age of anxiety.