Hope
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Submitted June 2026
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I have met two people in my time who have founded universities. The first, Teddy Blacher, founded a university for the poor in South Africa in the 2000s. The second, Ben Rawlence, founded Black Mountains College, a university for climate adaptation based in the Brecon Beacons National Park in South Wales. Ben has just written a book called Think Like a Forest: a wonderful title, and a composition of the letters that he has written to his two daughters, now aged 10 and 12, since before they were born. It is a remarkable compendium of heart, of hope, of honesty and courage, and I commend it to everybody here.