MALVERN Festival of Ideas has been cancelled because of the bad weather.

The festival, with the theme of Conflict, was due to start tomorrow evening with a talk by politician Clare Short and continue over the weekend.

A spokesman said: "With many of our presenters and supporters about to embark on long journeys from other parts of the country and abroad, much more badly affected by the weather conditions than we are in Malvern, and with conditions not set to improve here over the next day or two, we have reluctantly decided to cancel this year's event. We are very sorry for inconvenience caused.

"We would like to offer our thanks to our presenters, who have worked hard on their session, to our voluntary helpers and to all our supporters, who have continued to encourage us and without whom the event would not be possible.

"Until last weekend, bookings were well up on previous years. Many speakers have offered to come to Malvern on another occasion and we hope to run some of the sessions during the year. Further details will be available in due course."