Over 100,000 rock in Glastonbury sunshine

About 100,000 Glastonbury Festival-goers rocked amid blazing sunshine today to the sounds of stars such as Jools Holland and Radiohead.

But the alternative areas of the massive festival site were also busy.

It is part of the festival’s uniqueness that the organisers offer generous support to survivors of the hippie generation, organisations which battle for the oppressed, and leading pressure groups.

In the Leftfield area today, veteran left-winger and former Labour Cabinet minister Tony Benn was demonstrating that his views remain iconic for a large audience.

He was speaking in a debate on oil – and organisers said they had to quadruple the space for the event because of the interest.

In another part of the site, festival-goers were being invited to compare their weekend at Glastonbury with life in a refugee camp.

The UK branch of the United Nations’ refugees organisation was pointing out that the festival crowd was about the same size as the Maslakh refugee camp in Afghanistan – but that there, five people shared each tent compared to two at Glastonbury while, despite the reputation of the Glastonbury toilets, there was one for every 60 festival-goers, compared to one for every 275 at the refugee camp.

UNHCR spokesperson Clare Graham said: “People often feel they’re roughing it when they go to Glastonbury but we aim to dispel these myths.

“In Glastonbury, for example, gallons of water are consumed by each person every day, but refugees in some of Kenya’s largest camps have to survive on the minimum requirement of 15 litres a day.

“Music can cut across boundaries and open minds to the reality that refugees often flee in fear of their lives.

“We hope that young people will be encouraged to think more about the needs of people whose lives have been devastated as a result of conflict.”