Intelligence Squared

Populista! The Rise of Latin America's Strongman, with Will Grant and Mark Mardell

15 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

For more than six decades, Fidel Castro's words have echoed through the politics of Latin America. His towering political influence still looms over...

Intelligence Squared Recommends – Power: The Maxwells

13 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

For today's episode we have something a little different for you. We wanted to introduce you to a new podcast we think you’ll love called Power: The...

David Epstein On Why Generalists Are More Successful Than Specialists

12 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Studying the world's most successful athletes, artists, musicians, inventors and scientists, David Epstein demonstrates why in most fields – especia...

Trump, Brexit and the Direction of 2021, with Will Davies and Matt Goodwin

08 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

2021 is already set to be a monumental year. On January 1 Britain finally Brexited with a deal. On January 20 Joe Biden will become President of the U...

How to Make the World Add Up, with Tim Harford

05 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This episode was recorded in September 2020. 'The undercover economist' and Numbers and economics guru Tim Harford takes a deep dive into the wor...

Reform and Repression in Saudi Arabia, with Madawi Al-Rasheed and Jeremy Bowen

01 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In 2018 journalist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered by Saudi regime operatives, shocking the world and drawing widespread condemnation. Mohammad bin Salma...

Otegha Uwagba and Mariel Richards on Navigating Whiteness

29 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In November 2020 author and podcaster Otegha Uwagba came to Intelligence Squared to discuss her new book, Whites: On Race and Other Falsehoods. Contai...

Christmas Special: Dan Goleman on Emotional Intelligence with Manveen Rana

24 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

No speaker in the history of Intelligence Squared has generated as many YouTube views as Daniel Goleman. His 2013 talk for us has been viewed 3.2 mil...

The Art of Rest, with Claudia Hammond and Helen Czerski

22 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The pandemic of 2020 has turned our lives upside down. Home working and homeschooling have become the norm for millions of us. And while you might thi...

Alicia Garza on Creating Black Lives Matter

18 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Black Lives Matter began as a hashtag when Alicia Garza wrote what she calls ‘a love letter to Black people’ on Facebook, after George Zimmerman...

Billion Dollar Loser: The Epic Rise and Fall of WeWork

17 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In its earliest days, WeWork promised the impossible: to make the workplace cool. In episode one of Intelligence Squared Business Reeves Wiedeman tell...

Philosophy in the Age of Covid-19, with Eric Weiner and Danielle Sands

15 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In this week's episode Eric Weiner speaks to Danielle Sands about what philosophy can teach us in the age of COVID-19. From Socrates and ancient Ath...

Cats vs Dogs, with John Gray and Will Self, Part 1

11 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

It’s the issue that’s more polarising than politics. The world is full of animal lovers but we can’t agree on which pet is more worthy of our lo...

COVID-19 and The Vaccine: A Shot of Hope and A Return to Normal?

08 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The world had been waiting for the news and on November 9 it finally came: a vaccine produced by Pfizer and BioNTech had proved to be more than 90% ef...

Debate: It’s Time for the West to Get Tough with China

04 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In December 2020 we were joined by British Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat, who argued that we need to prevent a Beijing-dominated world, and Singaporea...

The Powerful and the Damned, with Lionel Barber and Manveen Rana

01 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Lionel Barber was editor of the Financial Times for the tech boom, the global financial crisis, the continuing rise of China, Brexit, and the establi...

Travelling While Black, with Nanjala Nyabola and Yousra Elbagir

27 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

At this point in history we are witnessing the highest levels of migration on record. About 258 million people, or one in every 30, were living outsid...

Debate: Joe Biden Won't Fix the Transatlantic Relationship

24 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This week's episode features another debate from our friends at Intelligence Squared Germany, who in partnership with The European Council on Foreign...

Anthony Scaramucci and Danielle Pletka on Trumpism and The Future of The Republican Party

20 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This week Anthony Scaramucci, the former Director of Communications in President Donald Trump’s White House, and Danielle Pletka, former Vice Presid...

Business and the Future of Immigration in 2021

19 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In this special podcast brought to you by the Home Office and Intelligence Squared, Director of Border and Immigration Policy at the Home Office Phili...

Margaret MacMillan and Peter Frankopan on How War Has Shaped Humanity

17 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

War - Do we care enough? In this episode, distinguished historian Margaret MacMillan explains why we should care about war and how it’s profoundly i...

Rematch Debate: To Stop Climate Collapse, We Must End Capitalism

13 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Last January, before the coronavirus pandemic struck, Intelligence Squared staged a sold-out debate on whether we need a truly radical new economic sy...

Martin Amis on Love, Loss and Christopher Hitchens

10 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Martin Amis is often called the Mick Jagger of the British book world. As famous for his love affairs, his friendships and his complicated family hist...

Danh Vo: Traces of History and The End of Empire

06 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In this week's podcast Design Museum director Tim Marlow, South London Gallery director Margot Heller, academic and critic Shahidha Bari and botanist ...

Election Breakdown: Can Trump Still Beat Biden?

05 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In this election special we were joined by Danielle Pletka, the Washington Post commentator and senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, an...

Election Day Special: What's at Stake in Trump vs Biden?

03 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In this U.S election special we were joined by historian Sarah Churchwell and Jonathan Freedland to speak about how Biden and Trump have performed in ...

Election Day Special, with Danielle Pletka, Emily Tamkin and Manveen Rana

03 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In this week's episode we were joined by Danielle Pletka, Washington Post commentator and senior fellow at the American Enterprise; and Emily Tamkin,...

BONUS: Ilhan Omar on the State of American Politics

31 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Rep. Ilhan Omar, the groundbreaking Somali-American community organizer from Minnesota, speaks to public intellectuals Dr Cornel West and Professor T...

John Bolton and Emily Maitlis on Trump, Biden and the Election

30 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

John Bolton knows a thing or two about Donald Trump. So many things, in fact, that he’s now being investigated by the US Justice Department for pot...

Wake Up Call: Why The Pandemic Exposes The Weakness of the West

27 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Fear is on the march. All over the world citizens have surrendered basic freedoms to the state in order to be protected from Covid-19. Good government...

The Life and Legacy of Malcolm X. with Tamara Payne and Yassmin Abdel-Magied

23 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Les Payne, the renowned Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist, embarked in 1990 on a nearly thirty-year-long quest to interview anyone he co...

The Seduction of Autocracy, with Anne Applebaum and Jonathan Freedland

20 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In the years just before and after the fall of the Berlin Wall, people from across the political spectrum in Europe and America celebrated a great ach...

The European Green Deal is Not Fit For Purpose

16 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This week's podcast is from our friends at Intelligence Squared Germany who hosted a live debate in Berlin last week on whether the EU's 'Green Deal',...

The Ideological Roots of 'Wokeness'. with Helen Pluckrose and Helen Joyce

13 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In this week's episode Helen Pluckrose documents the evolution of the ideas that inform today's radical social justice activism, from its coarse ori...

Thomas Friedman and Robert Peston on the Final Days of the Presidential Race

09 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Thomas Friedman has been called ‘the most influential columnist in America’. The Financial Times has described him as a ‘global star’ and he...

Kim Jong Un and The Bomb: is North Korea Really a Threat?

06 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

North Korea shocked the world in September 2017 by exploding the most powerful nuclear device tested anywhere in 25 years. Months earlier, it had cond...

BONUS: Clive Woodward on No Bullsh*t Leadership in partnership with Havas

05 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In this bonus episode we preview a new podcast created by Intelligence Squared called No Bullsh*t Leadership hosted by Chris Hirst, CEO of advertising...

Incels and the Men Radicalised to Hate Women, with Laura Bates and Sonia Sodha

02 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

According to Laura Bates a vast network of incels and other men who hate women are able to operate, virtually undetected online. These extremists comm...

How to Lead a Sustainable Business with Clover Hogan and Alannah Weston

30 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

How can we mobilise mindsets to turn anxiety about the climate crisis into action? This week Intelligence Squared Recommends an episode from the How ...

How Covid-19 Will Shape the Next Decade, with Philip Rowley and Carl Miller

29 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This week we were joined by Philip Rowley Media Futurist & Futures Director at Omnicom to explore how Covid-19 will shape the next decade of culture...

Debate: Cancel Culture is Threatening Our Freedoms

25 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

JK Rowling, Scarlett Johansson, Kanye West. All have been ‘cancelled’ – denounced on social media for doing or saying something considered wrong...

China's Good War, with Rana Mitter and Gideon Rachman

22 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

For most of its history, the People’s Republic of China limited public discussion of the war against Japan. It was an experience of victimization—...

A Secret History of Stars, with Jo Marchant and Helen Czerski

18 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Jo Marchant and Helen Czerski take us on a journey through humanity’s relationship with the heavens. The stars have shaped who we are - our religio...

The Spies Fighting Communism During the Cold War, with Scott Anderson and Hugo Lindgren

15 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

At the end of World War II, the United States dominated the world militarily, economically, and in moral standing – seen as the victor over tyranny ...

Journeys to Freedom After the Holocaust, with Rosie Whitehouse and Edward Lucas

11 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared ------ One summer’s night in 1946, over 1,000 European Jews waited silently on an ...

Clive, Capitalism and The East India Company, with William Dalrymple and Kavita Puri

08 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared ------ We still talk about the British conquering India, but that phrase disguises a...

Taming Covid and Preventing the Next Pandemic, with Mark Honigsbaum and Sir David King

04 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared ------ In this week's episode we brought together two of Britain’s most esteemed e...

Power, Control and Domestic Abuse, with Jess Hill and Ros Urwin

01 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared ------ Every week in England and Wales, two women are killed by a current or former ...

BONUS EPISODE: Shinzo Abe's Life and Legacy

29 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared ------ As Japan's longest serving premier, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, steps down due...

Rutger Bregman on Human Kindness in a Frightened World with Helen Lewis

28 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared ------ Human beings, we’re taught, are by nature selfish and governed by self-inte...

Dark Money and Dirty Politics, with Peter Geoghegan and Nick Cohen

25 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared ------ Democracy is in crisis, and unaccountable and untraceable flows of money are ...

The Hidden Power of Caste, with Isabel Wilkerson and Yassmin Abdel-Magied

21 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared. -------- Race, class, gender. These are the categories that are commonly thought to...

Ghost Ships and Geopolitics, with Ian Urbina and Ros Urwin

18 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Ian Urbina, investigative reporter of The New York Times for 17 years returns to the podcast to discuss a new investigation, which he believes to unc...

Partition Voices, with Kavita Puri and Rajini Vaidyanathan

14 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The division of the Indian subcontinent in 1947 into India and Pakistan saw millions uprooted and resulted in unspeakable violence. It happened far aw...

Can business deliver social good after Covid-19? With Warren Valdmanis and Michelle Meagher

11 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

As Covid-19 continues to suspend normal life across much of the globe, many commentators have argued the present moment offers a unique opening to re-...

Deepfakes and the Infocalypse with Nina Schick and Carl Miller

07 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In this week's podcast Nina Schick speaks to Carl Miller about the rise of Deepfakes and what she believes is an impending 'Infocalypse'. Advances in ...

Niall Ferguson On What History Can Teach Us About Covid-19

04 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

There are few big thinkers better placed to explain the implications of the Covid-19 pandemic than historian Niall Ferguson. In addition to his prof...

An Artificial Revolution, with Ivana Bartoletti and Yassmin Abdel-Magied

31 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In this week's episode world-leading privacy expert Ivana Bartoletti speaks about the reality behind the AI revolution, from the low-paid workers who...

Slavoj Žižek and Shahidha Bari on Hegel in a Wired Brain

28 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In celebration of the 250th anniversary of the birth of G.W.F. Hegel, Slavoj Žižek speaks to Shahidha Bari about the philosophical giant that chan...

Tony Blair and Andrew Adonis on Ernest Bevin, Britain’s Forgotten Political Giant

24 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In this rare public appearance together, chaired by the BBC’s Rajini Vaidyanathan, the former Labour prime minister Tony Blair and cabinet minister ...

Science Fictions, with Stuart Ritchie and Tom Whipple

21 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Medicine, education, health, parenting – wherever it really matters, we look to science for guidance and answers. In this episode Stuart Ritchie dis...

Sex Robots & Vegan Meat, with Jenny Kleeman and Carl Miller

17 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Award-winning journalist and documentary-maker Jenny Kleeman takes us on a journey into the world of the people who are changing what it means to be...

Angrynomics: Why The World is So Angry, with Mark Byth, Eric Lonergan and Linda Yueh

14 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Why are measures of stress and anxiety on the rise, when economists and politicians tell us we have never had it so good? While statistics tell us tha...

Outraged: Why Everyone is Shouting and No One is Talking, with Ashley 'Dotty' Charles and Ash Sarkar

10 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In this week's episode BBC presenter and DJ Ashley 'Dotty' Charles joins us to discuss her new book 'Outrage' and the insatiable appetite for anger in...

Putin's People with Catherine Belton and Edward Lucas

07 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Former Moscow correspondent and investigative journalist Catherine Belton reveals the untold story of how Vladimir Putin and his entourage of KGB me...

Debate: Iran Is Not Our Enemy

03 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Is Iran an enemy to be confronted or a potential ally to engage with? In this week's podcast we debate 'Iran is not our enemy' with Mehdi Hasan, Azade...

City on Fire: The Fight for Hong Kong, With Antony Dapiran and Shirley Yu

30 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In this week's episode writer and lawyer Antony Dapiran joins us from Hong Kong to discuss the protests and turmoil that have engulfed the city sinc...

The Reckoning: Kwame Kwei-Armah and Idris Elba on the Arts and Black Lives Matter

26 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

A great reckoning is taking place in the wake of the brutal killing of George Floyd and the protests that followed his death. Companies and organisati...

We Need To Talk: Me and White Supremacy, with Layla Saad and Emma Dabiri

23 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Amidst the current global conversation around police brutality in the United States and the experience of black people the world over, this week we sp...

Unravelling Unconscious Bias, with Dr Pragya Agarwal and Kavita Puri

19 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In the wake of sweeping protests about racism and police brutality, this week we speak to Dr Pragya Agarwal to unravel the way our implicit or 'uni...

Why do Evangelicals Worship at the Altar of Donald Trump? With Sarah Posner and Brian Klaas

16 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Why does Donald Trump have such a good relationship with white evangelical christians despite his questionable conservative credentials? In this week'...

Statues, Slavery and the Struggle for Equality with David Olusoga, Dawn Butler and Susan Neiman

12 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Following the death of George Floyd, global Black Lives Matter protests, and debates raging over statues from Colston to Churchill, Intelligence Squar...

The New Long Life: Flourishing in a Changing World, with Lynda Gratton and Andrew J Scott

09 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

If we live to 100, will we ever really stop working? And how will an aging society change the way we love, manage and learn from others? In this week'...

Anand Giridharadas on Capitalism in the Time of Corona

05 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In his 2019 book Winners Take All, Anand Giridharadas launched a searing attack on the global elites. Now he turns his thoughts to the post-pandemi...

The Passion Economy with Adam Davidson and Hugo Lindgren

02 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Are the middle classes really dying off? Will robots really take our jobs? Contrary to common belief Adam Davidson argues the twenty-first-century eco...

Together: The Healing Power of Human Connection, with Dr Vivek Murthy and Ros Urwin

29 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In this week's episode former Surgeon General of the United States, Dr Vivek Murthy speaks to Ros Urwin about how he discovered first hand how lone...

Nervous States: How Feeling Took Over the World, with Will Davies and Carl Miller

26 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Why do so many of us no longer trust experts, facts and statistics? Why has politics become so fractious and warlike? And how can the history of ideas...

Putting Peer Pressure to Work with Robert H Frank and Linda Yueh

22 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In this week's episode Robert H. Frank, author of 'Under the Influence: Putting Peer Pressure to Work' speaks to Linda Yueh about how our social envi...

No Visible Bruises: Why What we don't know about domestic violence can kill, with Rachel Louise Snyder

19 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In this week's episode award-winning journalist Rachel Louise Snyder speaks to Helen Lewis about some common misconceptions about domestic violence: t...

The Dragons and the Snakes: How the Rest Learned to Fight the West, with David Kilcullen and Carl Miller

14 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode, leading soldier-scholar David Kilcullen speaks to Carl Miller about how the West’s opponents have learned from twenty-first-century...

The Classical School, with Callum Williams and Linda Yueh

12 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Intelligence Squared+. The world's best speakers. Your questions. £4.99 per month. Intelligence Squared+ will bring you live, interactive events e...

The Corona Crash: How Bad Will It Be? With Mark Blyth and Anne McElvoy

08 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Intelligence Squared+. The world's best speakers. Your questions. £4.99 per month. Intelligence Squared+ will bring you live, interactive events e...

The Great Slowdown and Why It's Good, with Danny Dorling and Linda Yueh

05 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Intelligence Squared+. The world's best speakers. Your questions. £4.99 per month. Intelligence Squared+ will bring you live, interactive events e...

Abolish Silicon Valley, with Wendy Liu and Carl Miller

01 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Intelligence Squared+. The world's best speakers. Your questions. £4.99 per month. Intelligence Squared+ will bring you live, interactive events ev...

Ultras: Among The World's Most Extreme Fans, with James Montague and Ros Urwin

29 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Ultras are football fans like no others. A hugely visible and controversial part of the sporting game. This movement of extreme fandom and politics is...

Coronavirus and the Stats: Your Questions Answered

23 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Feeling confused by all the data and metrics about coronavirus that are flying around? In this episode, Britain’s most eminent statistician David S...

Who We Listen To And Who We Don't, with Stephen Martin, Joseph Marks and Helen Lewis

21 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Why are self-confident ignoramuses so often believed? Why are thoughtful experts so often given the cold shoulder? And why do apparently irrelevant de...

Coronavirus and the Economy: Your Questions Answered

17 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

What will the long-term economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic be? For the fourth in a new series of interactive events from Intelligence Squa...

Hype, Smoke and Mirrors, with Gemma Milne and Carl Miller

14 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Hype has a dark side. It can mislead, distract and blinker us from seeing what is actually going on. In this episode we are joined by Gemma Milne, t...

Coronavirus and Global Politics: Your Questions Answered

10 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The coronavirus pandemic threatens to remake the world's political systems. But how exactly? In the third in a new series of interactive events from...

The Unravelling of the Modern Middle East, with Kim Ghattas and Brian Klaas

07 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

It all started in 1979. According to Kim Ghattas, the former BBC journalist and author of Black Wave: Saudi Arabia, Iran and the Rivalry That Unrav...

Mind, Matter and Meaning, with Brian Greene and Tom Whipple

03 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In both time and space, the cosmos is astoundingly vast, and yet is governed by simple, elegant, universal mathematical laws. In this episode we are j...

Coronavirus: Your Questions Answered

31 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

How can we protect ourselves from coronavirus? How long will the current situation last? Why has the death rate been so high in Italy? And why have s...

Coronavirus and Morality: Rabbi Jonathan Sacks and Ritula Shah in conversation

27 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The UK's former Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks appears in this special episode of the Intelligence Squared podcast, recorded remotely while he self-isolat...

A Century of Conflict, with Rashid Khalidi and Jonathan Freedland

24 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been raging for decades, with seemingly no end in sight. In this episode, we are joined by Rashid Khalidi, Pale...

Radical Uncertainty, with Mervyn King, John Kay and Jesse Norman

20 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In these incredibly uncertain times, we're exploring the concept of 'radical uncertainty' in this episode with Mervyn King, the former Governor of the...

Kate Murphy and Ros Urwin on the Importance of Listening

17 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

When was the last time you listened to someone, or someone really listened to you? At work, we’re taught to lead the conversation. On social media, ...

Eighty Is The New Thirty: A Guide To Getting Older, PART 1

13 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

We tend to associate old age with deterioration, especially of our mental powers and memory. But today we are seeing a new cohort of the so-called you...

One Of Them, with Michael Cashman and Razia Iqbal

10 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Michael Cashman has been an actor, a politician and one of the pioneers of the struggle for LGBT equality in the UK. He is the author of a new book ti...

Difficult Women: The Defining Fights of Feminism, with Helen Lewis and Caroline Criado Perez

06 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of the Intelligence Squared podcast we are joined by Helen Lewis, staff writer for the Atlantic, who claims that too many pioneers of...