Intelligence Squared

The Extraordinary Life of Catherine Dior, with Justine Picardie

16 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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Understanding Environmental Inequality, with Leah Thomas

14 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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The Inside Story of Europe’s Biggest Financial Scandal, with Dan McCrum

12 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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The Sunday Debate: Has the Political Establishment Failed America?

11 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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How Social Media Rewired our Brains and our World, with Max Fisher

09 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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The Futureverse: Undervalued – Is the Future of Art Female?

07 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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How to Improve the World for the Generations to Come, with Will MacAskill

05 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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The Sunday Debate: Reflections on the Collapse of the Soviet Union, with Timothy Garton Ash and Ivan Krastev

04 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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Inside the Mind of Vladimir Putin, with Philip Short

02 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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Lessons from the American Civil War, with Sarah Churchwell and Karen Joy Fowler

31 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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Let’s Talk: How to Have Better Conversations, with Nihal Arthanayake

29 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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The Sunday Debate: Should the West defend Taiwan?

28 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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The Science of Anti-Ageing, with Nicklas Brendborg

26 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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Spies, Communism and the Battle to Win the Cold War, with Scott Anderson

25 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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Too Woke? How Society's Best Intentions Could Be Betraying Black America, with John McWhorter

22 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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The Sunday Debate: Prosecute Trump

21 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

On January 6 2021 a pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S Capitol seeking to overturn the 2020 presidential election result. Rioters overran police and broke ...

Engineering for Change, with Will Butler-Adams

19 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

With the climate crisis mounting, cycling is often touted as being part of the solution for how we can make our cities less congested, more green and ...

Afghanistan After The Withdrawal: What Lessons Have We Learned?

17 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

One year ago the United States decided to withdraw from Afghanistan after two decades in the country. The Taliban, a militant Islamist group that ran ...

Salman Rushdie: Touchstones with Razia Iqbal

15 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

For this archive episode from 2021, journalist and BBC News broadcaster Razia Iqbal is joined by the acclaimed author Salman Rushdie to discuss his cu...

The Sunday Debate: The Bittersweet Truth About What We Eat

14 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

To unpack the truth behind the often confusing information about the food we eat, in this archive discussion from 2017, Intelligence Squared brought t...

Western Intervention and the Rise of Guerrilla Warfare, with David Kilcullen

12 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This month will mark a year since the Taliban takeover of Kabul in August 2021 and the chaotic withdrawal of western forces from Afghanistan. In this ...

An Honest Life, with Micheal Leviton

10 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In an era of fake news and 'alternative facts', the issue of truth and how it is presented to the world has never been more timely. But on a personal ...

Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race, with Reni Eddo-Lodge

08 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Reni Eddo-Lodge, the journalist, podcaster and author of essential book, Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race, joins columnist, auth...

The Sunday Debate: If You Believe You are a Citizen of the World, You are a Citizen of Nowhere

07 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In this archive debate, we revisit a discussion from 2018 when an assembled panel of smart thinkers gathered to reflect on the concept of nationhood, ...

Shinzo Abe's Legacy and Japan's Future, with Satona Suzuki and Jeff Kingston

05 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Japan's recently assassinated former prime minister Shinzo Abe was a leader who leaves behind a complex legacy. Internationally, he strengthened Jap...

The Future of the War in Ukraine, with Fiona Hill

03 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We welcome back Fiona Hill, the foreign affairs and national security expert, to discuss Putin, foreign policy, and what could lie ahead for the war i...

Reclaiming the Earth: Exploring Race, Heritage and the Natural World

01 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

For this episode focusing on how craft, creativity and our relationship with the planet can help us rethink established narratives and contribute to ...

The Sunday Debate: Britain Should Not Have Fought in the First World War

31 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

For this week's Sunday Debate, we're dipping back into the archive to 2014, when we gathered a panel of expert historians to debate whether Britain wa...

How to Lead a Sustainable Business – Emma Dabiri on Reinventing Stories Around Race

29 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

For this edition of Intelligence Squared, we join Alannah Weston, Chairman of Selfridges Group, for her podcast How to Lead a Sustainable Business, i...

Putin’s Long War: From Chechnya to Ukraine, with John Sweeney

27 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In the midst of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, award-winning journalist John Sweeney reported from Kiev, drawing on his decades of experience coverin...

Why Religion Keeps Evolving, with Robin Dunbar

25 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Robin Dunbar has been hailed as one of the most insightful and creative evolutionary thinkers of our time, famed for his work on human networks and co...

The Sunday Debate: Angela Merkel is Destroying Europe

24 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In this archive listen from 2013, we explore the global political impact of a leader whose legacy and influence is still being questioned today: Angel...

The Man Who Escaped Auschwitz to Warn the World, with Jonathan Freedland

22 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

During the Second World War, Rudolph Vrba was one of the very few people to escape the horrors of the Auschwitz concentration camp. He did so along wi...

Breaking the Power of Big Tech, with Jamie Susskind

21 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Trolling, conspiracy theories, racist algorithms, cyberwarfare – every day our headlines are ablaze with negative stories about the internet. The pr...

Next Steps for an Anti-Racist Society, with Ibram X. Kendi

18 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Activist, academic and author Ibram X. Kendi joins us for a discussion on his new book, How to Raise an Antiracist. It follows his Intelligence Square...

The Sunday Debate: The Battle for the Countryside, with George Monbiot, Rory Stewart, Minette Batters and Mark Cocker

17 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This event was recorded on the 10th of July 2018 in London SPEAKERS FOR THE MOTION: Mark Cocker - Author and naturalist and George Monbiot - Guardian ...

The Magical World of Animal Senses, with Ed Yong

15 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

What do bees sense in flowers? What do songbirds hear in each others’ tunes? And what’s that smell sending your dog running up the street? These q...

The Futureverse: Reimagining Worth

13 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

How do we define value? How has this changed over time? And who decides what is deemed valuable? For centuries, society has seen value mainly through ...

Doughnut Economics, with Kate Raworth

11 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Oxford University economist Kate Raworth has been described by the author and environmentalist George Monbiot as, "The John Maynard Keynes of the 21st...

The Sunday Debate: Hip-hop vs Shakespeare

10 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Created in partnership with Sotheby's, in a debate that spans the centuries, Peabody Award-winning spoken word performer George the Poet and Booker Pr...

A Life in Forensic Psychiatry, with Dr Ben Cave

08 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

What is it like to treat some of the most troubled men and women in society? Dr Ben Cave is a forensic psychiatrist whose 35-year career has been spen...

Them’s the Breaks: Boris Johnson’s Resignation and Britain’s Political Crisis, with Jonathan Freedland, Simon Jenkins and Manveen Rana

07 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In a special programme following the resignation of Boris Johnson as Prime Minister of the UK, we hear from columnist, author and former foreign corre...

The Hunt for the Missing Cryptoqueen, with Jamie Bartlett

06 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Dr Ruja Ignatova, an Oxford-educated, self-styled cryptocurrency guru, promised her followers a financial revolution through her project: OneCoin. The...

On Speaking and Being: The Power of Words, with Kübra Gümüsay

04 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Language is expressive, a way of opening doors or a tool for creating new dialogue. But a tool so powerful can also take us to unforeseen or unintende...

The Sunday Debate: Has Sex Positivity Harmed Feminism?

03 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In today's world, we're often encouraged to think that sex is no longer a subject burdened with shame or repressed feelings. Rather, it is pleasurable...

Eton, Oxford, Westminster: The Formative Pipeline of Britain's Ruling Elite, with Simon Kuper

01 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Across Britain, it’s no secret that the people who make up the country's elected government have gone through the same familiar educational pipeline...

Escaping Xinjiang, with Nury Turkel

29 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In recent years China has been accused of committing crimes against humanity and possibly genocide against the Uyghur ethnic group in the northwestern...

Why We Fight, with Christopher Blattman

27 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Christopher Blattman is an economist, political scientist and Ramalee E. Pearson Professor of Global Conflict Studies at The University of Chicago. Hi...

The Sunday Debate: The Northern Ireland Question: Is it Time to Abandon The Protocol?

26 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The Northern Ireland Protocol – agreed between the United Kingdom and the European Union in 2019 – has been a source of tension since it came into...

Neighbouring Russia, with Erika Fatland

24 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Tracing Russia’s vast border, which meets those of 14 other countries, helps tells the history of Russia itself. From its imperial past to Soviet-er...

How to Be an Antiracist, with Ibram X. Kendi

22 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Activist, historian and academic Ibram X. Kendi's book, How To Be and Antiracist, won the National Book Award for nonfiction as well as topping bestse...

The Hidden World of Bisexuality, with Julia Shaw

20 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Bisexuality is the world’s largest sexual minority but is potentially the least understood. In her new book, Bi: The Hidden Culture, History, and Sc...

The Sunday Debate: Parenting Doesn’t Matter (Or Not As Much As You Think)

19 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We delve back into the archive to 2018, when we held a debate getting to the heart of nature vs nurture. How much do our parents influence the people ...

Bittersweet: Finding Purpose in Sorrow, with Susan Cain

17 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Susan Cain shot to fame in 2012 with her international bestseller Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking, in which she...

How To Live With Each Other, with Farhan Samanani

15 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In an increasingly polarised world, it’s not often we get books saying that difference is our greatest strength. But Farhan Samanani is a Canadian s...

Count your Blessings: The Natural Beauty of Mathematics, with Junaid Mubeen

13 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Whether rapidly advancing artificial intelligence will eventually become a friend or foe to humanity is a pressing question when it comes to technolog...

The Sunday Debate: We Were Right To Brexit

12 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

It was always going to be a disaster. Queues of HGVs stretching miles from Dover. The Good Friday Agreement threatened by the controversial Northern I...

The New Food Revolution, with George Monbiot

10 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

George Monbiot is a journalist, campaigner and author, who is telling the world that the time for action on the climate crisis is now. His latest bo...

Something Extra from Intelligence Squared

09 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Intelligence Squared podcast is the home of lively debate and deep-dive discussion. Now we’re adding extra depth to our audio content via Apple Podc...

How to Lead a Sustainable Business, with Alannah Weston and Leslie Johnston

08 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of Intelligence Squared's How to Lead a Sustainable Business with Alannah Weston podcast, Alannah is joined by Leslie Johnston, CEO of...

The Power of Demography, with Paul Morland

06 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Does the world have too many people – or not enough? That’s one of the big questions that demographer Paul Morland seeks to answer in his new book...

The Sunday Debate: Blame Liberals For the Rise of Populism

05 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

A delve into the archive and back to 2019 when we debated a motion asking whether the left’s policies of high immigration and multiculturalism cause...

The Joy of Science, with Jim Al-Khalili

03 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Professor Jim Al-Khalili is the physicist who makes science look easy. He’s the author of several books, the latest of which is The Joy of Science, ...

Who is the Real Xi Jinping? With Kerry Brown

01 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Writer and academic Kerry Brown's latest book is Xi: A Study in Power, which profiles the policies and personality behind China's leader for the last...

The Crimes of History, with Linda Kinstler and Peter Pomerantsev

30 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

How do you put a ghost on trial? In Linda Kinstler's deeply personal new book, Come to This Court and Cry, she uncovers the atrocities of her Latvian ...

The Sunday Debate: Chinese Investment Is Good for Africa

29 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Between 2007 and 2020, China invested $23 billion into infrastructure for nations across Africa, $8 billion more than the other top eight lenders comb...

Mental Health: Hope and Healing With Horatio Clare and Alex Riley

27 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

How we understand mental health and the level of compassion we show to those suffering from depression and other forms of mental illness define us as ...

Otherlands: A Journey Into Our Planet’s Deep Past, with Thomas Halliday

25 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Palaeobiologist and bestselling author Thomas Halliday is helping us better understand how the natural world evolved over the past 500 million years. ...

The New Science of the Body Clock, with Russell Foster

23 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Every second of the day, tiny biological clocks are ticking throughout your body, from the neural pathways of your brain down to your very cells. But ...

The Sunday Debate: The Left has right on its side

22 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The political Left often purports that it has society’s best interests at heart and that it works for the good of all. Yet according to conservativ...

No Bullsh*t Leadership, with Roula Khalaf

20 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Chris Hirst, Global CEO of advertising group Havas Creative, cuts through the bullshit and gets to the heart of modern leadership in this straight-tal...

The Afghan Women Writing for Freedom, with Marie Bamyani, Zarghuna Kargar and Lucy Hannah

18 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Afghan women’s voices are at increasing risk of being silenced and as more of their rights slip away, so do their stories. In this episode we hear f...

How to Avert the Climate Catastrophe and a Financial Meltdown, with Eugene Linden

16 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Author and environmental journalist Eugene Linden's new book, Fire and Flood: A People’s History of Climate Change from 1979 to the Present, lays ou...

Is it Time to Abandon the Five-Day Work Week?

15 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Is it time to abandon the five-day work week? Or is the "five-days on, two days off" cadence of work and rest more important than ever?  This event ...

How to Make Democracy Work for Everyone, with Yascha Mounk

13 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

During an era of identity politics, culture wars and increasing awareness of the structural biases that contribute to global inequality, it’s easy t...

The Futureverse: The World Will Be a Better Place in 5, 50 and 500 Years

11 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We live in a time of greater uncertainty than ever before in human history. We are poised between the twin precipices of climate change and rapidly ac...

Ukrainians on the War in Ukraine, with Kira Rudyk, Michael Bociurkiw and Olha Poliukhovych

09 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Is the West doing enough to help Ukraine? What kind of endgame should Ukraine be seeking – all-out victory over Russia or a negotiated settlement th...

The Sunday Debate: Abolish Billionaires

08 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Reportedly the planet's richest person, multibillionaire Elon Musk is currently seeking to buy the World's online public square, Twitter. Should billi...

Russia's Crackdown on Dissenting Voices

06 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Since the war in Ukraine began, dwindling remaining hopes of maintaining even the outward appearance of a free democratic process in Russia have been ...

What Next for France, Europe and the World? With Sophie Pedder and Ben Judah

04 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

For the second part of our analysis of one of the most tense elections in Europe of recent years, we hear from Sophie Pedder, Paris bureau chief at Th...

Building a Global Brand, with former Nike CMO Greg Hoffman

02 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Greg Hoffman spent nearly three decades building the Nike brand. In the process he helped transform a shoe company into an identity that resonates the...

The Sunday Debate: Macron Paved the Way for Populism in France

01 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Emmanuel Macron has become the first sitting president of France to be re-elected since 2002. But while Macron won the election, France’s far-right ...

The Psychology of Language, with Morten Christiansen and Nick Chater

29 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Morten Christiansen is Professor of Psychology at Cornell University and Nick Chater is Professor of Behavioural Science at Warwick Business School. T...

No Bullsh*t Leadership, with Anthony Scaramucci

28 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Chris Hirst, Global CEO of advertising group Havas Creative, cuts through the bullshit and gets to the heart of modern leadership in this straight-tal...

Reaching Across the Divide in US Politics, with George Packer

27 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

George Packer is journalist and author whose words, during 15 years as staff writer for the New Yorker and latterly at the Atlantic, have helped frame...

Who Are We Now? Exploring English identity, with Jason Cowley

25 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Jason Cowley is Editor of British political weekly, The New Statesman. He’s also an author and his latest book, Who Are We Now? Stories of Modern En...

Debate: Old Testament vs New Testament

24 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Adam and Eve, Noah’s Ark, Moses and the Ten Commandments, the parting of the Red Sea. These are a few of the stories from the Old Testament. And the...

Africa Is Not A Country, with Dipo Faloyin

22 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Journalist and writer Dipo Faloyin's new book, Africa Is Not A Country, looks to challenge overly simplistic narratives for one of the most culturally...

How to Lead a Sustainable Business, with Alannah Weston and Andy Cato

21 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Back for a third series, Alannah Weston, Chairman of Selfridges Group, speaks to inspiring leaders driving transformational systems change to put sust...

A Delicate Game: Confronting Brain Injury in Sport, with Hana Walker-Brown

20 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Writer and audio documentary maker Hana Walker-Brown’s new book, A Delicate Game, investigates the reasons for sport’s troubling relationship with...

Putin and The Age of The Strongman, with Gideon Rachman

18 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

By launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin has started the first war in Europe for a generation, defying the post-Cold War internat...

The Sunday Debate: The European Green Deal is Not Fit For Purpose

17 Apr 2022

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 Journey of Humanity, with Oded Galor

15 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Oded Galor’s remarkable new book, The Journey of Humanity, can feel like seeing the world with fresh eyes. His analysis of the origins of wealth and...

Debunking the Great Food Myths, with Tim Spector and Dan Saladino

13 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Food is the best medicine, believes genetics expert Tim Spector, but most of the dietary advice that we are given is wrong, he claims. In his latest b...

Walking the Walk: How to Go Beyond Sustainable Storytelling

11 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

With the world facing a climate crisis, how can travel and tourism be part of the solution? For this programme, Intelligence Squared partners with Si...

The Sunday Debate: Blockchain, Quantum Leap Forward or Digital Snake Oil?

10 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Blockchain technology has gone mainstream. It earns huge amounts of column inches and airtime. Stories abound of Bitcoin millionaires and multimillion...

Is Liberalism Obsolete? With Francis Fukuyama and John Gray

08 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Following the fall of communism in 1989, American political scientist Francis Fukuyama shot to fame with his thesis about the ‘end of history’ ...

The Mercenary River, with Nick Higham

06 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Nick Higham is a journalist and author known to TV viewers in the UK as a former correspondent for BBC News and also as regular host of its literary i...

Seeking Refuge in a Hostile World, with Sally Hayden

04 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Over four million people have fled Ukraine since Russia's invasion began. The support for Ukranians has been compassionate and heartwarming but it has...

The Sunday Debate: Hydrogen, the green ‘silver bullet’ or a lot of hype?

03 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

How we save the planet is clear: we need to prevent global temperatures from rising more than 1.5 degrees in order to avoid doing irreversible damage....