Intelligence Squared
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Intelligence Squared is the world’s leading forum for debate and intelligent discussion. Live and online we take you to the heart of the issues that matter, in the company of some of the world’s sharpest minds and most exciting orators. Join the debate at www.intelligencesquared.com and download our weekly podcasts every Tuesday and Friday. Support this show at http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared
Available episodes
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6 hours ago
Jews Don't Count, with David Baddiel and Armando Iannucci
In this week's episode comedian and writer David Baddiel discusses his new book, Jews Don’t Count. He argues that the progressive movement which often prides itself on principles of equality, justice and protecting minorities overlooks these things when it comes to the Jews. He spoke to screenwriter and director Armando Iannucci about how and why Jews don't count.
To find out more about the book click here: https://www.primrosehillbooks.com/product/jews-dont-count-david-baddiel/
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4 days ago
Gene Editing and the Future of the Human Race, with Walter Isaacson and Dr Guddi Singh
Walter Isaacson is the bestselling author of Leonardo da Vinci, Einstein and Steve Jobs. His new book is The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing and the Future of the Human Race, a gripping account of how Nobel Prize-winner Jennifer Doudna and her colleagues launched a scientific revolution that gives humanity the power to cure diseases, fend off viruses, and give birth to healthier babies.
Doudna has invented a technology that has the potential to change human history: an easy-to-use tool that can edit DNA. Known as CRISPR, it has opened up a brave new world of medical miracles and moral questions. The past half-century has been a digital age, based on the microchip, the computer and the internet. Now we are entering a life-science revolution. Children who study digital coding will be joined by those who study genetic code.
Doudna’s work raises huge questions: Should we use our new evolution-hacking powers to make us less susceptible to viruses? Should we allow parents, if they can afford it, to enhance the height or strength or IQ of their children?
To answer these questions and more Walter spoke to presenter and paediatrician Dr Guddi Singh.
To buy the book click here: https://bit.ly/3wXSsCF
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6 days ago
Amal Clooney, Geoffrey Robertson and Bill Browder on a Plan B for Human Rights
Geoffrey Robertson QC is one of Britain’s leading human rights champions. Twenty years ago he helped fuel the global justice movement with his groundbreaking book Crimes Against Humanity. In April 2021, alongside fellow human rights lawyer Amal Clooney and campaigner Bill Browder, he took part in a special Intelligence Squared online event in partnership with Doughty Street Chambers to set out what he calls his ‘plan B for human rights’. This would involve countries introducing and enforcing fresh laws to name, blame and shame human rights abusers, stripping them of their right to enter democratic nations, of the ill-gotten funds they seek to deposit in global banks, and barring them and their families from schools and hospitals in these countries.
Expanding on the themes of his new book Bad People And How To Be Rid Of Them, Robertson makes the case for a group of laws known as Magnitsky legislation after Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer who died in a Russian jail after exposing state corruption.
To find out more and to buy the book click here: https://bit.ly/3dXhvNn
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Apr 12, 2021
Bonus: The Economy and Markets After Covid-19
In this special bonus episode, brought to you in partnership with online trading platform IG, Joshua Mahoney, Senior Markets analyst at IG, speaks to Linda Yueh about how the pandemic has impacted trading and investing. From Netflix to Deliveroo, there have been winners and losers in the pandemic, but what will happen once we've all been vaccinated?
To find out more about IG and the world of investing visit: https://www.ig.com/uk
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Apr 8, 2021
From Bridgerton to Peaky Blinders; Historic Houses in Film & TV with World Monuments Fund Britain
In this week's episode international heritage charity World Monuments Fund Britain draws back the curtain to reveal the fascinating work involved when turning historic houses into fictitious screen locations.
WMF Britain Executive Director John Darlington talks to actress Nell Hudson (Victoria, Outlander), director Julie Anne Robinson (Bridgerton), and Sally Ambrose, Head of Marketing and Visitor Experience at Chatsworth House about historic houses and how they are transformed into the settings of some of the most popular films and TV shows.
If you are interested in extraordinary buildings, monuments and historic landscapes from across the globe join World Monuments Fund's international network of heritage advocates.
New Keystone or Capital Members get a three month Intelligence Squared Plus trial for free. To claim your trial please email info@intelligencesquared.com with proof of your membership.
For UK membership join here: https://wmf.org.uk/support/membership/.
If you are based outside the UK, you can become a WMF member and take advantage of the offer at the $100 level or above - http://act.wmf.org/site/Donation2?df_id=2061&2061.donation=form1&mfc_pref=T.
Alternatively, donate to WMFB here: https://wmf.org.uk/support/donate/
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Apr 6, 2021
The Handshake: A Gripping History, with Ella Al-Shamahi and Helen Czerski
Friends do it, strangers do it and so do chimpanzees - and it's not just deeply embedded in our history and culture, it may even be written in our DNA. The humble handshake, it turns out, has a rich and surprising history.
In this week's episode palaeo-anthropologist Ella Al-Shamahi speaks to Helen Czerski about a funny and fascinating voyage of discovery - from the handshake's origins (at least seven million years ago) all the way to its sudden disappearance in March 2020.
To find out more about the book click here: https://bit.ly/3mnA698
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Apr 1, 2021
Debate: Is The West Fundamentally Racist?
The West is rich because the rest is poor. Capitalism is racism. So argues Kehinde Andrews, academic and self-described Black radical, who came to Intelligence Squared on March 29 to set out the ideas in his latest book, The New Age of Empire: How Racism and Colonialism Still Rule the World.
Wrong, says historian Jeremy Black. All that is a complete misrepresentation of the historical and present-day facts, Black counter argues. Who's right and who's wrong? Listen to the debate chaired by Anne McElvoy senior editor at The Economist and make up your own mind.
To buy Kehinde's new book click here: https://bit.ly/3sHl7sZ
To buy Jeremy Black's latest book click here: https://amzn.to/3cEWUhy
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Mar 30, 2021
Was Jesus A Great Moral Teacher? With Julian Baggini and Mark Mardell
Even if we don't believe that Jesus was the son of God, we tend to think he was a great moral teacher. But was he? And how closely do idealised values such as our love of the family, helping the needy, and the importance of kindness, match Jesus's original tenets?
In this week's episode Julian Baggini challenges our assumptions on Christian values with some surprising insights on who Jesus really was. The episode was hosted by former BBC Broadcaster and journalist Mark Mardell.
To buy Julian's book The Godless Gospel click here: https://amzn.to/31zejC2
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Mar 26, 2021
Debate: The Time Is Right for Scottish Independence
Should Scotland be independent? In this week's podcast Alex Massie and Lesley Riddoch go head to head on the question of whether the time has come to break up Britain and for Scotland to go it alone. The debate was chaired by Manveen Rana.
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Mar 23, 2021
A New Vision for Capitalism, with Anne Case, Angus Deaton and Francine Lacqua
Each year hundreds of thousands of Americans die as a result of drug abuse, alcoholism or suicide – and the numbers are rising. This has contributed to a fall in life expectancy in the past three years, reversing a trend towards increased life expectancy that began in 1918. In this week's episode we discuss, Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism, economists Anne Case and Angus Deaton new book which has identified a culprit for these ‘deaths of despair’: capitalism – or at least some aspects of it. The debate was chaired by Francine Lacqua television anchor and editor-at-large for Bloomberg Television.
To buy the book click here:
https://bit.ly/3lIWlGg
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Mar 19, 2021
NFT's and Why Blockchain Means Business, with Sheila Warren and Carl Miller
In this week's episode we discuss the explosive rise of NFT's as well as the long terms trends in blockchain that will change how we do business and live our lives. The interview is taken from our new podcast Intelligence Squared Business and our guest is Sheila Warren, member of the Executive Committee and Head of Blockchain and Data Policy at The World Economic Forum.
To subscribe to Intelligence Squared Business click here: https://apple.co/2OEn5fe
To listen to more podcasts from the World Economic Forum click here: https://www.weforum.org/focus/podcasts
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Mar 16, 2021
The Science of Friendship, with Robin Dunbar and Helen Czerski
Robin Dunbar is the world-renowned psychologist and author who famously discovered Dunbar’s number: how our capacity for friendship is limited to around 150 people. In this week's episode he explains why friends matter to us – more than we think. The single most surprising fact to emerge out of the medical literature over the last decade or so has been that the number and quality of the friendships we have has a bigger influence on our happiness, health and even mortality risk than anything else except giving up smoking.
To find out more about his new book Friends click here: https://amzn.to/3rPrcTQ
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Mar 12, 2021
The Accidental President, with James Fletcher and Mark Mardell
In 2016, almost anyone you asked, or any poll you consulted, pointed you to a Hillary Clinton landslide. The Accidental President is a balanced feature documentary that is seeking to answer one question - How the hell did Donald Trump win? In this week's episode we were joined by the director James Fletcher who spoke to Mark Mardell about making the documentary and the future of Trump's style of politics.
THE ACCIDENTAL PRESIDENT is available to rent and buy on Apple TV+, Amazon, iTunes, Google Play and YouTube now
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Mar 11, 2021
Intelligence Squared Recommends – Climate Solutions: Is COVID-19 good or bad for the climate?
We have a special bonus episode for you today - we wanted to introduce you to a podcast we think you'll really enjoy, called Climate Solutions, from our partners, the European Investment Bank.
What would you give up to solve the climate crisis? Flights to exotic holiday destinations? Red meat? Your car? Climate Solutions surveyed 30 000 people in every EU country, in China, the US and the UK to find out what they’re ready to do to fight climate change. And whether, facing the threat posed by COVID 19, they’re even worried about climate change at all. The team at Climate Solutions then spoke to experts about what it all means for the future of our planet.
In this brand new episode of season 2 of Climate Solutions, host Matt Rees and guests ask, has COVID-19 changed our behaviour in ways that might be good for climate change? Teleworking, instead of commuting to an office, means fewer carbon emissions and is therefore good for the climate. And what about the economic reco…
Mar 7, 2021
BONUS: International Women's Day Special with Margaret Atwood, Bernardine Evaristo, Rose McGowan and more
For International Women's Day we bring to you a special bonus episode of our award-winning podcast, How I Found My Voice presented by the BBC journalist Samira Ahmed. This episode features clips from some of our favourite female interviewees including novelists Margaret Atwood, Bernardine Evaristo and Elif Shafak, actors Kate Winslet, Rose McGowan and Priyanka Chopra Jonas, singer Paloma Faith, Labour politician and Member of Parliament Jess Phillips, businesswoman Gina Miller, and comedian Katharine Ryan.
SUBSCRIBE TO HOW I FOUND MY VOICE ON APPLE PODCASTS: https://podcasts.apple.com/za/podcast/how-i-found-my-voice/id1455089930
SUBSCRIBE TO HOW I FOUND MY VOICE ON SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/show/3tFAb0IODQLDaVksmi2YHi?si=XGkuGCnmTxej2lHKSeYHuA
How I Found My Voice is an Intelligence Squared podcast that explores how some of the world's greatest artists and thinkers became such compelling – and unique – communicators. The Executive Producer is Farah Jassat.
Support th…
Mar 5, 2021
Jon Sopel on Fear and Loathing on the US Campaign Trail
In this week's episode BBC North America Editor Jon Sopel takes us behind the scenes of perhaps the most extraordinary election campaign ever in American politics – when a global pandemic threw the country into turmoil and threatened not just the presidency but the very institutions of American democracy itself. Sopel revealed the inside story of how the presidential race became a battle for the very soul of the nation – and what lies ahead with the new administration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. The podcast was hosted by Manveen Rana senior investigative journalist at the Times and Sunday Times.
To find out more about the book click here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/unpresidented/jon-sopel/9781785944406
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Mar 4, 2021
Intelligence Squared Recommends – Change Makers, with Yanis Varoufakis
We have a special bonus episode for you today – we wanted to introduce you to a podcast we think you'll really enjoy, called Change Makers. Change Makers presents fresh ideas and inspirational life stories from people with a passion – the campaigners, creators, connectors and contrarians – all making a difference.
In this episode economist, author, economist and former finance minister of Greece Yanis Varoufakis spoke to Michael Hayman, co-founder of the campaigns firm Seven Hills. They discussed Yanis's blueprint for ‘another now’, why – as an avowed critic of the establishment – he entered political life, and his belief that Star Trek presents the ultimate model of Marxist ideals.
Click here to find out more about Change Makers, and to subscribe, or search Change Makers in Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
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Mar 2, 2021
The Cyber Weapons Arms Race, with Nicole Perlroth and Josh Glancy
Zero day: a software bug that allows a hacker to break into your devices and move around undetected. One of the most coveted tools in a spy's arsenal, a zero day has the power to silently spy on your iPhone, dismantle the safety controls at a chemical plant, alter an election, and shut down the electric grid (just ask the Ukraine).
For decades, under cover of classification levels and non-disclosure agreements, the United States government became the world's dominant hoarder of zero days. U.S. government agents paid top dollar-first thousands, and later millions of dollars- to hackers willing to sell their lock-picking code and their silence.
Then the United States lost control of its hoard and the market. In this week's episode Nicole Perlroth of The New York Times speaks with Josh Glancy about her new book on the dangers and risks of the new world of cyber weapons and the potential catastrophic consequences.
To find out more about the book click here: https://amzn.to/3rbatKu
S…
Feb 28, 2021
BONUS: Kate Winslet on Titanic, Hollywood and Finding Her Voice
This bonus podcast features an episode from another Intelligence Squared podcast called How I Found My Voice. In this episode Hollywood star Kate Winslet speaks to the BBC journalist Samira Ahmed. They speak about her life and career, from discovering her love of acting in childhood and becoming a Hollywood sensation in Titanic to never-before-told stories of her and Leonardo DiCaprio, as well as her reflections on how the film industry deals with recording intimate scenes and her latest movie Ammonite, which looks at the Victorian fossil hunter Mary Anning.
SUBSCRIBE TO HOW I FOUND MY VOICE ON APPLE PODCASTS: https://podcasts.apple.com/za/podcast/how-i-found-my-voice/id1455089930
SUBSCRIBE TO HOW I FOUND MY VOICE ON SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/show/3tFAb0IODQLDaVksmi2YHi?si=XGkuGCnmTxej2lHKSeYHuA
How I Found My Voice is an Intelligence Squared podcast that explores how some of the world's greatest artists and thinkers became such compelling – and unique – communicators…
Feb 26, 2021
Facebook, Free Speech and the Fight for Digital Democracy, With Marietje Schaake and Carl Miller
In this week's episode Marietje Schaake International Director of Policy at Stanford University's Cyber Policy Centre speaks to Carl Miller about Facebook's recent legal battle with Australia, Trump's deplatforming from Twitter and how we can preserve democracy and civil liberties in the age of Big Tech.
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Feb 23, 2021
The New Climate War, with Michael Mann and Clover Hogan
In this week's episode renowned climate scientist Michael Mann speaks to Clover Hogan about the thirty-year war to deflect blame and delay action on climate change. They discuss the new tactics and psychological battle to confront the causes of climate change and offer a roadmap winning the war to save the planet.
To find out more about the book click here: https://amzn.to/2NQzjR8
To find out more about Forces of Nature click here: https://www.forceofnature.xyz/
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Feb 18, 2021
Debate: Big Tech was Right to Deplatform Trump
Shortly after a pro Trump mob stormed the Capitol on January 6th - Big Tech unplugged the President. For years he’d used social media to communicate directly with his supporters. Even on the day, as lawmakers in the Capitol scurried to find places of safety during the siege, Trump posted: ‘STOP THE STEAL’, and proclaimed ‘You will never take back our country with weakness.’ Then, came the crack down. Reddit removed the “DonaldTrump subreddit”. YouTube tightened its policy on posting videos, that called the outcome of the election into doubt. TikTok took down posts with hashtags like #stormthecapitol. Facebook suspended Trump’s account indefinitely, and Twitter, the former President’s favoured form of communication, took his account away permanently.
So did Big Tech make the right decision? And was this censorship or accountability?
Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu, James Bosworth, Nadine Strossen and Freddie Sayers debate.
The event was chaired by Manveen Rana host the…
Feb 16, 2021
No Filter: The Inside Story of Instagram, with Sarah Frier and Linda Yueh
In 2010, Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger released a photo-sharing app called Instagram, with one simple but irresistible feature: it would make anything you captured look more beautiful. The cofounders cultivated a community of photographers and artisans around the app, and it quickly went mainstream. In less than two years, it caught Facebook's attention: Mark Zuckerberg bought the company for a historic $1 billion when Instagram had only thirteen employees.
In this week's episode Sarah Frier author of the new book 'No Filter' speaks to Linda Yueh about the inside story of the company, how it's shaping our culture and the future of the company under the ownership of Facebook. The episode was hosted by economist and broadcaster Linda Yueh.
Subscribe to Intelligence Squared Business here: https://apple.co/37ihtNI
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Feb 12, 2021
Britain Alone: From Suez to Brexit, with Philip Stephens and Mark Mardell
In this week's episode Philip Stephens the Financial Times chief political commentator speaks to Mark Mardell about why Britain is a nation struggling to reconcile its waning power with past glory. Drawing on his new book 'Britain Alone' Stephens argues Britain is a proud nation struggling to admit it is no longer a great power. It is an indispensable guide to how we arrived at the state we are in.
To buy the book click here: https://amzn.to/3b2tl7l
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Feb 9, 2021
The Last Untamed Frontier, with Ian Urbina and Helen Czerski
There are few remaining frontiers on our planet. But perhaps the wildest, and least understood, are the world's oceans: too big to police, and under no clear international authority, these immense regions of treacherous water play host to rampant criminality and exploitation.
In this week's episode Ian Urbina speaks to Helen Czerski about the piracy, smuggling, beauty and danger of our Oceans.
To donate to the Outlaw Ocean Project click here: https://bit.ly/3cX7OzS
To listen to The Outlaw Ocean Music Project click here: https://bit.ly/2YXKSZ3
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Feb 4, 2021
Bellingcat Founder Eliot Higgins on Navalny, Syria and Skripal
In this week's episode Eliot Higgins, founder of Bellingcat, tells the dramatic story of how he went from college dropout to pioneering a new category of reporting that has cracked some of the biggest cases in the world. Drawing from his new book We Are Bellingcat, Higgins reveals the tools his investigators use, from software that helps pinpoint the location of an image, to an app that can nail down the time a photo was taken.
He discussed Bellingcat’s investigations into the downing of flight MH17 over Ukraine, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s use of chemical weapons, and the recent poisoning of Russian politician Alexei Navalny. The event will be hosted by Manveen Rana, senior investigative journalist at The Times and Sunday Times.
To buy Eliot and Bellingcat's new book click here: https://bit.ly/39NIVEP
To sign up for our live online event with KATE WINSLET on February 10 click here: https://bit.ly/3rrDscz
Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared.…
Feb 2, 2021
The Great Decoupling, with Nigel Inkster and Linda Yueh
In this week's episode Nigel Inkster argues that growing tension between the USA and China could result in the two superpowers decoupling their technology—with significant consequences for humanity’s future. The episode was hosted by economist and broadcaster Linda Yueh.
To find out more and buy the book click here: https://bit.ly/3pIoVsC
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Jan 28, 2021
Jim Al-Khalili on The World According to Physics
Why does physics matter? What can the study of energy and force, of matter and its motion and behaviour through space and time teach us about the universe and the nature of reality itself? According to Jim Al-Khalili, the renowned physics professor and host of BBC Radio 4’s The Life Scientific, we all need to understand the three pillars of modern physics — quantum theory, relativity and thermodynamics — if we are ever to have a full grasp of reality and our place in this universe.
In this week's episode he spoke to presenter Helen Czerski about his new book 'The World According to Physics' and if you'd like to buy it click here:
https://www.primrosehillbooks.com/product/the-world-according-to-physics-jim-al-khalili/
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Jan 26, 2021
How to Save The Planet, with Mike Berners Lee and Jenny Kleeman
Climate change, feeding the world, biodiversity, plastics – the list of environmental concerns seems endless. But which of these is the most pressing and, given the global nature of the challenges we face, what can any of us do as individuals to make a difference? Do we all need to become vegan? Is local food best? How should we spend and invest our money? In January 2021 leading carbon expert Mike Berners-Lee, author of the bestselling book There Is No Planet B, came to Intelligence Squared to answer these and other questions. Having crunched the numbers, he argued that there is a course of action we can all follow which doesn’t require donning a hair shirt. And reflecting on the turbulent last 12 months, he tackled the thorny issues of protests, pandemics, wildfires and more.
The event was hosted by Jenny Kleeman,journalist and author of Sex Robots and Vegan Meat.
To buy Mike's book click here: https://bit.ly/2Yh55Zy
To buy Jenny's book click here: https://bit.ly/2M6qBNZ…
Jan 22, 2021
The Power of Ethics, with Susan Liautaud and Josh Lowe
In this week's episode ethics expert Susan Liautaud speaks to journalist and writer about how we can make sense of ethical dilemmas and be more attuned to the ethical dimension of our actions. Drawing on her new book 'The Power of Ethics' which documents over two decades as an ethics advisor guiding corporations, academic institutions and students in her Stanford University ethics courses, Susan Liautaud provides clarity to blurry ethical questions, walking you through a straightforward, four-step process for ethical decision-making you can use every day.
To buy the book click here: https://bit.ly/2Y4MC28
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Jan 19, 2021
Can Joe Biden Heal America?
On January 20 Joe Biden will be sworn in as the 46th President of the United States. But as the storming of the Capitol on January 6 by supporters of Donald Trump showed, those 50 states are far from united.
Biden inherits a battered country that needs putting back together. Its political tribes need to find common cause. Its people need vaccines. Its economy needs triage. Sure, Biden beat Donald Trump by more than six million votes. But more people voted for Trump in November than they did four years ago. No Republican candidate in history has received as many votes as Trump did. Even Biden’s own party is not united – progressives are lining up against centrists.
Is the 78-year-old Biden up to the job? Can he make Trump’s furious and alienated supporters feel that he is their president too? Can he match Trump’s success in boosting the economy at the same time as reversing Trump’s deregulation? Can he help end racial injustice? And while he faces all of these challenges, ho…
Jan 15, 2021
Populista! The Rise of Latin America's Strongman, with Will Grant and Mark Mardell
For more than six decades, Fidel Castro's words have echoed through the politics of Latin America. His towering political influence still looms over the region today.
The swing to the Left in Latin America, known as the 'Pink Tide', was the most important political movement in the Western Hemisphere in the 21st century. Yet today, this wave of populism has left the Americas in the hands of some of the most authoritarian and dangerous leaders since the military dictatorships of the 1970s. In this week's episode BBC correspondent Will Grant speaks to Mark Mardell about his new book Populista and how strongmen have shaped the region. To buy the book click here: https://amzn.to/3qqT5ke
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Jan 13, 2021
Intelligence Squared Recommends – Power: The Maxwells
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 Maxwells.
Everyone’s heard of Ghislaine Maxwell (Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged partner in crime). But there’s a shadowy figure who hangs above her who you likely don’t know: her father, media tycoon Robert Maxwell. His rise from nothing to fall… from the deck of his super yacht under mysterious circumstances is straight out of a crime novel. His favorite daughter Ghislaine’s theory: her father was murdered. From Somethin’ Else, makers of ‘The Immaculate Deception’ and ‘Faultline: Bush, Blair & Iraq’, hosted by Investigative journalist Tara Palmeri, ‘Power: The Maxwells’ is a seven part series on the incredible true story of a media mogul whose legacy is still being felt today.
Power: The Maxwells is available on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intell…
Jan 12, 2021
David Epstein On Why Generalists Are More Successful Than Specialists
Studying the world's most successful athletes, artists, musicians, inventors and scientists, David Epstein demonstrates why in most fields – especially those that are complex and unpredictable – generalists, not specialists are primed to excel. No matter what you do, where you are in life, whether you are a teacher, student, scientist, business analyst, parent, job hunter, retiree, you will see the world differently. You'll understand better how we solve problems, how we learn and how we succeed. You'll see why failing a test is the best way to learn and why frequent quitters end up with the most fulfilling careers. The podcast was hosted by Linda Yueh.
To subscribe to Intelligence Squared Business click here: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/intelligence-squared-business/id1542365818
To find out more about David's book click here: https://amzn.to/38k0NF4
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Jan 8, 2021
Trump, Brexit and the Direction of 2021, with Will Davies and Matt Goodwin
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 United States. And as we move towards the summer months more and more of us will be vaccinated against COVID-19.
What will these seismic events mean for the future of Britain and America? As the pandemic eases, will we see fairer more unified nations? Or will our economic and cultural divides open up and become even more pronounced?
To discuss and debate these questions, Will Davies and Matthew Goodwin, two of Britain’s most popular political thinkers – one left-leaning, the other right-of-centre – joined us in January 2021. The event was hosted by journalist and author Jenny Kleeman.
To find out more about the speakers books see below:
Will Davies, This is Not Normal: https://bit.ly/2XkWUuL
Matthew Goodwin, National Populism: https://bit.ly/3pXLskQ
Jenny Kleeman, Sex Robots and Vegan Meat: https://bit.ly/3q1C5AA
Suppor…
Jan 5, 2021
How to Make the World Add Up, with Tim Harford
This episode was recorded in September 2020.
'The undercover economist' and Numbers and economics guru Tim Harford takes a deep dive into the world of statistics. Drawing on the ideas in his new book, How to Make the World Add Up: Ten Rules for Thinking Differently About Numbers, Harford takes us on a journey through art forgery, fake news, big data and dangerous political narratives, relaying the stories behind our understanding of what numbers mean, and showing why using them properly can give us unparalleled insight into every area of life.
Harford was joined by David Spiegelhalter, Winton Professor for the Understanding of Risk at the University of Cambridge, who has been described by Harford on his Radio 4 show More or Less as a ‘statistical national treasure’.
Chairing the event was the mathematician Hannah Fry, whose acclaimed television and radio documentaries have brought the world of maths, data and algorithms to a wide public audience.
To buy the book click…
Jan 1, 2021
Reform and Repression in Saudi Arabia, with Madawi Al-Rasheed and Jeremy Bowen
In 2018 journalist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered by Saudi regime operatives, shocking the world and drawing widespread condemnation. Mohammad bin Salman, the kingdom’s young crown prince, denied any involvement in the killing but his reputation as a moderniser was tarnished. Bin Salman had tried to build an international reputation as a reformer by allowing women to drive and permitting concerts in Saudi Arabia for the first time, but the brutal killing reminded the world that the kingdom was still one of the most repressive societies on earth.
In December 2020, Madawi Al-Rasheed, a Saudi dissident and author of the new book The Son King, came to Intelligence Squared to describe what she sees as essentially a con-trick: a purported programme of reforms that mask a new regime of oppression. In conversation with the BBC’s Middle East Editor Jeremy Bowen, she discussed the Saudi regime’s new online strategy of disinformation intended to promote a progressive image to the outside wor…
Dec 29, 2020
Otegha Uwagba and Mariel Richards on Navigating Whiteness
In November 2020 author and podcaster Otegha Uwagba came to Intelligence Squared to discuss her new book, Whites: On Race and Other Falsehoods. Containing reflections on racism, whiteness, and the mental labour required of Black people to navigate relationships with white people, Whites is a record of Uwagba’s observations on this era-defining moment in history.
In the wake of George Floyd’s brutal murder, the subsequent protests and scrutiny of institutional racism, it has been impossible to ignore how race is embedded in every aspect of our lives. ‘A reluctant expert’, as she describes herself, Uwagba explored the impacts of whiteness; not only discussing its effect on Black people’s lives, but also how it can shield white people from truly facing their own privilege and prevent them from being effective allies in the fight against racism. The episode was hosted by CEO of gal-dem Mariel Richards.
To find out more and order the book click here: https://bit.ly/359AKjt
S…
Dec 23, 2020
Christmas Special: Dan Goleman on Emotional Intelligence with Manveen Rana
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 million times. Goleman returned to celebrate the 25th anniversary of his number one, multi-million copy international bestseller, Emotional Intelligence. The book, revolutionary at the time, taught us that qualities such as self-awareness, impulse control, persistence, motivation, empathy and social deftness are more important than raw IQ. These so-called softer skills are the ones which determine whether or not people excel at work, have flourishing relationships and are able to navigate difficult conversations.
In this podcast, Goleman shared new insights into the brain architecture underlying emotion and rationality, and showed precisely how emotional intelligence can be nurtured and strengthened in all of us. The episode was chaired by host of the Stories of Our Times podcast Manveen ana
To buy the book click here: https://www.b…
Dec 22, 2020
The Art of Rest, with Claudia Hammond and Helen Czerski
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 think that the absence of long commutes, live entertainment and late-night socialising means we are more rested, many of us are more frazzled than ever, finding it difficult to separate work from downtime and unable to take proper time out for ourselves. And when we do, we often feel guilty that we aren’t doing something more productive.
In this live podcast taken from Intelligence Squared Plus, Claudia Hammond explained that rest is not just a matter of doing nothing – it is a vital part of self-care. Her book, The Art of Rest, draws on ground-breaking research she uncovered through ‘The Rest Test’, the largest global survey into rest ever undertaken, which was completed by 18,000 people across 135 different countries. Much has been written on the value of sleep in recent years, but rest is different; it is how we unwind, calm ou…
Dec 18, 2020
Alicia Garza on Creating Black Lives Matter
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 was acquitted of fatally shooting Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teenager, in 2013.
In this week's podcast Garza spoke to Yassmin Abdel-Magied about how she and her co-founders built Black Lives Matter into the most influential social justice movement of recent times. The phrase she coined was chanted by millions of people around the world this year in protests against the brutal killing in May of George Floyd by a police officer. But, as she pointed out, hashtags don’t build movements, people do. The work was done not through celebrity influencers or a leader swooping down from on high, but by people at the grass roots knocking on doors, building a base, and acting collaboratively to fight the persistent message that Black lives are of less value than white lives.
Drawing on the themes of her new book, The Purpose of Power: How to…
Dec 16, 2020
Billion Dollar Loser: The Epic Rise and Fall of WeWork
In its earliest days, WeWork promised the impossible: to make the workplace cool. In episode one of Intelligence Squared Business Reeves Wiedeman tells the story of how WeWork attracted billions of dollars from some of the most sought-after investors in the world, to build a global empire. Based on more than two hundred interviews, Wiedeman's book Billion Dollar Loser chronicles the breakneck speed at which WeWork's CEO Adam Neumann built and grew his company. Culminating in a day-by-day account of the five weeks leading up to WeWork's botched IPO and Neumann's dramatic ouster, Wiedeman exposes the story of the company's desperate attempt to secure the funding it needed in the final moments of a decade defined by excess. The episode was hosted by economist and broadcaster Linda Yueh.
Subscribe to Intelligence Squared Business here: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/intelligence-squared-business/id1542365818?i=1000500483797
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Dec 15, 2020
Philosophy in the Age of Covid-19, with Eric Weiner and Danielle Sands
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 Athens to Simone de Beauvoir and twentieth-century Paris they discuss philosophers and places that provide important signposts as we navigate today’s chaotic times.
To find out more about the book click here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Socrates-Express-Search-Lessons-Philosophers/dp/1501129015
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Dec 11, 2020
Debate: Cats vs Dogs, with John Gray and Will Self
It’s the issue that’s more divisive than Brexit, more polarising than politics. The world is full of animal lovers but we can’t agree on which pet is more worthy of our love – the loyal, obedient dog, or the inscrutable, capricious cat.
In this week's episode philosopher John Gray goes up against writer Will Self to debate the age old question of which animal is superior. The debate was chaired by writer, academic and broadcaster Shahidha Bari. To find out more about John Gray's book click here: https://amzn.to/2LkoipK
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Dec 8, 2020
COVID-19 and The Vaccine: A Shot of Hope and A Return to Normal?
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% effective in preventing COVID-19 in clinical trials. And then just a week later another pharmaceutical company, Moderna, announced the results of its own clinical trials. Moderna’s vaccine showed a remarkable 95% efficacy in preventing Covid-19. With further promising results from the Oxford/AstraZenica vaccine showing between 70 – 90% protection, many policymakers now believe we are on track for a mass rollout of multiple vaccines in 2021 and a chance of normality resuming within months. But how realistic is this? And what questions still need to be answered?
Many experts are warning that, while the news about vaccines is an encouraging episode in the pandemic story, it is by no means the end of it. We have many ethical and logistical challenges ahead of us in the coming months. The chief scientist behind the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine,…
Dec 4, 2020
Debate: It’s Time for the West to Get Tough with China
In December 2020 we were joined by British Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat, who argued that we need to prevent a Beijing-dominated world, and Singaporean author Kishore Mahbubani, who contends that the West should accept that it’s only a matter of time before China usurps the US as the world’s most influential superpower. The debate was chaired by Manveen Rana, senior investigative journalist and host of the 'Stories of Our Times' podcast.
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Dec 1, 2020
The Powerful and the Damned, with Lionel Barber and Manveen Rana
Lionel Barber was editor of the Financial Times for the tech boom, the global financial crisis, the continuing rise of China, Brexit, and the established media’s fight for survival in the age of disinformation.
In this episode he revealed what transpired during interviews and private meetings and exchanges with Vladimir Putin, Angela Merkel and Prince Andrew. From the rise of China to conversations with billionaire bankers facing economic meltdown, Barber offered unique insight into the people who continue to shape our world and who, quite literally, make the news.
Barber was in conversation with Manveen Rana, senior investigative journalist and host of the Stories of Our Times podcast. To find out more about Barber's book, click here: https://bit.ly/3mu62b8
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Nov 27, 2020
Travelling While Black, with Nanjala Nyabola and Yousra Elbagir
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 outside their country of birth in 2017. But whatever an individual’s reason for travel the experience tends to vary greatly depending on the colour of the traveller’s skin.
In November 2020, writer and political analyst Nanjala Nyabola came to Intelligence Squared to discuss her new book 'Travelling While Black' and offer thoughtful and original reflections on migration, race and identity from an African woman abroad. She will speak of her experiences exploring the world, from working with migrants crossing the Mediterranean to confronting how tourism is often exclusively designed for white people. Drawing from her experiences in places including Nepal, Botswana, Sicily, Haiti, New York and Nairobi, Nyabola asks tough questions and offers surprising, shocking and sometimes funny answers. The event was hosted by award-winning journalist You…
Nov 24, 2020
Debate: Joe Biden Won't Fix the Transatlantic Relationship
This week's episode features another debate from our friends at Intelligence Squared Germany, who in partnership with The European Council on Foreign Relations debated whether the election of Joe Biden as U.S President will really change the relationship between Europe and The United States. The debate featured Matt Karnitschnig, Chief Europe Correspondent, POLITICO going up against Sudha David-Wilp, Deputy Director, German Marshall Fund. The debate was chaired by Jana Puglierin, Senior Policy Fellow and Head of Berlin Office, European Council on Foreign Relations. To find out more about the ECFR click here: https://ecfr.eu/
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Nov 20, 2020
Anthony Scaramucci and Danielle Pletka on Trumpism and The Future of The Republican Party
This week Anthony Scaramucci, the former Director of Communications in President Donald Trump’s White House, and Danielle Pletka, former Vice President at the American Enterprise Institute, debate the Republican Party's response to the US election and the future of America. The podcast was hosted by Jonathan Freedland, columnist for the Guardian and regular presenter on BBC Radio 4.
Find out more about Danielle Pletka's podcast here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/what-the-hell-is-going-on/id1467993804
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Nov 19, 2020
Business and the Future of Immigration in 2021
In this special podcast brought to you by the Home Office and Intelligence Squared, Director of Border and Immigration Policy at the Home Office Philippa Rouse, Head of Immigration Policy at the FSB Emelia Quist, and Partner at Fragomen Ian Robinson discuss the UK's new points based immigration system and what it will mean for businesses and individuals. Hosted by broadcaster Linda Yueh, the panel delves into the key changes and dates businesses need to look out for and the guidance on offer to steer them through the process.
For more information go to gov.uk/hiringfromtheEU
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Nov 17, 2020
Margaret MacMillan and Peter Frankopan on How War Has Shaped Humanity
Margaret MacMillan is a distinguished historian, known for her masterly grasp of her subject matter as well as her gift for vivid storytelling. In November 2020 she came to Intelligence Squared Plus to discuss war, a topic which, she argues, we should be talking about more than we currently are.
MacMillan explained how war has shaped our societies and our very concept of ourselves. Once you embark on war you need structures and soldiers. You need people to give orders and to take orders. All that requires societal organisation. And from war we get many of our political institutions, our values and ideas. Our very language, our public spaces, our private memories, and some of our greatest cultural treasures have been influenced by war – from Homer to the paintings of Paul Nash.
Drawing on the themes of her new book, 'War: How Conflict Shaped Us', MacMillan examined the benefits that war has brought us, from votes for women to the mass availability of penicillin, and (arguably) nucle…
Nov 13, 2020
Rematch Debate: To Stop Climate Collapse, We Must End Capitalism
Last January, before the coronavirus pandemic struck, Intelligence Squared staged a sold-out debate on whether we need a truly radical new economic system to deal with the looming climate catastrophe. While Covid-19 has dominated the headlines for most of the ensuing months, averting ecological disaster remains the single most important issue we face. We therefore restaged the debate online to give all who were unable to attend the in-person event a chance to hear the arguments, ask questions live and cast their vote.
To find out more about our public speaking courses click here: https://www.intelligencesquared.com/events/the-presentation-coach-a-masterclass-with-graham-davies-online/
To subscribe to Intelligence Squared+ click here: https://www.intelligencesquared.com/plus/
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Nov 10, 2020
Martin Amis on Love, Loss and Christopher Hitchens
Martin Amis has often been called the Mick Jagger of the British book world. As famous for his love affairs, his friendships and his complicated family history as for his dazzling prose, he has dominated the literary scene for decades. In this exclusive Intelligence Squared event he spoke about his much anticipated new autobiographical novel 'Inside Story'. It is perhaps Amis’s most intimate book to date, a meditation on love, loss, ageing and death. We encounter the vivid characters who have helped define Amis – his father Kingsley, his literary hero Saul Bellow, the poet Philip Larkin and his novelist stepmother Elizabeth Jane Howard. And of course there is his lifelong friend and conversation partner, Christopher Hitchens, whose death from cancer he chronicles in some of the tenderest prose he has ever written.
In conversation with novelist Alex Preston, Amis reflected on his life and work and explored the hardest questions we all face: how to live, how to grieve, and how to di…
Nov 6, 2020
Danh Vo: Traces of History and The End of Empire
In this week's podcast Design Museum director Tim Marlow, South London Gallery director Margot Heller, academic and critic Shahidha Bari and botanist Roy Vickery discuss the White Cube Gallery exhibition 'Danh Vo: 'Chicxulub'. Incorporating imperial narratives, plant folklore, Catholicism and Coca-Cola, this podcast in partnership with White Cube is a fascinating exploration of an exhibition steeped in history and nature.
To find out more about the exhibition and see photos of the works discussed click here: https://whitecube.com/exhibitions/exhibition/danh_vo_bermondsey_2020
To watch the video version of this talk, please visit our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/iqsquared
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Nov 5, 2020
Election Breakdown: Can Trump Still Beat Biden?
In this election special we were joined by Danielle Pletka, the Washington Post commentator and senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and Josh Glancy, the Washington Bureau Chief of The Sunday Times to analyse how the candidates have performed in the key battleground States, what we can expect to unfold in the next few weeks and what this election means for the country and the world. The podcast was hosted by Linda Yueh, economist and broadcaster.
To find out more about Danielle Pletka's podcast click here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/what-the-hell-is-going-on/id1467993804
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Nov 3, 2020
Election Day Special: What's at Stake in Trump vs Biden?
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 the final weeks of the presidential race, the battleground States listeners should look out for and what's at stake for the country as a whole.
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Nov 3, 2020
Election Day Special, with Danielle Pletka, Emily Tamkin and Manveen Rana
In this week's episode we were joined by Danielle Pletka, Washington Post commentator and senior fellow at the American Enterprise; and Emily Tamkin, U.S editor of The New Statesman, to speak about how the candidates have performed in the final weeks of the race, the battleground States listeners should look out for and what's at stake for the country as a whole.
The episode was hosted by Manveen Rana, senior investigative journalist for the Times newspaper. She is also the host of a podcast called Stories of Our Times which you can listen to here: https://apple.co/38jGWb1
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Oct 30, 2020
BONUS: Ilhan Omar on the State of American Politics
Rep. Ilhan Omar, the groundbreaking Somali-American community organizer from Minnesota, speaks to public intellectuals Dr Cornel West and Professor Tricia Rose. She lays out her #PeopleFirst plan to transform our society and how the progressive movement will do if Democrats win back the Senate and the White House.
This special episode is a 'takeover' of the Intelligence Squared podcast by The Tight Rope.
Listen to The Tight Rope on Spotify:
https://spoti.fi/3jKajFj
Listen to The Tight Rope on Apple Podcasts:
https://apple.co/2HRIwpB
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Oct 30, 2020
John Bolton and Emily Maitlis on Trump, Biden and the Election
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 potentially spilling classified information in his new book. On Wednesday October 28 he came to Intelligence Squared Plus to share what he knows – days before what could be the most important presidential election in American history.
How does Bolton rate Trump’s chances of re-election? What kind of second term president will he be if he wins? How will his handling of the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement affect those crucial voters in the swing states? Bolton discusses a president he has called unfit for office, a country that is at its most politically divided in decades, and exactly what he thinks will happen on Election Day. The podcast was hosted by Emily Maitlis broadcaster and host of BBC Newsnight.
You can find out more about Bolton's book here: https://bit.ly/3mAfgCh
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Oct 27, 2020
Wake Up Call: Why The Pandemic Exposes The Weakness of the West
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 has become not just important but a matter of life and death. But the assumption that Western governments have any advantage over the rest of the world is questionable: ask yourself, where would you feel safer today – in Los Angeles and Barcelona or in Singapore and Seoul?
The pandemic has exposed the weaknesses of the West, argue bestselling authors John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge, and it is accelerating a shift in the balance of power to the East. While Western democracies have been consumed by in-fights such as the battle over Brexit or partisan showdowns in Congress, countries such as South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, as well as China, have been stealing a march economically, technologically and, arguably, politically in recent years.
Earlier this month, Micklethwait and Wooldridge came to Intelligence Squared to talk ab…
Oct 23, 2020
The Life and Legacy of Malcolm X. with Tamara Payne and Yassmin Abdel-Magied
Les Payne, the renowned Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist, embarked in 1990 on a nearly thirty-year-long quest to interview anyone he could find who had actually known Malcolm X - including siblings, classmates, friends, cellmates, FBI moles and cops, and political leaders around the world. His goal was ambitious: to transform what would become hundreds of hours of interviews into a portrait that would separate fact from fiction.
Following Payne's death, his daughter and primary researcher Tamara completed the biography, 'The Dead Are Arising'. In this week's episode Tamara spoke to writer Yassmin Abdel-Magied about this penetrating and riveting account of Malcolm X and his legacy in the African American freedom struggle.
Find out more about the book here: https://amzn.to/2TipryK
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Oct 19, 2020
The Seduction of Autocracy, with Anne Applebaum and Jonathan Freedland
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 achievement, felt a common purpose and, very often, forged personal friendships. Yet over the following decades the euphoria evaporated, the common purpose and centre ground gradually disappeared, extremism rose once more and eventually the relationships soured too. In this week's Friday episode Anne Applebaum speaks to Jonathan Freedland about the 'Twilight of Democracy' combining her personal and political experience in an original way and brings a fresh understanding to the dynamics of public life in Europe and America, both now and in the recent past. You can find out more and order the book here: https://amzn.to/36IdGKc
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Oct 16, 2020
Debate: The European Green Deal is Not Fit For Purpose
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', a plan to deliver both economic growth and carbon neutrality, is really achievable. The debate was held in partnership with The European Council on Foreign Relations and featured Franziska Brantner of the German Green Party taking on renowned climate activist Dr. Tadzio Müller. It was hosted by BBC journalist Damien McGuinness.
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Oct 12, 2020
The Ideological Roots of 'Wokeness'. with Helen Pluckrose and Helen Joyce
In this week's episode Helen Pluckrose documents the evolution of the ideas that inform today's radical social justice activism, from its coarse origins in French postmodernism to its refinement within activist academic fields. Pluckrose argues this dogma is recognizable as much by its effects, such as cancel culture and social-media dogpiles, as by its tenets, which are all too often embraced as axiomatic in mainstream media: knowledge is a social construct; science and reason are tools of oppression; all human interactions are sites of oppressive power play; and language is dangerous. As Pluckrose and Lindsay warn, the unchecked proliferation of these anti-Enlightenment beliefs present a threat not only to liberal democracy but also to modernity itself.
While acknowledging the need to challenge the complacency of those who think a just society has been fully achieved, Pluckrose break down how this often-radical activist scholarship does far more harm than good, not least t…
Oct 8, 2020
Thomas Friedman and Robert Peston on the Final Days of the Presidential Race
Thomas Friedman has been called ‘the most influential columnist in America’. The Financial Times has described him as a ‘global star’ and he has won the Pulitzer Prize three times. On October 6, Friedman will be joining us online less than a month before Americans go to the polls to elect their next president.
In conversation with ITV’s political editor Robert Peston, one of Britain’s leading journalists and broadcasters, Friedman will examine what is likely to be the most consequential Presidential elections of our times. Will enough Americans rally round President Trump to give him a second term, despite the innumerable scandals that have beset his administration? Or will the Democrats find a way to send him packing? And with the campaign already shaping up to be more bitter and divisive than any other in history, is there any hope for America’s fractured politics?
You can find Tom Friedman's latest book Thank You For Being Late here: https://amzn.to/2FdmBIa…
Oct 6, 2020
Kim Jong Un and The Bomb: is North Korea Really a Threat?
North Korea shocked the world in September 2017 by exploding the most powerful nuclear device tested anywhere in 25 years. Months earlier, it had conducted the first test flight of a missile capable of ranging much of the United States. Soon after, Kim Jong Un, the reclusive state’s ruler, declared that his nuclear deterrent was complete. World leaders, intelligence officials and many ordinary people around the world shuddered at the thought of a fully nuclear-armed North Korea.
But how did this brutal nation build such a sophisticated nuclear programme? If the international community had taken non proliferation more seriously after the Cold War could things have turned out differently? And what should be our end game with the North Koreans? Should we be seeking an Iran style nuclear deal or would that be a fatal error of judgment?
In September 2020 we were joined by Ankit Panda, renowned security expert and author of 'Kim Jong Un and The Bomb', who spoke to Dr Patricia Lewis, form…
Oct 5, 2020
BONUS: Clive Woodward on No Bullsh*t Leadership in partnership with Havas
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 group Havas Creative. Today's guest is the sporting legend and rugby coach Clive Woodward who speaks about his approach to leadership, relentless learning and creating a winning culture.
SUBSCRIBE TO THE NO BULLSH*T LEADERSHIP PODCAST AND LISTEN TO THE FULL EPISODE HERE:
Apple: https://apple.co/3iuENKZ
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/36Adigw
Clive Woodward is perhaps best known for leading England's rugby team to World Cup glory in Australia in 2003. Not only was it the first time England won, but the first time any nation in the northern hemisphere won the Rugby World Cup. Clive went onto become Director of Sport forTeam GB in the 2012 London Olympics, delivering Team GB’s most successful olympic games in modern times. He is currently a sports and business consultant and founder of Hive Learning, an app which digitises his coac…
Oct 2, 2020
Incels and the Men Radicalised to Hate Women, with Laura Bates and Sonia Sodha
According to Laura Bates a vast network of incels and other men who hate women are able to operate, virtually undetected online. These extremists commit deliberate terrorist acts and violence against women. Vulnerable teenage boys are groomed and radicalised.
In this episode Bates, the bestselling author and founder of The Everyday Sexism Project, speaks to Sonia Sodha about going undercover to expose misogynist networks and communities.
To find out more about the book click here: https://amzn.to/304TE8f.
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Sep 30, 2020
How to Lead a Sustainable Business with Clover Hogan and Alannah Weston
How can we mobilise mindsets to turn anxiety about the climate crisis into action?
This week Intelligence Squared Recommends an episode from the How To Lead a Sustainable Business podcast, hosted by Alannah Weston, chairman of Selfridges Group. Alannah speaks with activist Clover Hogan, the 21-year-old founder of ‘Force Of Nature’ - a youth-led organisation empowering Gen Z to step up, rather than shut down in the face of the climate crisis.
Clover has passionately highlighted one of the hidden side effects of the climate crisis, the rise in eco anxiety. At age 16, as she was lobbying decision-makers at the Paris climate meeting, she realised that the threat greater even than climate change was the universal feeling of powerlessness in the face of it.
After graduating from the Green School in Indonesia, Clover worked with Impossible Foods on national youth strategy and consulted multinationals at Volans. She has worked alongside the world’s leading authorities on sustain…
Sep 29, 2020
How Covid-19 Will Shape the Next Decade, with Philip Rowley and Carl Miller
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, politics and entertainment. From remote working to video gaming Phil provides a roadmap for businesses and individuals to adapt to the next decade. The conversation was hosted by author and research director Carl Miller.
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Sep 25, 2020
Debate: Cancel Culture is Threatening Our Freedoms
JK Rowling, Scarlett Johansson, Kanye West. All have been ‘cancelled’ – denounced on social media for doing or saying something considered wrong or offensive, often on matters to do with race or gender. In this week's episode Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Julie Bindel debated Billy Bragg and Kehinde Andrews on whether cancel culture is a mob mentality, or a long overdue way of speaking truth to power. The debate was chaired by Jonathan Freedland.
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Sep 22, 2020
China's Good War, with Rana Mitter and Gideon Rachman
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—and one that saw Mao Zedong and Chiang Kai-shek fighting for the same goals. But now, as China grows more powerful, the meaning of the war is changing. In this week's episode Rana Mitter argues that China’s reassessment of World War II is central to its newfound confidence abroad and to mounting nationalism at home. To find out more about Rana Mitter's book click here: https://bit.ly/35RwkPf.
To listen to Gideon Rachman's podcast click here: https://play.acast.com/s/therachmanreview
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Intelligence Squared+. The world's best speakers. Your questions. £4.99 per month.
Intelligence Squared+ will bring you live, interactive events every week on our new online platform. Just like at our real-life events, you’ll be able to put your questions to our speakers, vote in live polls and interact with other members…
Sep 18, 2020
A Secret History of Stars, with Jo Marchant and Helen Czerski
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 religious beliefs, power structures, scientific advances and even our biology. But over the last few centuries we have separated ourselves from the universe that surrounds us. And that disconnect comes at a cost.
To find out more about Jo Marchant’s book, The Human Cosmos, click here: http://bit.ly/humancosmos
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Intelligence Squared+. The world's best speakers. Your questions. £4.99 per month.
Intelligence Squared+ will bring you live, interactive events every week on our new online platform. Just like at our real-life events, you’ll be able to put your questions to our speakers, vote in live polls and interact with other members of the audience. Your subscription will give you access to multiple events featuring the world’s top thinkers and opinion formers, including Thomas Piketty, Margaret Atwood, Clive…
Sep 15, 2020
The Spies Fighting Communism During the Cold War, with Scott Anderson and Hugo Lindgren
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 and a champion of freedom. But it was clear – to some – that the Soviet Union was already executing a plan to expand and foment revolution around the world. The American government’s strategy in response relied on the secret efforts of a newly-formed CIA. In this week's episode Scott Anderson joins us to discuss his new book 'The Quiet Americans' chronicling the exploits of four American spies with journalist Hugo Lindgren. To find out more about the book, click here: https://amzn.to/3itTv5A.
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Intelligence Squared+. The world's best speakers. Your questions. £4.99 per month.
Intelligence Squared+ will bring you live, interactive events every week on our new online platform. Just like at our real-life events, you’ll be able to put your questions to our speakers, vote in live polls and interact with o…
Sep 11, 2020
Journeys to Freedom After the Holocaust, with Rosie Whitehouse and Edward Lucas
Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared
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One summer’s night in 1946, over 1,000 European Jews waited silently on an Italian beach to board a secret ship. They had survived Auschwitz, hidden and fought in forests and endured death marches—now they were taking on the Royal Navy, running the British blockade of Palestine.
From Eastern Europe to Israel via Germany and Italy, Rosie Whitehouse speaks to Edward Lucas about her new book following the footsteps of those secret passengers and uncovering their extraordinary stories—some told for the first time. You can buy the book here or any good book shop: https://bit.ly/3ihjaOO
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Intelligence Squared+. The world's best speakers. Your questions. £4.99 per month.
Intelligence Squared+ will bring you live, interactive events every week on our new online platform. Just like at our real-life events, you’ll be able to put your questions to our speakers, vote in live polls and…
Sep 8, 2020
Clive, Capitalism and The East India Company, with William Dalrymple and Kavita Puri
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We still talk about the British conquering India, but that phrase disguises a more sinister reality. For it was not the British government that began seizing chunks of India in the mid-18th century, as historian William Dalrymple points out, but a dangerously unregulated private company headquartered in one small office, five windows wide, in London, and managed in India by a violent, ruthless and mentally unstable corporate predator — Robert Clive. India’s transition to colonialism, in other words, took place under a for-profit corporation, which existed for the purpose of enriching its investors.
In this episode Dalrymple speaks with broadcaster Kavita Puri about why he believes the story of the East India Company has never been more relevant to understanding our world today. To find out more about his book The Anarchy click here: https://bit.ly/3hb9c06 and to find out more about kavita Puri's book clic…
Sep 4, 2020
Taming Covid and Preventing the Next Pandemic, with Mark Honigsbaum and Sir David King
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In this week's episode we brought together two of Britain’s most esteemed experts on global pandemics to discuss what we got wrong about the virus and how we can learn from those mistakes going forward. Drawing on examples from history and scientific research, medical historian Mark Honigsbaum and former Chief Scientific Advisor to the U.K Government Sir David King, outlined the measures that need to be put in place, at both national and international levels, to end the pandemic and prevent this kind of catastrophe from ever happening again. The event was chaired by Manveen Rana, host of Stories of Our Times, a podcast from The Times.
To buy Mark Honigsbaum's book click here: https://amzn.to/2FalGYn
To listen to Manveen Rana's podcast click here:https://play.acast.com/s/storiesofourtimes
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Intelligence Squared+. The world's best speakers. Your questions. £4.99 per month.
Intel…
Sep 1, 2020
Power, Control and Domestic Abuse, with Jess Hill and Ros Urwin
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Every week in England and Wales, two women are killed by a current or former partner. And still we ask the question: 'Why didn't she leave?' According to author award winning Jess Hill, we should be asking 'Why did he do it?'
In this episode Hill speaks to Rosamund Urwin about the perpetrators of abuse and the systems that enable them. Her radical reframing of domestic abuse takes us beyond the home and explores some innovative solutions such as women only police stations in Latin America.
To find out more about her new book, click here: https://bit.ly/3lD4H1D
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Intelligence Squared+. The world's best speakers. Your questions. £4.99 per month.
Intelligence Squared+ will bring you live, interactive events every week on our new online platform. Just like at our real-life events, you’ll be able to put your questions to our speakers, vote in live polls and interact with ot…
Aug 29, 2020
BONUS EPISODE: Shinzo Abe's Life and Legacy
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As Japan's longest serving premier, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, steps down due to health concerns, we examine his life and legacy in a special bonus episode. We were joined by Tobias Harris, author of the new book 'The Iconoclast: Shinzo Abe and the New Japan' to discuss the story of Abe’s meteoric rise and stunning fall, his remarkable comeback, and his unlikely emergence as a global statesman laying the groundwork for Japan’s survival in a turbulent century. To find out more about the book click here: https://amzn.to/2GalwB7
Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared.
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Aug 27, 2020
Rutger Bregman on Human Kindness in a Frightened World with Helen Lewis
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Human beings, we’re taught, are by nature selfish and governed by self-interest. From Hobbes’ theory about the state of nature to Richard Dawkins’ ‘selfish gene’, the roots of this belief are deeply ingrained in Western thought.
But historian Rutger Bregman believes we have got human nature wrong – and that deep down we are all pretty decent. On August 3 Bregman came to the Intelligence Squared to persuade us that it is realistic, as well as revolutionary, to assume that people are good. And that the instinct to cooperate rather than compete, trust rather than distrust, has an evolutionary basis going right back to the beginnings of Homo Sapiens.
In conversation with journalist and author Helen Lewis, Bregman will discuss some of the world’s most famous studies and events and reframe them, providing a new perspective on the last 200,000 years of human history. To find out more about the book cli…
Aug 25, 2020
Dark Money and Dirty Politics, with Peter Geoghegan and Nick Cohen
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Democracy is in crisis, and unaccountable and untraceable flows of money are helping to destroy it. According to Peter Geoghegan, politicians lie gleefully, making wild claims that can be shared instantly with millions of people on social media. Donald Trump, Boris Johnson, Jair Bolsonaro and populists in many other countries are the beneficiaries.
This week Geoghegan speaks to Nick Cohen, columnist at the Observer, about the problems democracy faces and what can be done about it. To find out more and order Peter's new book 'Democracy for Sale: Dark Money and Dirty Politics' click here: https://bit.ly/34rOZAu.
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Intelligence Squared+. The world's best speakers. Your questions. £4.99 per month.
Intelligence Squared+ will bring you live, interactive events every week on our new online platform. Just like at our real-life events, you’ll be able to put your questions to our…
Aug 21, 2020
The Hidden Power of Caste, with Isabel Wilkerson and Yassmin Abdel-Magied
Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared.
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Race, class, gender. These are the categories that are commonly thought to define our lives. But Pulitzer Prize-winning author Isabel Wilkerson argues that ultimately the determining factor in societies is a more powerful, unspoken system of divisions: caste. On August 17 Wilkerson came to Intelligence Squared to talk about this hidden phenomenon, which she sets out in her acclaimed new book, Caste: The Lies That Divide Us. Isabel Wilkerson was in conversation with author and broadcaster Yassmin Abdel-Magied.
To find out more about the book click here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/caste/isabel-wilkerson/9780241486511.
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Intelligence Squared+. The world's best speakers. Your questions. £4.99 per month.
Intelligence Squared+ will bring you live, interactive events every week on our new online platform. Just like at our real-life events, you’ll be able to put your que…
Aug 18, 2020
Ghost Ships and Geopolitics, with Ian Urbina and Ros Urwin
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 uncover the largest known case of illegal fishing perpetrated by a single industrial fleet operating in another nation’s waters (a Chinese fleet of squid boats fishing in North Korean waters in violation of UN sanctions). He spoke to Rosamund Urwin about the case and why dead North Koreans were washing up on the shores of Japan. They also discussed the wider themes of Ian's book The Outlaw Ocean which you can find out more about here: https://www.theoutlawocean.com/
Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared.
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Aug 14, 2020
Partition Voices, with Kavita Puri and Rajini Vaidyanathan
The division of the Indian subcontinent in 1947 into India and Pakistan saw millions uprooted and resulted in unspeakable violence. It happened far away, but it would shape modern Britain. In this week's episode Kavita Puri speaks to Rajini Vaidyanathan about how she tracked down and uncovered remarkable testimonies from former subjects of the Raj who are now British citizens - and persuaded them to break their silence. To find out more about Kavita Puri's book click here: https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/partition-voices-9781408899069/.
Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared.
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Aug 11, 2020
Can business deliver social good after Covid-19? With Warren Valdmanis and Michelle Meagher
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-imagine our societies and economic system. On this week's episode we delved into this topic with impact investor, Warren Valdmanis, and Michelle Meagher, founder of the inclusive Competition Forum, to discuss whether businesses can be a part of the solution to delivering social good in the age of Covid-19. The podcast was moderated by economist and broadcaster Linda Yueh. To order Warren Valdmanis's book click here: https://amzn.to/3gOEydo . To order Michelle Meagher's book click here: https://amzn.to/2XQl6pe.
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Intelligence Squared+. The world's best speakers. Your questions. £4.99 per month.
Intelligence Squared+ will bring you live, interactive events every week on our new online platform. Just like at our real-life events, you’ll be able to put your questions to our speakers, vote in live polls…
Aug 7, 2020
Deepfakes and the Infocalypse with Nina Schick and Carl Miller
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 AI mean that by scanning images of a person (for example using Facebook), a powerful machine learning system can create new video images and place them in scenarios and situations which never actually happened. When combined with powerful voice AI, the results are utterly convincing.
So-called 'Deep Fakes' are not only a real threat for democracy but they take the manipulation of ordinary life experiences to new levels. To find out more and buy Nina's new book click here: https://ninaschick.org/
Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared.
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Aug 4, 2020
Niall Ferguson On What History Can Teach Us About Covid-19
There are few big thinkers better placed to explain the implications of the Covid-19 pandemic than historian Niall Ferguson. In addition to his profound understanding of past crises, since early March he has been meticulously collating and analysing data about the one we are facing now – tracking how the pandemic began, how we got to where we are today and extrapolating what the future is likely to hold. In this special podcast taken from an Intelligence Squared+ online event Ferguson tackled the most pressing questions we all want answers to. To find out more about Intelligence Squared+ click here: https://www.intelligencesquared.com/plus/
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Intelligence Squared+. The world's best speakers. Your questions. £4.99 per month.
Intelligence Squared+ will bring you live, interactive events every week on our new online platform. Just like at our real-life events, you’ll be able to put your questions to our speakers, vote in live polls and interact with other members…
Jul 31, 2020
An Artificial Revolution, with Ivana Bartoletti and Yassmin Abdel-Magied
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 train algorithms to recognise cancerous polyps, to the rise of data violence and the symbiotic relationship between AI and social media anger. She spoke to author and writer Yassmin Abdel-Maggied. To find out more about the book click here: https://amzn.to/2D8Rbl9.
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Intelligence Squared+. The world's best speakers. Your questions. £4.99 per month.
Intelligence Squared+ will bring you live, interactive events every week on our new online platform. Just like at our real-life events, you’ll be able to put your questions to our speakers, vote in live polls and interact with other members of the audience. Your subscription will give you access to multiple events featuring the world’s top thinkers and opinion formers, including Thomas Piketty, Margaret Atwood, Clive Woodward, Thomas Friedman, Meera Syal…
Jul 28, 2020
Slavoj Žižek and Shahidha Bari on Hegel in a Wired Brain
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 changed our way of thinking about posthumanism. Together they investigate what he might have had to say about the idea of the 'singularity' and the 'wired brain' – what happens when a direct link between our mental processes and a digital machine emerges. For more information on Slavoj Zizek's new book, click here: https://bit.ly/3g8E15M
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Intelligence Squared+. The world's best speakers. Your questions. £4.99 per month.
Intelligence Squared+ will bring you live, interactive events every week on our new online platform. Just like at our real-life events, you’ll be able to put your questions to our speakers, vote in live polls and interact with other members of the audience. Your subscription will give you access to multiple events featuring the world’s top thinkers and opinion formers, including Thoma…
Jul 24, 2020
Tony Blair and Andrew Adonis on Ernest Bevin, Britain’s Forgotten Political Giant
In this rare public appearance together, chaired by the BBC’s Rajini Vaidyanathan, the former Labour prime minister Tony Blair and cabinet minister Andrew Adonis discussed how the man known as ‘the working-class John Bull’ grew to become one of this country’s greatest political leaders and what lessons can be learned from his legacy today for politics and crisis today.
Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared.
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Jul 21, 2020
Science Fictions, with Stuart Ritchie and Tom Whipple
Medicine, education, health, parenting – wherever it really matters, we look to science for guidance and answers. In this episode Stuart Ritchie discusses his new book 'Science Fictions' and reveals the disturbing flaws that undermine our understanding of all of these fields and more. He spoke to Tom Whipple the science editor at The Times and to find out more about the book click here: https://amzn.to/2OF9a4C.
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Intelligence Squared+. The world's best speakers. Your questions. £4.99 per month.
Intelligence Squared+ will bring you live, interactive events every week on our new online platform. Just like at our real-life events, you’ll be able to put your questions to our speakers, vote in live polls and interact with other members of the audience. Your subscription will give you access to multiple events featuring the world’s top thinkers and opinion formers, including Thomas Piketty, Margaret Atwood, Clive Woodward, Thomas Friedman, Meera Syal…
Jul 16, 2020
Sex Robots & Vegan Meat, with Jenny Kleeman and Carl Miller
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 human. Focusing on the central pillars of the human experience–birth, food, sex, and death. to find out more about the book click here: https://amzn.to/3ewD59X
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Intelligence Squared+. The world's best speakers. Your questions. £4.99 per month.
Intelligence Squared+ will bring you live, interactive events every week on our new online platform. Just like at our real-life events, you’ll be able to put your questions to our speakers, vote in live polls and interact with other members of the audience. Your subscription will give you access to multiple events featuring the world’s top thinkers and opinion formers, including Thomas Piketty, Margaret Atwood, Clive Woodward, Thomas Friedman, Meera Syal and Paloma Faith.
For a full list of Intelligence Squared+ events and to subscribe, click here: https…
Jul 14, 2020
Angrynomics: Why The World is So Angry, with Mark Byth, Eric Lonergan and Linda Yueh
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 that the vast majority of people are getting steadily richer the world most of us experience day-in and day-out feels increasingly uncertain, unfair, and ever more expensive. In this week's podcast Professor Mark Blyth and Eric Lonergan speak to economist and broadcaster Linda Yueh about their new book 'Angrynomics', why the world feels so angry and how we can make things better.
To find out more and buy Angrynomics the book click here: amazon.co.uk/dp/B0888SG7Y7/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
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Intelligence Squared+. The world's best speakers. Your questions. £4.99 per month.
Intelligence Squared+ will bring you live, interactive events every week on our new online platform. Just like at our real-life events, you’ll be able to put your questions to our speakers, vote in live polls and inte…
Jul 10, 2020
Outraged: Why Everyone is Shouting and No One is Talking, with Ashley 'Dotty' Charles and Ash Sarkar
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 today's world. In conversation with Ash Sarkar, she explores how outrage culture has limited capacity to achieve social change and why we need to be more selective in our outrage for the fights that matter. To find out more and buy Dotty's book click here: https://amzn.to/2ZWPoqD
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Intelligence Squared+. The world's best speakers. Your questions. £4.99 per month.
Intelligence Squared+ will bring you live, interactive events every week on our new online platform. Just like at our real-life events, you’ll be able to put your questions to our speakers, vote in live polls and interact with other members of the audience. Your subscription will give you access to multiple events featuring the world’s top thinkers and opinion formers, including Thomas Piketty, Margaret Atwood, Clive Woodward, Thomas Friedm…
Jul 7, 2020
Putin's People with Catherine Belton and Edward Lucas
Former Moscow correspondent and investigative journalist Catherine Belton reveals the untold story of how Vladimir Putin and his entourage of KGB men seized power in Russia and built a new league of oligarchs.
Through exclusive interviews with key inside players, Belton tells how Putin’s people conducted their relentless seizure of private companies, took over the economy, siphoned billions, blurred the lines between organised crime and political powers, shut down opponents, and then used their riches and power to extend influence in the West. She spoke to Edward Lucas, columnist at The Times and a security expert on Russia and Europe.
To buy Catherine Belton's book 'Putin's People' click here: https://amzn.to/2BLqMco.
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Intelligence Squared+. The world's best speakers. Your questions. £4.99 per month.
Intelligence Squared+ will bring you live, interactive events every week on our new online platform. Just like at our real-life events, you…
Jul 3, 2020
Debate: Iran Is Not Our Enemy
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, Azadeh Moaveni, Daniel Hannan and Salman Al-Ansari. The debate was chaired by the BBC's Lyse Doucet.
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Intelligence Squared+. The world's best speakers. Your questions. £4.99 per month.
Intelligence Squared+ will bring you live, interactive events every week on our new online platform. Just like at our real-life events, you’ll be able to put your questions to our speakers, vote in live polls and interact with other members of the audience. Your subscription will give you access to multiple events featuring the world’s top thinkers and opinion formers, including Thomas Piketty, Margaret Atwood, Clive Woodward, Thomas Friedman, Meera Syal and Paloma Faith.
For a full list of Intelligence Squared+ events and to subscribe, click here: https://bit.ly/2yfYIfm
Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/int…
Jun 30, 2020
City on Fire: The Fight for Hong Kong, With Antony Dapiran and Shirley Yu
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 since the summer of 2019. He spoke to political economist Shirley Yu. Together they discussed the history of dissent in the city and the future of China's "One Country, Two Systems" as a new security law threatens Hong Kong's autonomy.To find out more and buy Antony's new book click here: https://amzn.to/2Nw216s.
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Intelligence Squared+. The world's best speakers. Your questions. £4.99 per month.
Intelligence Squared+ will bring you live, interactive events every week on our new online platform. Just like at our real-life events, you’ll be able to put your questions to our speakers, vote in live polls and interact with other members of the audience. Your subscription will give you access to multiple events featuring the world’s top thinkers and opinion formers, including Thomas Piketty, Margaret Atwood,…
Jun 26, 2020
The Reckoning: Kwame Kwei-Armah and Idris Elba on the Arts and Black Lives Matter
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 organisations are looking afresh at how they can do a better job of combatting institutional bias and racism. Employees are increasingly speaking out about their experiences and calling for change.
In this special event this Thursday June 25, Intelligence Squared brought together two leading voices from the arts, Kwame Kwei-Armah, artistic director of the Young Vic, and Idris Elba, star of The Wire and Luther, to discuss what should happen and is likely to happen in the world of culture as we move forward. Given all the promises made and broken over the years, will things be different this time? Will there be deep structural change so that we see more Black and Brown people – not just on the stage or screen – but in positions of real power and decision-making? And once lessons have been learned, what do people actually need to do?
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Jun 23, 2020
We Need To Talk: Me and White Supremacy, with Layla Saad and Emma Dabiri
Amidst the current global conversation around police brutality in the United States and the experience of black people the world over, this week we speak to Layla Saad to investigate the role each of us has to play in dismantling white supremacy. Layla Saad spoke to author, academic and broadcaster Emma Dabiri about her book Me and White Supremacy to discuss her experience as both a black woman and ‘third culture kid’, and the challenges of anti-racist work and what it means to be a ‘good ancestor’. To find out more about Layla Saad’s book click here: https://amzn.to/2NqL39r. And to see more about Emma Dabiri’s book see here: https://amzn.to/3dn7p6c.
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Intelligence Squared+. The world's best speakers. Your questions. £4.99 per month.
Intelligence Squared+ will bring you live, interactive events every week on our new online platform. Just like at our real-life events, you’ll be able to put your questions to our speakers, vote in live po…
Jun 19, 2020
Unravelling Unconscious Bias, with Dr Pragya Agarwal and Kavita Puri
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 'unintentional' biases affect the way we communicate and perceive the world. Dr Agarwal spoke to author and BBC broadcaster Kavita Puri about her new book 'Sway' and to answer questions like: is prejudice rooted in our evolutionary past? How has bias affected technology? And how can understanding bias help us root our racism and discrimination in our societies? To find out more about Dr Agarwal's book click here: https://amzn.to/2V0pTmz. And to see more about Kavita Puri's book see here: https://amzn.to/3ehDjlN.
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Intelligence Squared+. The world's best speakers. Your questions. £4.99 per month.
Intelligence Squared+ will bring you live, interactive events every week on our new online platform. Just like at our real-life events, you’ll be able to put your questions to our speakers, vo…
Jun 16, 2020
Why do Evangelicals Worship at the Altar of Donald Trump? With Sarah Posner and Brian Klaas
Why does Donald Trump have such a good relationship with white evangelical christians despite his questionable conservative credentials? In this week's episode Sarah Posner, author of 'Unholy: Why White Evangelicals Worship at the Altar of Donald Trump' speaks to Washington Post columnist and host of the 'Power Corrupts' podcast Brian Klaas to discuss. To find out more about the book click here: https://amzn.to/2BeIHHE
To listen to Brian Klaas's podcast visit: https://bit.ly/2zCla3b
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Intelligence Squared+. The world's best speakers. Your questions. £4.99 per month.
Intelligence Squared+ will bring you live, interactive events every week on our new online platform. Just like at our real-life events, you’ll be able to put your questions to our speakers, vote in live polls and interact with other members of the audience. Your subscription will give you access to multiple events featuring the world’s top thinkers and opinion forme…
Jun 12, 2020
Statues, Slavery and the Struggle for Equality with David Olusoga, Dawn Butler and Susan Neiman
Following the death of George Floyd, global Black Lives Matter protests, and debates raging over statues from Colston to Churchill, Intelligence Squared hosted an online discussion with historian David Olusoga, Labour MP Dawn Butler, and philosopher Susan Neiman who is author of 'Learning from the Germans: Confronting Race and the Memory of Evil'. The conversation was chaired by broadcaster Yassmin Abdel-Magied.
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Intelligence Squared+. The world's best speakers. Your questions. £4.99 per month.
Intelligence Squared+ will bring you live, interactive events every week on our new online platform. Just like at our real-life events, you’ll be able to put your questions to our speakers, vote in live polls and interact with other members of the audience. Your subscription will give you access to multiple events featuring the world’s top thinkers and opinion formers, including Thomas Piketty, Margaret Atwood, Clive Woodward, Thomas Friedman, Meera Sya…
Jun 9, 2020
The New Long Life: Flourishing in a Changing World, with Lynda Gratton and Andrew J Scott
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's episode Andrew J Scott and Lynda Gratton speak to Tom Whipple about their book 'The New Long Life: A Framework for Flourishing in a Changing World' and how we can navigate the challenges ahead. Find out more about the book here: https://amzn.to/3haErJV.
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Intelligence Squared+. The world's best speakers. Your questions. £4.99 per month.
Intelligence Squared+ will bring you live, interactive events every week on our new online platform. Just like at our real-life events, you’ll be able to put your questions to our speakers, vote in live polls and interact with other members of the audience. Your subscription will give you access to multiple events featuring the world’s top thinkers and opinion formers, including Thomas Piketty, Margaret Atwood, Clive Woodward, Thomas Friedman, Meera Syal and Paloma…
Jun 5, 2020
Anand Giridharadas on Capitalism in the Time of Corona
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-pandemic world. Is the crisis an opportunity to create a more egalitarian society? How can the powerful be prevented from exploiting the situation to further entrench their advantages? And could this moment be an opportunity to reinvent the relationship between the citizen, the market and the state?
Anand spoke to Matthew Taylor, Chief Executive of the RSA. You can purchase the book 'Winner Takes All' from Amazon here: https://amzn.to/3dDdD2G.
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Intelligence Squared+. The world's best speakers. Your questions. £4.99 per month.
Intelligence Squared+ will bring you live, interactive events every week on our new online platform. Just like at our real-life events, you’ll be able to put your questions to our speakers, vote in live polls and interact with other members of the audience. Your su…
Jun 2, 2020
The Passion Economy with Adam Davidson and Hugo Lindgren
Are the middle classes really dying off? Will robots really take our jobs? Contrary to common belief Adam Davidson argues the twenty-first-century economic paradigm offers new ways of making money, fresh paths toward professional fulfillment, and unprecedented opportunities for curious, ambitious individuals to combine the things they love with their careers. His new book
'The Passion Economy: The New Rules for Thriving in the Twenty-First Century' is available to buy now: https://amzn.to/2MnbVXd.
Adam Davidson was in conversation with journalist Hugo Lindgren at Acast's studio in New York.
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Intelligence Squared+. The world's best speakers. Your questions. £4.99 per month.
Intelligence Squared+ will bring you live, interactive events every week on our new online platform. Just like at our real-life events, you’ll be able to put your questions to our speakers, vote in live polls and interact with other members of the audience. Y…
May 29, 2020
Together: The Healing Power of Human Connection, with Dr Vivek Murthy and Ros Urwin
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 loneliness lies behind some of our greatest personal and societal challenges, from anxiety and depression to addiction and violence. To find out more and buy Dr Murthy's new book 'Together: Loneliness, Health and What Happens When We Find Connection' click here: https://amzn.to/3ckrolG.
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Intelligence Squared+. The world's best speakers. Your questions. £4.99 per month.
Intelligence Squared+ will bring you live, interactive events every week on our new online platform. Just like at our real-life events, you’ll be able to put your questions to our speakers, vote in live polls and interact with other members of the audience. Your subscription will give you access to multiple events featuring the world’s top thinkers and opinion formers, including Thomas Piketty, Margaret Atwood, Clive Wood…
May 26, 2020
Nervous States: How Feeling Took Over the World, with Will Davies and Carl Miller
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 help us understand our present? In this episode Professor Will Davies, author of Nervous States: How Feeling Took Over The World speaks to Carl Miller about the long history of how societies based on facts and reason were built and why they are now unravelling before our eyes. You can buy Will's book at: https://bit.ly/3gqNCp6.
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Intelligence Squared+. The world's best speakers. Your questions. £4.99 per month.
Intelligence Squared+ will bring you live, interactive events every week on our new online platform. Just like at our real-life events, you’ll be able to put your questions to our speakers, vote in live polls and interact with other members of the audience. Your subscription will give you access to multiple events featuring the world’s top thinkers and opinion formers, including Thomas Pi…
May 22, 2020
Putting Peer Pressure to Work with Robert H Frank and Linda Yueh
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 environments influence our behaviour more than we think. They discuss why behaviours from smoking to cheating are largely products of social environments and how we can use this understanding to direct human behaviour toward choices we make for the benefit of everyone. Find out more about the book here: https://bit.ly/2Zut3SS
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Intelligence Squared+. The world's best speakers. Your questions. £4.99 per month.
Intelligence Squared+ will bring you live, interactive events every week on our new online platform. Just like at our real-life events, you’ll be able to put your questions to our speakers, vote in live polls and interact with other members of the audience. Your subscription will give you access to multiple events featuring the world’s top thinkers and opinion formers, including Thomas Piketty, M…
May 19, 2020
No Visible Bruises: Why What we don't know about domestic violence can kill, with Rachel Louise Snyder
In this week's episode award-winning journalist Rachel Louise Snyder speaks to Helen Lewis about some common misconceptions about domestic violence: that it happens to an unlucky few; that it's a matter of poor choices; that if things are dire enough, victims will leave. Her perception changed when she began talking to the victims and perpetrators whose stories she tells in this episode and her book 'No Visible Bruises: what we don't know about domestic violence can kill us.' To find out more about the book clickhere: https://bit.ly/36bQH7Z.
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Intelligence Squared+. The world's best speakers. Your questions. £4.99 per month.
Intelligence Squared+ will bring you live, interactive events every week on our new online platform. Just like at our real-life events, you’ll be able to put your questions to our speakers, vote in live polls and interact with other members of the audience. Your subscription will give you access to multiple events…
May 14, 2020
The Dragons and the Snakes: How the Rest Learned to Fight the West, with David Kilcullen and Carl Miller
In this episode, leading soldier-scholar David Kilcullen speaks to Carl Miller about how the West’s opponents have learned from twenty-first-century conflict and explains how their cutting-edge tactics and adaptability pose a serious threat to America and its allies, disabling the West’s military advantage. Click here to find out more about David's book 'The Dragons and The Snakes': https://bit.ly/3fQrOTD.
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Intelligence Squared+. The world's best speakers. Your questions. £4.99 per month.
Intelligence Squared+ will bring you live, interactive events every week on our new online platform. Just like at our real-life events, you’ll be able to put your questions to our speakers, vote in live polls and interact with other members of the audience. Your subscription will give you access to multiple events featuring the world’s top thinkers and opinion formers, including Thomas Piketty, Margaret Atwood, Clive Woodward, Thomas Friedman, Meera Syal and Palo…
May 12, 2020
The Classical School, with Callum Williams and Linda Yueh
Intelligence Squared+. The world's best speakers. Your questions. £4.99 per month.
Intelligence Squared+ will bring you live, interactive events every week on our new online platform. Just like at our real-life events, you’ll be able to put your questions to our speakers, vote in live polls and interact with other members of the audience. Your subscription will give you access to multiple events featuring the world’s top thinkers and opinion formers, including Thomas Piketty, Margaret Atwood, Clive Woodward, Thomas Friedman, Meera Syal and Paloma Faith.
For a full list of Intelligence Squared+ events and to subscribe, click here: https://bit.ly/2yfYIfm
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What was Adam Smith really talking about when he mentioned the "invisible hand"? Did Karl Marx really predict the end of capitalism? Did Thomas Malthus really believe that famines were desirable?
In this episode Callum Williams, author of 'The Classical School: The Birth of Economics in 20 Enli…
May 8, 2020
The Corona Crash: How Bad Will It Be? With Mark Blyth and Anne McElvoy
Intelligence Squared+. The world's best speakers. Your questions. £4.99 per month.
Intelligence Squared+ will bring you live, interactive events every week on our new online platform. Just like at our real-life events, you’ll be able to put your questions to our speakers, vote in live polls and interact with other members of the audience. Your subscription will give you access to multiple events featuring the world’s top thinkers and opinion formers, including Thomas Piketty, Margaret Atwood, Clive Woodward, Thomas Friedman, Meera Syal and Paloma Faith.
For a full list of Intelligence Squared+ events and to subscribe, click here: https://bit.ly/2yfYIfm
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As concern over Covid-19 shifts from a global health crisis to a global economic crisis we speak to political scientist Mark Blyth, author of the forthcoming book 'Angrynomics' about what this pandemic really means for the economy. How long can we afford lockdown? Is it time to abandon globalisa…
May 5, 2020
The Great Slowdown and Why It's Good, with Danny Dorling and Linda Yueh
Intelligence Squared+. The world's best speakers. Your questions. £4.99 per month.
Intelligence Squared+ will bring you live, interactive events every week on our new online platform. Just like at our real-life events, you’ll be able to put your questions to our speakers, vote in live polls and interact with other members of the audience. Your subscription will give you access to multiple events featuring the world’s top thinkers and opinion formers, including Thomas Piketty, Margaret Atwood, Clive Woodward, Thomas Friedman, Meera Syal and Paloma Faith.
For a full list of Intelligence Squared+ events and to subscribe, click here: https://bit.ly/2yfYIfm
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The end of our high-growth world was underway well before Covid-19 arrived. According to Danny Dorling fertility rates, growth in GDP per person, and even technological progress have all steadily declined since the 1970's. Rather than lament this turn of events, Dorling says we should embrace…
May 1, 2020
Abolish Silicon Valley, with Wendy Liu and Carl Miller
Intelligence Squared+. The world's best speakers. Your questions. £4.99 per month.
Intelligence Squared+ will bring you live, interactive events every week on our new online platform. Just like at our real-life events, you’ll be able to put your questions to our speakers, vote in live polls and interact with other members of the audience. Your subscription will give you access to multiple events featuring the world’s top thinkers and opinion formers, including Thomas Piketty, Margaret Atwood, Clive Woodward, Thomas Friedman, Meera Syal and Paloma Faith.
For a full list of Intelligence Squared+ events and to subscribe, click here: https://bit.ly/2yfYIfm
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In this episode of the Intelligence Squared podcast, former Silicon Valley insider turned critic Wendy Liu speaks to Carl Miller about the myths and contradictions of the tech industry. In light of scandals like Cambridge Analytica and reports of degrading treatment of employees at Amazon warehou…
Apr 28, 2020
Ultras: Among The World's Most Extreme Fans, with James Montague and Ros Urwin
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 also one of the largest youth movements in the world. In this episode, James Montague, author of '1312: Among the Ultras: A journey with the world's most extreme fans' speaks to Ros Urwin about how the movement began and how it grew to become a global phenomenon that now dominates stadiums across the world.
Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared.
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Apr 23, 2020
Coronavirus and the Stats: Your Questions Answered
Feeling confused by all the data and metrics about coronavirus that are flying around? In this episode, Britain’s most eminent statistician David Spiegelhalter, biometrics expert Sheila Bird, and the American scientist John Ioannidis, who has written that Covid-19 ‘might be a one-in-a-century evidence fiasco’. The conversation is chaired by Anne McElvoy of The Economist.
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Apr 20, 2020
Who We Listen To And Who We Don't, with Stephen Martin, Joseph Marks and Helen Lewis
Why are self-confident ignoramuses so often believed? Why are thoughtful experts so often given the cold shoulder? And why do apparently irrelevant details such as a person’s height, their relative wealth, or their Facebook photo influence whether or not we trust what they are saying? In this episode we are joined by Stephen Martin and Joseph Marks, behavioural scientists and authors of Messengers: Who We Listen To, Who We Don't, And Why, in conversation with Helen Lewis of The Atlantic.
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Apr 17, 2020
Coronavirus and the Economy: Your Questions Answered
What will the long-term economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic be?
For the fourth in a new series of interactive events from Intelligence Squared - Coronavirus: Your Questions Answered - we brought together a panel of leading experts in a free live online event to examine how Covid-19 will affect the economy around the world. How deep and long-lasting is the upcoming recession likely to be? Will the pandemic exacerbate inequality? Will we ever go back to business as usual or is the crisis an opportunity to introduce new systems and ways of thinking about the distribution of wealth?
Addressing these questions were global trade expert Shanker Singham, political economist Ann Pettifor and economics professor and co-host of the podcast Capitalisn't Luigi Zingales. Chairing the proceedings and taking questions from our live audience was BBC presenter Ritula Shah.
Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared.
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and…
Apr 14, 2020
Hype, Smoke and Mirrors, with Gemma Milne and Carl Miller
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, tech journalist and author of Smoke and Mirrors: How Hype Obscures the Future and How to See Past It, in conversation with Carl Miller of the think tank Demos.
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Apr 10, 2020
Coronavirus and Global Politics: Your Questions Answered
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 Intelligence Squared - Coronavirus: Your Questions Answered - we brought together a panel of leading commentators in a free live online event to examine how the crisis will affect politics around the world. Does the pandemic hail the return of big government? Will it prove to us that the globalised economy has gone too far, leaving us with dangerously overstretched supply chains? And will populist leaders be strengthened by the sense that the already dispossessed will be worst affected by the pandemic? Or will the indiscriminate nature of the virus help foster a new era of social and international solidarity?
Addressing these questions were Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and political commentator Anne Applebaum, author and journalist David Goodhart and political commentator and writer Paul Mason. Chairing the proceedings…
Apr 7, 2020
The Unravelling of the Modern Middle East, with Kim Ghattas and Brian Klaas
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 Unravelled the Middle East, this was the pivotal year that kickstarted a forty-year rivalry between Iran and Saudi Arabia, plunging the Middle East in turmoil. In this episode of the podcast, she examined this fascinating period of history with UCL political scientist Brian Klaas.
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Apr 3, 2020
Mind, Matter and Meaning, with Brian Greene and Tom Whipple
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 joined by Brian Greene, theoretical physicist and author of Until The End of Time, in conversation with Tom Whipple, science editor of The Times. They discuss quantum mechanics, consciousness and how life and mind emerged from the chaos of the universe's beginning.
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Mar 31, 2020
Coronavirus: Your Questions Answered
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 some other countries apparently been more successful at reducing the spread of the virus?
This episode is from a live online event that we staged on Friday March 27, and it features science broadcaster Xand Van Tulleken, epidemiologist David Heymann, economist Linda Yueh and disease control expert Bharat Pankhania.
Stay tuned for more information about online Intelligence Squared events.
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Mar 27, 2020
Coronavirus and Morality: Rabbi Jonathan Sacks and Ritula Shah in conversation
The UK's former Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks appears in this special episode of the Intelligence Squared podcast, recorded remotely while he self-isolates in his home. In an in-depth discussion with the BBC's Ritula Shah, he discusses how our society can restore its sense of morality and the common good during the coronavirus pandemic.
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Mar 24, 2020
A Century of Conflict, with Rashid Khalidi and Jonathan Freedland
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been raging for decades, with seemingly no end in sight. In this episode, we are joined by Rashid Khalidi, Palestinian-American historian and Edward Said Professor of Arab Studies at Columbia University. He is the author of a new book, titled The Hundred Years' War On Palestine, and in this episode he appears in conversation with The Guardian's Jonathan Freedland for a challenging examination of his perspective on the conflict.
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Mar 20, 2020
Radical Uncertainty, with Mervyn King, John Kay and Jesse Norman
In these incredibly uncertain times, we're exploring the concept of 'radical uncertainty' in this episode with Mervyn King, the former Governor of the Bank of England, alongside renowned economist John Kay and Jesse Norman MP. Mervyn and John are the co-authors of a new book titled Radical Uncertainty: Decision-Making Beyond the Numbers, and in this episode they discuss the most successful - and most short-sighted - methods of dealing with an unknowable future using history, mathematics, economics and philosophy.
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Mar 17, 2020
Kate Murphy and Ros Urwin on the Importance of Listening
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, we shape our personal narratives. At parties, we talk over one another. So do our politicians. We’re not listening. And no one is listening to us. This episode features Kate Murphy, the New York Times contributor and bestselling author of You're Not Listening, in conversation with Ros Urwin of the Sunday Times, on the importance of listening to us as a society and as individuals.
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Mar 13, 2020
Eighty Is The New Thirty: A Guide To Getting Older With Daniel Levitin and Camilla Cavendish
What are the most effective ways to keep our brains fit? Should we be learning a new language or using cognitive training apps? Should we ever retire? Will we soon be able to slow down the ageing process by taking special pills that work at the level of our DNA?
Unpacking these questions on this episode of the podcast is Daniel Levitin, neuroscientist and the bestselling author of The Changing Mind: A Neuroscientist’s Guide to Ageing Well, in conversation with the award-winning journalist and campaigner, Camilla Cavendish who has travelled the world interviewing leading experts for her book Extra Time: 10 Lessons for an Ageing World.
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Mar 9, 2020
One Of Them, with Michael Cashman and Razia Iqbal
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 titled One Of Them: From Albert Square to Parliament Square and in this episode of the podcast he was interviewed by Razia Iqbal of the BBC on his fascinating life and career, as well as the stirring history of the British LGBT rights movement.
Photo: Nikki Powell
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Mar 6, 2020
Difficult Women: The Defining Fights of Feminism, with Helen Lewis and Caroline Criado Perez
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 women’s rights have been whitewashed or forgotten because society likes its heroines to be cuddly and safe.
Lewis believes it’s time to reclaim the history of feminism as a history of difficult women, and on Tuesday February 25 she came to the Intelligence Squared stage to set out the arguments of her new book, Difficult Women: A History of Feminism in 11 Fights. She appeared in conversation with the feminist campaigner Caroline Criado Perez and BBC broadcaster Samira Ahmed.
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Mar 3, 2020
Why Myanmar Matters, with Thant Myint-U and Ros Urwin
In this episode we are joined by Thant Myint-U, the Burmese historian, former adviser to the President of Myanmar, and author of The Hidden History of Burma: Race, Capitalism, and the Crisis of Democracy in the 21st Century. In this podcast, Thant explores the fascinating history of Myanmar, and how after a promising period of hope following the end of military rule, the country spiralled into horrific intercommunal violence with the exodus of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees.
Photo credit: Thurein Aung
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Feb 28, 2020
Armando Iannucci, Jess Phillips and Jan Ravens on Satire in an Age of Absurdity
Has satire lost its power in this new world of fake news and ‘alternative facts’ - when our leaders lie so blatantly and frequently, and still manage to get away with it? Or is humour a more important tool than ever to hold those in power to account?
We were joined by celebrated comedy writer and producer Armando Iannucci, Labour MP Jess Phillips, and satirist and impressionist Jan Ravens to unpack these questions live on stage at the Union chapel in London.
The event was chaired by journalist, writer and broadcaster Samira Ahmed.
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Feb 25, 2020
How Humanity Can Survive the Climate Crisis, with Christiana Figueres and Ritula Shah
In this episode we are joined by Christiana Figueres, the former UN Executive Secretary for Climate Change who was one of the key negotiators behind the Paris Climate Agreement and is the co-author of a new book The Future We Choose. In this in-depth conversation with the BBC's Ritula Shah, Figueres gives us serious, practical and empowering advice for how we can stave off the worst and manage the long-term effects of climate change.
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Feb 21, 2020
To Stop Climate Collapse, We Must End Capitalism
According to some scientific predictions, human civilisation could completely collapse by 2050 if we don’t take drastic action to stop climate change now. So is capitalism responsible for the impending climate crisis, and should we abandon our economic system before it’s too late? Or is capitalism actually history’s most effective way of solving our problems - including the pressing challenge of climate change?
Arguing in favour of the motion "To Stop Climate Collapse, We Must End Capitalism" were Guardian journalist and polemicist George Monbiot and Extinction Rebellion's Farhana Yamin.
Arguing against the motion were Chair of the Energy Transitions Commission Adair Turner and sustainability adviser Tony Juniper.
The debate was chaired by BBC journalist and broadcaster Ritula Shah.
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Feb 17, 2020
More From Less, with Andrew McAfee and Hugo Lindgren
In this episode we are joined by Andrew McAfee, the co-director of the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy and author of More From Less: The Surprising Story of How We Learned to Prosper Using Fewer Resources. In an interview with journalist Hugo Lindgren, McAfee explores his counterintuitive theory of how we’re past the point of 'peak stuff'– because of the collaboration between technology and capitalism, it’ll take fewer resources to make things in the future, and cost less to lead a comfortable life.
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Feb 14, 2020
Zombie Economics, with Paul Krugman and Linda Yueh
In this episode we are joined by Paul Krugman, Nobel prize-winning economist and author of Arguing With Zombies: Economics, Politics and the Fight for a Better Future. In a conversation with economist and broadcaster Linda Yueh, Krugman debunks what he calls ‘zombie economics’ – the great economic misconceptions of our time that just won’t die.
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Feb 11, 2020
Social Mobility and Making It in Modern Britain, with Hashi Mohamed and Razia Iqbal
This episode is an exploration of social mobility and inequality in contemporary Britain, featuring Hashi Mohamed, author of People Like Us. Hashi came to the UK aged nine, a refugee from the Somali civil war. He attended some of the country's worst schools and was raised exclusively on state benefits. Yet today he is a successful barrister with an Oxford degree. In conversation with the BBC's Razia Iqbal, he looks back at his own experiences and asks what they can tell us about social mobility - or the lack of it - in Britain today.
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Feb 7, 2020
Trailblazers: Letters to my Younger Self
For the second installment of our Trailblazers series, Intelligence Squared has partnered with gal-dem to bring together a collection of outstanding women – and their letters – to our stage. They range from playwright Bonnie Greer and writer Afua Hirsch to footballer Eni Aluko and comedian Shappi Khorsandi. The event was chaired by BBC Radio 1 presenter Clara Amfo.
Gal-dem has a new podcast called Growing up with gal-dem which you can listen to here.
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Feb 4, 2020
The Power of the Scrum, with JJ Sutherland and Hugo Lindgren
In this episode, we are joined by JJ Sutherland, the business expert and author of The Scrum Fieldbook. In conversation with the journalist Hugo Lindgren, he explores his ideas for how the world of business can be transformed through a set of practices known as Scrum, which focuses on rapid innovation and quick-fire decision-making, and has immediate relevance for every organisation on Earth.
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Jan 31, 2020
Debate: There’s Not Much Great About Britain
In this episode, our panel of top speakers battle it out over whether Brits should be proud or ashamed of their country. Is the phrase 'Great Britain' an oxymoron, or is Britain one of the world's most free, open and tolerant societies, therefore making it the best place to live in the world? Listen to this debate, hear the arguments and make up your mind.
Arguing in favour of the motion There's Not Much Great About Britain were Peter Hitchens, columnist for the Mail on Sunday, author and broadcaster; and Will Self, novelist, broadcaster and literary critic.
Arguing against the motion were Kate Hoey, former Labour MP for Vauxhall; and Sayeeda Warsi, Conservative member of the House of Lords.
The debate was chaired by Anthony Seldon, historian and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Buckingham.
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Jan 28, 2020
The 'Desk Killers' of History, with Dan Gretton and Ros Urwin
In this episode we are joined by Dan Gretton, the author of I You We Them: Journeys Beyond Evil: The Desk Killer in History and Today. In an interview with Ros Urwin of The Sunday Times, he explores the psychology behind some of the least visible perpetrators of crimes against humanity in history — the banal and bureaucratic ‘desk killers’ who ordered and directed some of the worst atrocities of the last two hundred years.
In the second half of the episode Dan Gretton makes reference to a map of the Auschwitz chemical plant, which can be seen here: http://bit.ly/3aNZZc7.
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Jan 24, 2020
BJ Fogg on Redesigning Habits and Human Behaviour
BJ Fogg is a pioneering research psychologist and founder of the iconic Behavior Design Lab at Stanford which has taught everyone from the founders of Instagram to the leading technology ethicist Tristan Harris. In this episode Fogg speaks to Carl Miller about his new book Tiny Habits, how he cracked the code of habit formation and the potential dangers of unleashing behaviour design on the world.
See more about the book here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Best-Sellers-Books/zgbs/books
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Jan 21, 2020
The Philosophy of Polar Exploration, with Erling Kagge and Razia Iqbal
Erling Kagge, author of Philosophy for Polar Explorers, was the first man in history to reach all of the Earth's poles by foot – the North, the South, and the summit of Everest. In this interview with the BBC’s Razia Iqbal, he brings together the wisdom and expertise he has gained from the expeditions that have taken him to the limits of the earth and to the limits of human endurance.
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Jan 17, 2020
There Is No Planet B, with Mike Berners-Lee and Matthew Taylor
In this episode we were joined by Mike Berners-Lee, the climate change expert and author of There Is No Planet B: A Handbook For The Make Or Break Years. He was interviewed by Matthew Taylor of the RSA in a discussion on the real, concrete steps that we can all take to reduce our contributions to climate change and the destruction of the planet.
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Jan 14, 2020
Former UK Labour Deputy Leader Tom Watson Discusses How He Beat Obesity, and the Long Road Ahead for Labour
In this episode we were joined by Tom Watson, the Deputy Leader of the UK Labour Party who only recently stood down at last year's general election. He is now the author of a new book Downsizing: How I Lost 8 Stone, Reversed My Diabetes and Regained My Health, and in this wide-ranging interview with Ros Urwin he talks about his successful battle against obesity and diabetes, what this might mean for the global obesity epidemic, and how Labour might become electable again.
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Jan 10, 2020
The Wonders of Nanotechnology, with Sonia Contera and Tom Whipple
In this episode we were joined by Sonia Contera, Professor of Biological Physics at the University of Oxford and the author of Nano Comes to Life: How Nanotechnology Is Transforming Medicine and the Future of Biology. In a wide-ranging conversation with Tom Whipple, the science editor at The Times, she explored the rapidly evolving nanotechnologies that are allowing us to manipulate the very building blocks of life, giving us radical control over our own biology.
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Jan 7, 2020
Fighting Back Against Big Tech, with Rana Foroohar and Ros Urwin
In this episode we were joined by Rana Foroohar, FT global business columnist and author of Don't Be Evil: The Case Against Big Tech, alongside Ros Urwin of the Sunday Times.
According to Foroohar, Silicon Valley has lost its soul, and the tech behemoths like Google, Facebook, Apple, and Amazon are monetising both our data and our attention without us seeing a penny of those exorbitant profits. These companies have become rapacious monopolies with the power to corrupt our elections, co-opt all our data, and control the largest single chunk of corporate wealth — while evading all semblance of regulation and taxes. And in Foroohar's view, they must be held to account.
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Jan 2, 2020
Old World vs New World: The Great Wine Debate, with Oz Clarke and Jancis Robinson
France, Italy, Spain, Germany: these are the ancient Old World wine-growing regions of Europe, where continuity and history reign supreme. California, Australia, South Africa and Chile: these are some of the New World areas, where technology and science trump tradition. Old World wines tend to be light-bodied, with herbal, mineral and floral components. New World wines, thanks to warmer climates, are generally full-bodied, fruity and higher in alcohol. But which wines are the greater? To battle it out, Intelligence Squared brought together two of the UK’s most celebrated wine experts for this major debate.
Fighting for the tradition and terroir of the Old World was Jancis Robinson, wine correspondent of the Financial Times and the first person outside the wine trade to qualify as a Master of Wine.
Fighting for the modernising spirit of the New World was Oz Clarke, the last winner of the World Wine Tasting Championship, and the youngest ever British Wine Taster of the Year.
The d…
Dec 30, 2019
Privacy in an Age of Surveillance, with James Bennet and Jamie Bartlett
In this episode we were joined by The New York Times' editorial page editor James Bennet, to discuss the The New York Times' fascinating new editorial project, The Privacy Project. James was interviewed on the project by tech journalist Jamie Bartlett.
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Dec 26, 2019
The Education of an Idealist, with Samantha Power and Helen Lewis
In this episode we were joined by Samantha Power, the former United States Ambassador to the United Nations under President Obama from 2013 to 2017 and author of a new book The Education of an Idealist. She was interviewed on her fascinating career in American diplomacy by Helen Lewis.
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Dec 23, 2019
The West Should Make Amends With Putin
Is it high time for a rapprochement with Putin? As the transatlantic alliance flounders and Britain wallows in Brexit psychodrama, Europe can no longer afford to keep Russian relations strained. In fact, a detente is now a geopolitical necessity. Containment policies may have made sense under Obama, but with an erratic Trump in the White House, rapidly ceding influence to Putin in the Middle East, Russia is now a major global actor – and a vital European partner. The Kremlin has steered the Syrian war and co-opted Turkey and Iran in the process. Its cooperation is paramount in establishing stability in the region, and in quashing ISIS. To maintain sanctions and froideur against Russia threatens our own security — as well as crucial infrastructure projects like Nordstream 2. And with an ascendant China eyeing up its neighbour, it’s clearly in Europe’s interest to follow Macron’s lead and try to pivot Putin back towards the West.
Hang on, say Putin’s critics. H…
Dec 20, 2019
HOLIDAY BONUS: The Year in Review
As 2019 comes to a close, the Intelligence Squared team look back at some of their highlights from the year, both on the Intelligence Squared stage and on the podcast. They feature clips from big in conversation events with the likes of Thomas Friedman and Salman Rushdie to debating whether the West should cut ties with Saudi Arabia, to cultural events exploring letters that changed the world.
Join us for this holiday special and let us know what you think by rating and reviewing us on Apple Podcasts. We are particularly keen to know what your highlights of Intelligence Squared in 2019 have been - and what you would be interested in us covering in 2020.
Happy holidays from the Intelligence Squared team!
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Dec 17, 2019
Chris Wylie on Whistleblowing the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal
This episode features an interview from How I Found My Voice, another podcast by Intelligence Squared. Presented by the prominent BBC journalist Samira Ahmed, the podcast explores how some of the world's greatest artists and thinkers became such compelling – and unique – communicators.
In this episode Samira speaks to the Cambridge Analytica whistleblower, Chris Wylie, about data micro-targeting, leaking documents that led to the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica data scandal and the part he played in developing technologies that can help shape election results.
Subscribe to How I Found My Voice and listen to more episodes here: https://bit.ly/2XpFPyM
Season 2 of How I Found My Voice is proudly supported by THE OUT, innovative car rental powered by Jaguar Land Rover.
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Dec 13, 2019
Intelligent Times: Willem Dafoe on Adventure, Artistry and a Life in the Movies
Intelligent Times is a live event series collaboration between The New York Times and Intelligence Squared, bringing together leading New York Times journalists and thought leaders to discuss the key issues facing the globe today.
Willem Dafoe is internationally respected for bringing versatility and boldness to some of the most celebrated films of our time. His artistic curiosity in exploring the human condition leads him to projects all over the world, large and small, Hollywood films as well as independent cinema.
Dafoe came to our stage in December 2019. In conversation with Matthew Anderson, European culture editor of The New York Times, he discussed his long and varied career and his upcoming film, The Lighthouse, a black and white metafiction in which he stars alongside Robert Pattinson.
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Dec 10, 2019
Learning to Speak Machine, with John Maeda and Ros Urwin
John Maeda is one of the world's preeminent interdisciplinary thinkers on technology and design, and the author of How to Speak Machine. In this episode of the Intelligence Squared podcast, in conversation with Ros Urwin he explores a set of simple laws and guidelines that govern not only the computers of today, but the unimaginable machines of the future.
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Dec 6, 2019
Conquerors and Liberators: War Leaders Who Shaped Our World
Managing a successful Premier League football team or a major company takes extraordinary fortitude and foresight. But try leading a nation of millions – and then persuading them to follow you into war, with all the pain and sacrifice that entails. That’s real leadership.
So what makes for a wartime leader? This question has fascinated historian Andrew Roberts for decades and prompted him to write his latest book Leadership in War. In November 2019 Roberts was joined by Jeremy Paxman for a fascinating discussion about the qualities demonstrated by wartime generals and heads of state throughout history. All were driven by a sense of mission and an unconquerable self-belief, whether, as in Winston Churchill’s case, it stemmed from an upbringing that emphasised his right to lead and rule, or, as with Margaret Thatcher, it was the realisation that she could lead in a way that the men around her seemed incapable of doing.
We tend to think of leadership as an inherently good thin…
Dec 3, 2019
Ken Clarke: The Big Beast of British Politics
After 49 years as a Conservative MP, Ken Clarke will be stepping down at the UK general election on December 12. In this episode of the Intelligence Squared podcast – staged just ten days before the election – Clarke came to the Intelligence Squared stage where, in conversation with John Humphrys, who recently stepped down as presenter of Radio 4’s Today programme, he reflected on his many years in politics and the twists and turns of the Brexit saga that have brought him to the curious position he is in today.
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Nov 29, 2019
Yanis Varoufakis and Brian Eno on Money, Power and a Call for Radical Change
The liberal order is under threat. Increasing inequality, the rise of far-right nationalism and the climate emergency pose unprecedented challenges. It’s time for some radical thinking.
In November 2019 Intelligence Squared brought to its stage two of the world’s great radicals – Yanis Varoufakis, the former Greek finance minister known for his trademark leather jacket, motorbike and self-described erratic Marxism, and legendary music producer Brian Eno, known for his progressive politics and human rights activism.
The evening was chaired by BBC journalist and broadcaster Ritula Shah.
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Nov 26, 2019
Richard Branson: How I Found My Voice
This is an episode from the second series of How I Found My Voice, a podcast from Intelligence Squared. Presented by the prominent BBC journalist Samira Ahmed, the podcast explores how some of the world's greatest artists and thinkers became such compelling – and unique – communicators.
In this episode Samira speaks to business mogul Sir Richard Branson about becoming a serial entrepreneur developing the Virgin brand, signing some of the biggest names in music and the next frontiers of space travel.
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Photo credit: Visual Eye.
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Nov 22, 2019
P.J. O’Rourke and Lionel Shriver on the Battle for the White House
This episode was from one of our live Intelligence Squared events, featuring satirist P. J. O’Rourke and bestselling author Lionel Shriver. They joined us for a night of withering satire, relentless ridicule and sharp political insight in a discussion chaired by Razia Iqbal of the BBC.
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Nov 18, 2019
Naomi Klein on Climate Change, Extinction Rebellion & the case for a Green New Deal
This is an episode from the second series of How I Found My Voice, a podcast from Intelligence Squared. Presented by the prominent BBC journalist Samira Ahmed, the podcast explores how some of the world's greatest artists and thinkers became such compelling – and unique – communicators.
In this episode Samira speaks to the journalist, social activist and New York Times best-selling author Naomi Klein about growing up in a politically active family, being at the forefront of protest movements, the case for a Green New Deal and her views on Extinction Rebellion.
Subscribe to How I Found My Voice and listen to more episodes here: https://bit.ly/2XpFPyM
Season 2 is proudly supported by THE OUT, innovative car rental powered by Jaguar Land Rover. Photo credit: Kourosh Keshiri.
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Nov 15, 2019
Intelligent Times: Dean Baquet and Simon Schama on Trump, Politics and The Future of News
Earlier this week we were joined by executive editor of The New York Times Dean Baquet and historian Sir Simon Schama for an examination of the role of the media in today’s increasingly polarised politics. Baquet is the first African-American editor of the world’s most influential news organisation. Schama, as well as being a celebrated author and television presenter, is a prolific political and social commentator, writing for leading international newspapers and journals.
Baquet took us deep inside the decision-making process at The New York Times at a moment of unprecedented tension between the White House and the American press. How does he make sure his staff adhere to the rules of impartiality when they are themselves the targets of the Trump administration’s attacks? What pressure has the White House brought to bear on reporters and editors? How is The New York Times, and the press in general, coping with that pressure?
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Nov 12, 2019
The Survival of Democracy in Eastern Europe, with Ivan Krastev, Timothy Garton Ash and Brian Klaas
In November 1989, 30 years ago this month, the collapse of the Berlin Wall ushered in a new era of democracy in Eastern Europe. But today, with populist strongmen like Orban in Hungary and Kaczyński in Poland on the rise, the future of democracy in the region looks uncertain.
In this episode we were joined by Ivan Krastev, the Bulgarian political scientist and co-author of The Light That Failed and Oxford University's Timothy Garton Ash, who wrote The Magic Lantern, a book about the 1989 revolutions in Eastern Europe which came out thirty years ago this year. The conversation was moderated by Brian Klaas, the political scientist, Washington Post columnist and author of The Despot's Apprentice.
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Nov 8, 2019
The Poetry Pharmacy Returns with William Sieghart and Sarah Dunant
William Sieghart’s The Poetry Pharmacy: Tried-and-True Prescriptions for the Heart, Mind and Soul was one of the publishing sensations of the past few years. Anyone who came to the event Intelligence Squared built around it – when Jeanette Winterson, Helena Bonham Carter, Jason Isaacs, Sue Perkins and Tom Burke joined Sieghart in celebrating the power of poetry – will remember what a magical evening it was.
Now, after huge demand, Sieghart is back with a second volume – The Poetry Pharmacy Returns – and once again Intelligence Squared brought it to all to life on stage. Whether your spiritual ailment is loneliness, heartache or anxiety, Sieghart has a poem to meet your needs. He was joined in conversation by acclaimed novelist and broadcaster Sarah Dunant. With their signature warmth and wit, they discussed poems from the new book, each one matched to a particular problem, whether it’s unrequited love, fear of the unknown or feeling daunted by the challenges of famil…
Nov 5, 2019
How I Found My Voice: Michael Palin
This is an episode from the second series of How I Found My Voice, a podcast from Intelligence Squared. Presented by the prominent BBC journalist Samira Ahmed, the podcast explores how some of the world's greatest artists and thinkers became such compelling – and unique – communicators.
In this episode Samira speaks to the actor, writer and comedian Michael Palin. Part of the legendary Monty Python comedy group, Palin has helped shape British comedy on our TV screens. From growing up with a father who stuttered to finding his comedy partners and travelling the world, Palin speaks about the moments that shaped and inspired his voice.
Season 2 is proudly supported by THE OUT, innovative car rental powered by Jaguar Land Rover. Photo credit: John Swannell.
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Nov 1, 2019
Intelligent Times: Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey on Breaking the Harvey Weinstein Story
Intelligent Times is a live event series collaboration between The New York Times and Intelligence Squared, bringing together leading New York Times journalists and thought leaders to discuss the key issues facing the globe today.
On October 5th 2017, The New York Times published a story that helped set off a change in the relationship between men and women in the workplace and beyond. The piece, by Pulitzer Prize-winning reporters Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey, broke the story of the Harvey Weinstein sexual misconduct allegations. Within days, women were coming forward with their own stories of harassment and abuse, igniting the global #MeToo movement. For the launch of our new series, “Intelligent Times” – a partnership between Intelligence Squared and The New York Times – we brought Kantor and Twohey to London for the first time since the story was published.
They were joined on stage by three of the women who broke their long-buried silence over the Harvey Weinstein sexual…
Oct 28, 2019
The Gendered Brain Myth, with Daphna Joel and Rosamund Urwin
In this episode of the Intelligence Squared podcast we were joined by the Israeli neuroscientist Daphna Joel, author of Gender Mosaic: Beyond the Myth of the Male and Female Brain. In conversation with Ros Urwin of The Sunday Times, she outlined her theory that our most foundational assumptions about gender are based on a myth - that women and men's brains are fundamentally different.
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Oct 24, 2019
John Humphrys: The Terrier of Today, in conversation with Justin Webb
Earlier this month, as John Humphrys stepped down after 32 years at Today and published a long-awaited memoir, A Day Like Today, he came to the Intelligence Squared stage to give an exclusive, behind-the-scenes account of his extraordinary career.
Turning the tables on him and pitching the questions was his former Today colleague Justin Webb.
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Oct 21, 2019
The Battle Over Gender, Race and Identity with Douglas Murray and Anne McElvoy
In this episode we were joined by the conservative thinker Douglas Murray, whose new book The Madness of Crowds examines this century's most divisive issues: sexuality, gender, technology and race. He was interviewed on his ideas by Anne McElvoy, Senior Editor at The Economist and head of Economist Radio.
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Oct 17, 2019
Trailblazers: Women Leading the Way
Women of colour have to navigate a world of work where they are often discriminated against because of their race as well as their gender. But despite the challenges, they are increasingly making their way to the top and carving out a new ‘normal’ for younger generations. To celebrate their success and share how they got there, Intelligence Squared partnered with gal-dem, an award-winning media platform that spotlights the creative work of women of colour and non-binary people of colour, to bring together pioneers from the worlds of media, politics and culture.
We were joined by Diane Abbott, Shadow Home Secretary and Labour MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington; Yomi Adegoke, Award-winning journalist; Corinne Bailey Rae, Award-winning singer-songwriter and musician; Bernardine Evaristo, author and Professor of Creative Writing at Brunel University, who earlier this week became the first black woman to win the Booker Prize; and Mishal Husain, Presenter of BBC Radio 4’s Today…
Oct 14, 2019
The Underworld of the High Seas, with Ian Urbina and Razia Iqbal
In this episode of the Intelligence Squared podcast we were joined by the renowned investigative journalist Ian Urbina, who has a new book titled The Outlaw Ocean: Journeys Across the Last Untamed Frontier. In a conversation with the BBC's Razia Iqbal, he explored a vast, lawless and rampantly criminal world that few have ever encountered - on international waters.
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Oct 10, 2019
Speeches and Letters That Changed The World, With Simon Sebag Montefiore and Kate Mosse
At the 2019 Cliveden Literary Festival, Intelligence Squared brought together historian Simon Sebag Montefiore and novelist Kate Mosse to discuss some of the speeches and letters in Sebag’s latest books Voices of History and Written in History. Bringing it all to life on our stage were the actors Jade Anouka, Alex Macqueen and Natascha McElhone.
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Oct 7, 2019
The Social Media Addiction-Machine, with Richard Seymour and Jamie Bartlett
In this week's episode we were joined by Richard Seymour, the Marxist intellectual and author of The Twittering Machine, a book which uses psychoanalytic reflection and insights from users, developers, and security experts to examine the dystopian consequences of our relationship with social media. He was interviewed by the journalist and tech expert Jamie Bartlett.
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Oct 3, 2019
The West Should Pay Reparations For Slavery
This week's podcast was a live debate on the motion 'The West Should Pay Reparations For Slavery'.
Should there be a broad programme of reparations – not just financial compensation, but acknowledgement of the crimes committed and the lasting damage caused by slavery? Or would this just worsen social tensions by reopening old wounds?
Arguing for the motion were Kehinde Andrews, Professor of Black Studies at Birmingham City University; and Esther Stanford-Xosei, reparations activist and lawyer.
Arguing against the motion were Katharine Birbalsingh, headmistress and co-founder of Michaela Community School in London; and Tony Sewell, educational consultant and CEO of the charity Generating Genius.
The debate was chaired by social historian and presenter Emma Dabiri.
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Sep 30, 2019
Satire, Boris and Brexit with Ian McEwan and Razia Iqbal
In this week’s episode of the Intelligence Squared podcast we were joined by the acclaimed novelist Ian McEwan. He was interviewed by the BBC’s Razia Iqbal to discuss his new satirical novella The Cockroach, in which a man wakes up one morning having been transformed into a giant creature who happens to be the most powerful man in Britain.
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Sep 26, 2019
Parliament’s War of Words: Women in Power, with Mary Beard, Rachel Reeves and Sandip Verma
With tensions running high this week in the U.K. Houses of Parliament over Brexit and allegations about PM Boris Johnson's use of inflammatory language, Intelligence Squared staged an event with Labour MP Rachel Reeves, Conservative member of the House of Lords Sandip Verma, celebrated classicist Mary Beard and journalist Helen Lewis. They discussed the divisions in Parliament and around the country, and how women can negotiate political power in what remains in many ways a man’s world.
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Sep 23, 2019
How I Found My Voice: Benjamin Zephaniah
This is an episode from a new podcast strand launched by Intelligence Squared called How I Found My Voice. Presented by the prominent BBC journalist Samira Ahmed, the podcast explores how some of the world's greatest artists and thinkers became such compelling – and unique – communicators.
In this episode Samira Ahmed speaks to poet and activist Benjamin Zephaniah. From racist attacks and police brutality to receiving a letter from Bob Marley telling him that Britain needs him, Zephaniah talks about the moments that shaped and inspired his voice.
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Sep 19, 2019
The Mindfulness Myth, with Ronald Purser and Helen Lewis
Mindfulness – the psychological practice of bringing one's attention to the present moment through meditation – has gone mainstream. It has been enthusiastically co-opted by Silicon Valley and other large corporations as well as schools, governments and even the U.S. military.
But what if, instead of changing the world, mindfulness has become a banal form of capitalist spirituality that mindlessly avoids social and political transformation, reinforcing the status quo? That's the view of Ronald Purser, Professor of Management at San Francisco State University, Buddhist practitioner and author of McMindfulness. In this episode of the Intelligence Squared podcast, he was interviewed by Helen Lewis of The Atlantic on his radical critique of the mindfulness industry.
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Sep 16, 2019
How I Found My Voice: Elif Shafak
This is an episode from a new podcast strand launched by Intelligence Squared called How I Found My Voice. Presented by the prominent BBC journalist Samira Ahmed, the podcast explores how some of the world's greatest artists and thinkers became such compelling – and unique – communicators.
Samira Ahmed speaks to bestselling Turkish novelist Elif Shafak. From keeping a childhood diary and learning different languages to being taken to court on charges of 'insulting Turkishness' through the words of her fictional characters, Shafak talks about the moments that shaped and inspired her voice.
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Sep 12, 2019
An Evening With Salman Rushdie
Salman Rushdie is one of the world’s greatest storytellers. He came to the Intelligence Squared stage to discuss his career, his life and his new novel Quichotte with the BBC’s Razia Iqbal. The book is a wild ride through modern America — a society on the verge of moral and spiritual collapse — and examines racism, father–son relationships, the opioid crisis, cyber-spies and the end of the world.
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Sep 9, 2019
How I Found My Voice: Lyse Doucet
This is an episode from a new podcast strand launched by Intelligence Squared called How I Found My Voice. Presented by the prominent BBC journalist Samira Ahmed, the podcast explores how some of the world's greatest artists and thinkers became such compelling – and unique – communicators.
In this episode Samira speaks to the BBC's Chief International Correspondent Lyse Doucet. Renowned as a foreign correspondent in some of the toughest war zones in the past thirty years, Doucet speaks about the moments that shaped her voice from growing up in a small Canadian town to reporting from the front lines in Afghanistan, Syria and Yemen.
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Sep 5, 2019
The Politics of Video Games, with Pete Etchells and Ros Urwin
Are video games harmful to society? Recently the World Health Organisation classified 'gaming disorder' as a clinical mental health disorder and a danger to public health. But how real is the threat of video game addiction, and what about the potential benefits that gaming can bring to all of us? In this episode of the Intelligence Squared podcast we were joined by Pete Etchells, researcher into the psychological effects of video games and author of Lost In A Good Game: Why We Play Video Games and What They Can Do For Us. He was interviewed by Ros Urwin of The Sunday Times.
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Sep 1, 2019
How I Found My Voice: Philip Pullman
This is an episode from a new podcast strand launched by Intelligence Squared called How I Found My Voice. Presented by the prominent BBC journalist Samira Ahmed, the podcast explores how some of the world's greatest artists and thinkers became such compelling – and unique – communicators.
In this episode, Samira speaks to the best-selling author Sir Philip Pullman, most famous for the acclaimed His Dark Materials fantasy trilogy. From reading Rudyard Kipling as a child to discovering the power of poetry and how to be a storyteller as a teacher, they discuss the moments that shaped and inspired his voice.
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Aug 29, 2019
The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, with Shoshana Zuboff and Rosamund Urwin
We live in an age of "surveillance capitalism" - where technologies that were meant to liberate us have deepened inequality and stoked divisions. Big tech companies gather our information online and sell it to the highest bidder, and entire industries now depend not only on predicting our behaviour but modifying it too.
That's the view of Shoshana Zuboff, Harvard professor and author of The Age of Surveillance Capitalism. In this week's episode of the Intelligence Squared podcast she was interviewed by Rosamund Urwin on the risks to our freedoms in this new era of human civilisation.
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Aug 26, 2019
How I Found My Voice: Mark Millar
This is an episode from a new podcast strand launched by Intelligence Squared called How I Found My Voice. Presented by the prominent BBC journalist Samira Ahmed, the podcast explores how some of the world's greatest artists and thinkers became such compelling – and unique – communicators.
This episode's guest is the best-selling comic-writer Mark Millar, most famous for creating and inspiring the Hollywood blockbusters Captain America: Civil War, Kingsman and Kick-Ass. From growing up in a small Scottish town to discovering Superman as a child and pursuing a career at Marvel and Netflix, Millar talks about the moments that shaped and inspired his voice.
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Aug 23, 2019
Ibram X. Kendi and Razia Iqbal on How To Be An Antiracist
What's the difference between being merely non-racist and being an antiracist? And what will it take to completely uproot racism from our societies, institutions and our own selves? In this episode were were joined by Ibram X. Kendi, the founding director of the Antiracism Research and Policy Center at American University and author of How To Be an Antiracist. He was interviewed by BBC presenter Razia Iqbal.
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Aug 15, 2019
Michael Pollan and Xand Van Tulleken on the New Science of Psychedelics
In this episode of the Intelligence Squared podcast we were joined by the acclaimed food writer Michael Pollan, whose most recent book How To Change Your Mind is a deep dive into the world of psychedelic drugs and what they can teach us about consciousness, dying, addiction, depression and transcendence. He was interviewed by the doctor and science broadcaster Xand Van Tulleken.
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Aug 8, 2019
Nessa Carey and Xand Van Tulleken on How Gene Editing Will Rewrite Our Futures
In this week's episode of the Intelligence Squared podcast we were joined by Nessa Carey, the molecular biologist and author of Hacking The Code Of Life. She was interviewed by the doctor and TV presenter Xand Van Tulleken in a wide-ranging discussion on the ethical and social implications for the revolutionary new tools scientists have developed to edit our genes.
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Aug 1, 2019
Chris Hirst and Helen Lewis on No Bullsh*t Leadership
In this week's episode of the Intelligence Squared podcast we were joined by Chris Hirst, Global CEO for the advertising company Havas Creative Network and author of No Bullsh*t Leadership: Why the World Needs More Everyday Leaders and Why That Leader Is You. He was interviewed by The Atlantic staff writer Helen Lewis on his own unique philosophy for running a business.
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Jul 25, 2019
Mark Galeotti and Edward Lucas on what the West gets wrong about Putin
In this episode of the Intelligence Squared podcast we were joined by Mark Galeotti, Russia expert and author of We Need to Talk About Putin. He was interviewed by Edward Lucas of The Times in an in-depth examination of the Russian President who is one of the world's most powerful politicians – who is the real Vladimir Putin? What does he want? And what will he do next?
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Jul 18, 2019
Paul Mason and Jesse Norman on a Revolutionary Defence of Humanity
In this week's episode of the Intelligence Squared podcast, the left-wing economics journalist Paul Mason was interviewed by the Conservative MP Jesse Norman. They discussed Mason's vision for a utopian future, which he sets out in his new book Clear Bright Future.
According to Mason, the notion of humanity has been eroded as never before by the forces of populism, big data and untrammelled corporate power. Nevertheless, he believes that we are capable of shaping our future, and offers a vision of humans as more than puppets, customers or cogs in a machine.
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Jul 11, 2019
Old Testament vs New Testament: Passion, Poetry and the World’s Greatest Stories
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 then there’s the New Testament, with its account of the life of Jesus, the Good Samaritan, the raising of Lazarus and the feeding of the five thousand. Whatever our creed or background, these stories are embedded in our consciousness. They inform our everyday speech and much of our art, music and literature – from Cranach’s depiction of Adam and Eve to C.S. Lewis’s Narnia stories and Stormzy’s ‘Blinded By Your Grace’.
Together the Old Testament and the New Testament make up the Holy Bible. The Old Testament contains the sacred scriptures of the Jewish faith, while Christianity draws on both Old and New Testaments, interpreting the New Testament as the fulfilment of the prophecies of the Old. But which of these books is the greater?
Arguing in favour of the Old Testament were novelist Howard Jacobson and writer Anne Atkins.…
Jul 4, 2019
Jeffrey Sachs on the End of American Supremacy
Last month we were joined onstage by the University of Columbia economics professor Jeffrey Sachs, as he laid out his radical new vision for U.S. foreign policy. Instead of a world where America reigns as the sole superpower, Sachs argued for a new international system of equals, where America shares power and collaborates with former geopolitical rivals to solve today’s global crises.
Sachs was in conversation with the BBC’s Chief International Correspondent Lyse Doucet.
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Jun 27, 2019
Mark Zuckerberg on Trial: Facebook is Damaging Society
According to his critics, Mark Zuckerberg presides over a company which is undermining our basic freedoms. But should we give him the benefit of the doubt as he seeks to rebuild the world’s trust in Facebook?
Defending Zuckerberg we had Dex Torricke-Barton, Zuckerberg's former speechwriter, alongside Ed Vaizey MP. They were up against the tech commentator Nina Schick and Damian Collins MP, the head of the UK Parliament's Digital Select Committee. The debate was chaired by Helen Lewis of the Atlantic.
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Jun 20, 2019
Anti-Zionism is Anti-Semitism
Is there a country in the world that attracts so much criticism as Israel? Studies consistently show Israel to be one of the most disliked nations in the world (along with Iran and North Korea). But how much of this is to do with genuine concern about Israel’s actions, and how much is actually a cover for the age-old hatred of the Jews?
In this week's podcast Mehdi Hasan of The Intercept and the Israeli historian Ilan Pappe go head to head against Times columnist Melanie Phillips and Israeli former Member of the Knesset Einat Wilf.
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Jun 13, 2019
The Revolt Against The Rich, with Anand Giridharadas and Anne McElvoy
Thought-leaders, change agents, the new philanthropists. These are some of the terms used to describe rich and powerful figures who talk publicly and enthusiastically about their efforts to build a better world. But to Anand Giridharadas — Editor-at-Large at TIME magazine and author of Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World — the global elite actually have very little interest in changing a system that has been rigged to keep power and wealth in the hands of the select few.
Giridharadas came to the Intelligence Squared stage to explain what he calls the charade whereby wealthy CEOs, political leaders and do-gooder celebrities fight for equality and justice any way they can – except in ways that threaten the social order and their position at its pinnacle. He showed how they rebrand themselves as saviours of the poor, while doing nothing that will address the devastating effects of today’s unparalleled wealth and income inequality.
Why, Giridharadas aske…
Jun 6, 2019
The Daily: The Rise of Nationalism Across the Globe
In this week's podcast, we hosted a live conversation from "The Daily", The New York Times' flagship podcast. In an event in partnership with The New York Times, we were joined by the podcast's host Michael Barbaro, as well as Berlin Bureau Chief Katrin Bennhold, London-based International Correspondent Ellen Barry, Executive Producer Theo Balcomb and Producer Clare Toeniskoetter for a conversation about the implications of the nationalist undercurrent currently sweeping across Europe.
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May 30, 2019
Identity Politics Is Tearing Society Apart
Is identity politics, with its emphasis on gender, ethnicity and sexual orientation, sowing division? Or is it a call for social justice for everyone? On 22nd May 2019 we were joined by a panel of experts to debate the motion "Identity Politics Is Tearing Society Apart".
Arguing in favour of the motion were Trevor Phillips, Founding chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, and Lionel Shriver, novelist and journalist.
Against the motion were Dawn Foster, Guardian columnist and staff writer for Jacobin magazine, and David Lammy, Labour MP for Tottenham and a campaigner for social justice.
The debate was chaired by Kamal Ahmed, Editorial director of BBC News and former BBC economics editor.
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May 23, 2019
The Victorians Who Made Britain: Jacob Rees-Mogg vs Tristram Hunt
For Jacob Rees-Mogg the 19th century was a golden era. It was a time of moral certainty, of a global vision for Great Britain, and a confidence in the essential goodness of our great nation. And it is a period of history that offers us guidance as we collectively seek a way forward for Britain in these confusing times. In a new book Rees-Mogg celebrates twelve prominent figures from the Victorian era, including the statesmen Palmerston, Peel, Gladstone and Disraeli, two military leaders, Napier and Gordon, and of course Victoria herself and her consort Albert. Rees-Mogg salutes the Victorians’ drive and reforming zeal – to lower the cost of food, reform the prison system and abolish the slave trade. They bequeathed us a stable democracy, the rule of law and freedom of speech, which led to the stable and prosperous state we enjoy today, Rees-Mogg argues. There is much that we can emulate in the Victorians’ sense of duty and self-belief.
While few would deny that the modern age…
May 16, 2019
Jennifer Eberhardt and Razia Iqbal on the Psychology of Racial Bias
For this week's episode of the Intelligence Squared podcast we were joined by Jennifer Eberhardt, Social Psychologist at Stanford University and author of Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think, and Do. In a wide-ranging interview by the BBC's Razia Iqbal, she explored the science behind the hidden prejudices that shape racial inequality around the world.
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May 9, 2019
Eric Kaufmann and Razia Iqbal on the End of White Majorities
In this week's podcast we were joined by Eric Kaufmann, Birkbeck politics professor and author of Whiteshift: Populism, Immigration and the Future of White Majorities, in conversation with the BBC's Razia Iqbal. In a challenging and wide-ranging conversation, they discussed how demographic shifts are transforming our politics, and what we should do about it.
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May 2, 2019
Steven Pinker and David Runciman on Optimism, Enlightenment and Progress
In this episode of the Intelligence Squared podcast we were joined by Steven Pinker, cognitive psychologist and author of Enlightenment Now, in conversation with Cambridge University's David Runciman. They discussed the advances made in our societies over the last several hundred years, and whether optimism makes sense in today's turbulent times.
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Apr 25, 2019
Adam Higginbotham and Evan Ratliff on the Untold Story of Chernobyl
In this episode of the Intelligence Squared podcast, released on the 33rd anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, journalist and author Evan Ratliff was joined by Adam Higginbotham, author of Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster.
Higginbotham and Ratliff, talking at Acast's studio in New York, explore the political and social environment that allowed such an unprecedented human and environmental catastrophe, examining the disaster through the eyes of the men and women who lived through it. And Higginbotham explains how the disaster and its aftermath – along with the Soviet government's wholly inadequate response – might ultimately have hastened the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Adam Higginbotham picture: Peter Eavis.
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Apr 18, 2019
Julia Shaw and Rosamund Urwin on the Science Behind Humanity's Dark Side
In this episode of the Intelligence Squared podcast we were joined by Julia Shaw the psychologist and author of Making Evil, alongside Rosamund Urwin of the Sunday Times, in a wide-ranging exploration of evil — why do humans do and think bad things?
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Apr 11, 2019
Thomas Friedman On The World In 2019
Earlier this month we were joined by Thomas Friedman as he brought his wisdom and insight to the world’s current predicaments: How should the West respond to an emboldened China? How do we rebuild the global economy so that it creates prosperity for everyone, not just the few? And how, above all, should we handle the tectonic shifts – technological, demographic and political – that are reshaping our world today?
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Apr 4, 2019
Viral Sensation Rutger Bregman On How Utopian Ideas Can Become Reality
This week's episode features Rutger Bregman, historian and author of Utopia for Realists: And How We Can Get There. In conversation with Helen Lewis, associate editor of the New Statesman, he discusses subjects ranging from Universal Basic Income, the benefits of the four-day working week, climate change, and his solutions for saving capitalism - plus his recent speech at Davos calling for higher taxes for the rich, a video of which went viral.
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Mar 28, 2019
How I Found My Voice: Rose McGowan
This week's episode is something a little different: an episode of Intelligence Squared's new podcast How I Found My Voice. How I Found My Voice is the podcast that explores how some of the world's greatest artists and thinkers became such compelling - and unique - communicators. Hosted by Samira Ahmed, guests include Rose McGowan, Adam Buxton, Philip Pullman, Katherine Ryan and Benjamin Zephaniah.
In this week's episode, Samira Ahmed speaks to Hollywood actor and activist Rose McGowan who was one of the first to speak out against Harvey Weinstein. From growing up in a religious cult in Italy to becoming a TV and film star and speaking out against one of the most powerful men in Hollywood - they discuss what moments shaped and inspired Rose to find her voice.
If you liked this episode, you can subscribe to How I Found My Voice now on Acast, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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Mar 21, 2019
Nationalism is a Delusion: Our Futures Depend on Ever Closer Union
This week's episode of the Intelligence Squared podcast is a special episode produced by Intelligence Squared Germany in collaboration with the ECFR.
Arguing for the motion "Nationalism is a Delusion: Our Futures Depend on Ever Closer Union" were Polish politician and journalist Radek Sikorski and Swiss political activist Flavia Kleiner.
Against the motion were journalist and author Douglas Murray and German-Polish political scientist Aleksandra Rybińska.
The debate was chaired by Josef Janning of the ECFR.
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Mar 14, 2019
Letters That Changed The World
Following on from Intelligence Squared’s acclaimed events on great speeches and poetry, when Carey Mulligan, Simon Russell Beale, Helena Bonham Carter and other stars took to our stage, we now present Letters That Changed The World, based on award-winning historian Simon Sebag Montefiore’s new book Written in History: Letters that Changed the World. Joining him on stage were No 1 bestselling novelist Kate Mosse. Together they discussed letters by Michelangelo, Catherine the Great, Sarah Bernhardt, Rosa Parks, Nelson Mandela, Virginia Woolf, Alan Turing and Leonard Cohen. Some are inspiring, some unsettling, others express foreboding and despair. Many celebrate love and sex.
A cast of performers, including Young Vic director Kwame Kwei-Armah, rising star Jade Anouka, Dunkirk actor Jack Lowden, and West End star Tamsin Greig, brought the letters to life on stage. Listen and discover the bravery, beauty and visceral immediacy in these letters.
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Mar 7, 2019
On The Brink Of A No-Deal Brexit: The Town Hall Debate
Britain is now facing one of the biggest constitutional crises in its history. As Brexit looms, Intelligence Squared staged a special town hall meeting with some of the country’s most prominent political leaders.
We were joined on stage by former Conservative MP and UKIP MP Douglas Carswell; Conservative MP Kenneth Clarke; Director of UK in a Changing Europe Anand Menon; MP for North Antrim for the DUP Ian Paisley Jr; and Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley Jess Phillips.
The debate was chaired by the Guardian's Jonathan Freedland.
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Feb 28, 2019
China: Friend or Foe?
Is China, with its unfair trade policies and shameless theft of intellectual property, an enemy that needs to be reined in? Or is it in the West’s best interests to view China as a strategic partner and aim for mutual respect and cooperation?
We were joined by Beijing-born Professor of Economics at the LSE Keyu Jin; politician and former cabinet minister Sir Malcolm Rifkind; and Martin Wolf, Chief Economics Commentator at the FT. The event was chaired by Carrie Gracie, BBC News Presenter and the BBC’s first China Editor.
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Feb 21, 2019
Blame Liberals For the Rise of Populism
Have the left’s policies of high immigration and multiculturalism caused the disaffection which has given rise to populism? Or is it the right, with its tabloid scare stories about foreigners eroding national identity?
We were joined by Matthew Goodwin, Professor of Politics at Kent University; Daniel Hannan, Conservative MEP for South East England; Elif Shafak, award-winning novelist; and John Simpson, BBC World Affairs Editor, columnist and author. The discussion was chaired by BBC journalist and broadcaster Ritula Shah.
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Feb 14, 2019
David Wootton and Giles Fraser on the Philosophy of Profit, Power and Pleasure
This week's episode of the Intelligence Squared podcast features David Wootton, historian and author of Power, Pleasure, and Profit, in a wide-ranging conversation with the journalist and Anglican priest Giles Fraser. They examined the four centuries of Western thought — from Machiavelli to Madison — which led to the pursuit of success as the ultimate goal in today's society.
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Feb 7, 2019
The West Should Cut Ties With Saudi Arabia
Should the West end its alliance with the Saudi regime? Or should we give its Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman a chance? In this Intelligence Squared podcast we were joined by Mehdi Hasan, Madawi al-Rasheed, Mamoun Fandy, Crispin Blunt and Lyse Doucet.
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Jan 31, 2019
Leonard Mlodinow and Rosamund Urwin on the Power of Elastic Thinking
In this episode we were joined by Leonard Mlodinow, the theoretical physicist, Star Trek screenwriter and author of Elastic: Flexible Thinking in a Time of Change in conversation with Sunday Times journalist Rosamund Urwin. In a wide-ranging discussion, they talked about the neuroscience of change, and how we can train our brains to be more comfortable with our rapidly changing world.
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Jan 24, 2019
Germany Is Endangering European Stability
This week's podcast comes from an event hosted by Intelligence Squared Germany, in collaboration with ECFR Berlin. Our panel of speakers, including representatives of the Five Star Movement, Fidesz and the ECFR asked: is Germany really the bastion of European stability that it likes to portray or is it actually the source of European fracture?
Speaking for the motion were Deputy Minister for Education and Member of the Italian Parliament with the Five Star Movement Lorenzo Fioramonti and Hungarian politician and MEP for Victor Orban’s Fidesz party György Schöpflin.
Arguing against the motion were Programme Director and Head of the Sofia Office at the ECFR Vessela Tcherneva and author of the critically-acclaimed 'The Shortest History of Germany' James Hawes.
The debate was chaired by Katrin Bennhold, the Berlin bureau chief for The New York Times.
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Jan 17, 2019
Bruce Daisley and Jamie Bartlett on Re-Envisioning the World of Work
In this episode of the Intelligence Squared podcast we were joined by Twitter's European VP and author of The Joy of Work Bruce Daisley and tech journalist Jamie Bartlett, for a wide-ranging conversation on how to to re-imagine the world of work and fall in love with our jobs again.
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Jan 10, 2019
Rachel Botsman and Helen Lewis on Technology and Trust
In this episode of the Intelligence Squared podcast we were joined by Rachel Botsman, world renowned trust expert, Oxford academic and author of Who Can You Trust? She was interviewed by Helen Lewis, associate editor of the New Statesman, for a wide-ranging conversation on our relationship with trust and how technology is radically rewriting the rules.
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Jan 3, 2019
Siva Vaidhyanathan and Helen Lewis on How Facebook Disconnects Us and Undermines Democracy
In this episode of the Intelligence Squared podcast we were joined by the cultural historian, media scholar and author of Antisocial Media Siva Vaidhyanathan in conversation with the New Statesman's Helen Lewis. In this wide-ranging discussion, they looked at how Facebook's went from an innocent social site into a force that poses major challenges to our democracy.
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Dec 27, 2018
Bruno Maçães and Linda Yueh on the Chinese World Order
In this episode of the Intelligence Squared podcast we were joined by Bruno Maçães, the former Europe minister of Portugal, in conversation with Oxford economist and broadcaster Linda Yueh. They talked about China's Belt and Road strategy, widely acknowledged to be the most ambitious geopolitical initiative of the age. Covering almost seventy countries by land and sea, it will affect every element of global society, from shipping to agriculture, digital economy to tourism, politics to culture.
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Dec 21, 2018
Mishal Husain and Martha Lane Fox on Careers, Life and Leadership
Equal pay. Gender bias. Sexual harassment. A year on from the start of the #MeToo movement, conversations around these topics have exploded – and progress on many fronts can seem slow. Nearly 80 percent of British companies have a gender pay-gap; more than two thirds of MPs are male; and FTSE 100 companies are more likely to be led by a man called David than by a woman of any name.
It is clear that new ideas and concrete actions are needed to redress gender inequality at work. Award-winning broadcaster Mishal Husain and tech entrepreneur Martha Lane Fox have a game plan. Intelligence Squared hosted a and personal conversation between two leaders in their respective fields about the challenges and opportunities that women face rising to the top.
Mishal Husain has over twenty years of experience as a journalist and is perhaps best known as presenter of BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. Her reporting and interviewing have taken her all over the world, from Rohingya refugee camps to…
Dec 13, 2018
LinkedIn Founder Reid Hoffman on Building a Billion-Dollar Business at Lightning Speed
Some of the world’s most successful and powerful companies began as tiny startups and became global giants within only a few years. The list is long and includes world-changing companies like Amazon, Google, Airbnb, Facebook, Uber and Alibaba. But what are the secrets to these startups' extraordinarily rapid successes?
According to Reid Hoffman, the man who founded LinkedIn, turned it into the world’s most important recruitment website and oversaw its sale to Microsoft for $26.2 billion, the secret is 'blitzscaling' — a philosophy which prioritises speed over efficiency and allows businesses to scale up at a furious pace. Blitzscaling means throwing out many of the old rules of business: it means embracing chaos, spending capital in ways that conventional business wisdom would consider wasteful, and tolerating practices traditionally thought of as bad management — all with the goal of growing as fast as possible.
In November 2018 Hoffman came to the Intelligence Squared stag…
Dec 6, 2018
The Battle Over Free Speech: Are Trigger Warnings, Safe Spaces and No-Platforming Harming Young Minds?
Many would argue that these are the fundamental goals of a good education. So why has Cambridge University taken to warning its students that the sexual violence in Titus Andronicus might be traumatic for them? Why are other universities in America and increasingly in Britain introducing measures to protect students from speech and texts they might find harmful? Safe spaces, trigger warnings and no-platforming are now campus buzzwords – and they’re all designed to limit free speech and the exchange of ideas. As celebrated social psychologist Jonathan Haidt argues in his forthcoming book The Coddling of the American Mind, university students are increasingly retreating from ideas they fear may damage their mental health, and presenting themselves as fragile and in need of protection from any viewpoint that might make them feel unsafe.The culture of safety, as Haidt calls it, may be well intentioned, but it is hampering the development of young people and leaving them unprepared f…
Dec 4, 2018
Bonus Episode - The Brexit Deal: Decision Time
It’s a defining moment for British democracy. This December, Parliament will vote on whether to approve or reject Theresa May’s draft Brexit withdrawal agreement. With the nation’s future hanging in the balance, some have called this the greatest crisis Britain has faced since Suez.
On Monday December 3rd, Intelligence Squared brought together three prominent lawmakers to debate the three options ahead. Should Parliament vote to accept May's deal? Should MPs vote it down, so the government can return to the EU negotiations and threaten to leave without a deal? Or should there be a second referendum on the withdrawal agreement, with the option of remaining in the EU?
Arguing in favour of a second referendum on the deal, with the option of remaining in the EU:
Andrew Adonis - Labour Party peer who served as a minister in the governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown for five years. He supports Britain remaining in the European Union.
Arguing for the government to renegotiate…
Nov 29, 2018
Jeanne Marie Laskas and Bonnie Greer on Love, Hate, Anger, and Hope in the Obama Years
In this episode of the Intelligence Squared podcast we had Jeanne Marie Laskas, the American professor, journalist and author of To Obama, looking back at the Obama presidency through the lens of tens of thousands of letters the President received every day from ordinary American citizens. Jeanne Marie was interviewed by the playwright, critic and broadcaster Bonnie Greer.
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Nov 23, 2018
Parenting Doesn't Matter (Or Not As Much As You Think)
The multibillion-pound parenting industry tells us we can all shape our children to be joyful, resilient and successful. But what if it’s all bunk? Intelligence Squared are bringing together a panel of top geneticists and parenting experts to explore just how important parenting is.
Arguing in favour of the motion are Robert Plomin, Psychologist and Professor of Behavioural Genetics at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King’s College London; and Stuart Ritchie, Lecturer in the Social Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre at King’s College London.
Arguing against the motion were Susan Pawlby, a developmental Clinical Psychologist with over 30 years of experience working with mothers and babies both in clinical and research contexts; and Ann Pleshette Murphy, a therapist, parenting counsellor and advocate for young children and their families.
The debate was chaired by Xand van Tulleken, a medical doctor and broadcaster who has presented numerous…
Nov 16, 2018
Special episode with Anthony Scaramucci, former White House Director of Communications
In this episode of the Intelligence Squared podcast we were joined by Anthony Scaramucci, the former White House Director of Communications for a whopping 11 days. He was interviewed by Josh Lowe, Deputy Editor of Apolitical, for a wide-ranging and often outrageous discussion on the Trump presidency this far.
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Nov 9, 2018
Kamal Ahmed and Razia Iqbal on Identity, Race and Prejudice
This week's episode of the Intelligence Squared podcast was a wide-ranging conversation about race and identity in Britain. In the studio we had Kamal Ahmed, BBC Editorial Director and author of The Life and Times of a Very British Man alongside the BBC News Presenter Razia Iqbal.
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Nov 5, 2018
Bonus Episode: The Impeachment Election? Trump, Mueller and the Fight for America
Is this the last stand for American democracy? That’s what many of Donald Trump’s opponents believe. The upcoming US midterm election is the last chance to prevent the United States from becoming a truly authoritarian state. That fear has the Democrats campaigning hard. But the Republicans are scared too: If Democrats sweep the House and Senate, they could kill off Trump’s legislative agenda and gain new investigative powers to hit Trump hard over Russia, alleged obstruction of justice and the numerous allegations of influence-peddling at Trump’s businesses. And then there’s the Mueller investigation, which is due to conclude next year: if the special counsel finds evidence of criminal wrongdoing by the President, Democrats could begin impeachment proceedings. This may truly be the impeachment election.
So what future awaits America in this historic election? Will Justice Kavanaugh’s acrimonious confirmation lead to a pro-Trump surge or will a wave of women voters sweep Re…
Nov 2, 2018
James Barr and Catherine Philp on the Secret British-American Rivalry in the Middle East
In this week’s episode of the Intelligence Squared podcast, the historian and author of Lords of the Desert James Barr sat down with Times journalist Catherine Philp to reveal the the story of the hidden 25-year rivalry between Britain and the United States, using newly declassified records and long-forgotten memoirs.
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Oct 26, 2018
Kate Raworth and Matthew Taylor on Rethinking Economics For The 21st Century
In this week’s episode of the Intelligence Squared podcast, Oxford economist and author of Doughnut Economics Kate Raworth sat down with Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the RSA, to discuss her transformative ideas for a new economy.
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Oct 19, 2018
Mistaken Identities: The Conflict Over Culture, Class, Gender and Nation with Kwame Anthony Appiah and John Gray
Race, religion and identity are being talked about as never before. While minority groups raise their voices for recognition and inclusion, others feel that their culture is being eroded. In these increasingly febrile times, Intelligence Squared brought together two of the world’s most prominent thinkers to debate the issues that are polarising our society.
Kwame Anthony Appiah, Professor of Philosophy at New York University, unpicked the very notion of identity. He argues that our outdated prejudices taint the way we understand concepts of race, class, nationality and sexuality. Race, he claims, is a fiction based on Victorian-era pseudoscience. Appiah urges us to question and rethink our assumptions in order to build a more tolerant and accepting society. But how helpful is this viewpoint to those who face the reality of racism and feel the brunt of discrimination on a daily basis?
In conversation with Appiah was John Gray, one of Britain’s most provocative and original comme…
Oct 12, 2018
Dickens vs Tolstoy: The Battle Of The Great 19th-century Novelists
Dickens. Tolstoy. Their names and reputations shake the ground – and so do their books, if you drop one. They are the two greatest novelists from the century when novels were really great. Both captured their countries’ very souls and, as vastly influential social reformers, savagely criticised them as well. But whose legacy is more enduring? Whose vision truer and more relevant today? Should you embark on War and Peace or Our Mutual Friend?
To battle it out, Intelligence Squared brought two celebrated writers, John Mullan for Dickens and Simon Schama for Tolstoy, to our stage. They called on a cast of star actors, including Tom Hiddleston, to bring their arguments to life with readings from the authors’ finest works.
The debate was chaired by author, playwright and broadcaster Bonnie Greer.
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Oct 5, 2018
Peter Biskind and Helen Lewis on Vampires, Zombies, X-Men and Political Extremism
In this Intelligence Squared podcast we were joined by Peter Biskind, cultural critic and author of The Sky Is Falling, alongside the New Statesman's Helen Lewis, in an examination of how popular culture has fuelled extremism in our politics.
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Sep 28, 2018
Tristan Harris and Helen Lewis on how tech has hijacked our brains
In this episode of Intelligence Squared we were joined by Tristan Harris, former design ethicist at Google in conversation with the New Statesman's Helen Lewis, as they discussed the threat that technology poses to society and our minds.
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Sep 21, 2018
Mariana Mazzucato and Stella Creasy on Making and Taking in the Global Economy
In this week's episode of the Intelligence Squared podcast, Mariana Mazzucato, UCL economics professor and author of The Value of Everything, sat down with the UK Labour MP Stella Creasy in a wide-ranging discussion of how real wealth is created in our economy.
Mariana Mazzucato is Director of the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose.
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Sep 14, 2018
Jeremy Corbyn Is Unfit To Be Prime Minister
When Jeremy Corbyn won the Labour leadership he was shrugged off as an unelectable oddball in a scruffy suit who would doom Labour to certain defeat. But last year’s shock election result forces us all to consider the real possibility of a Corbyn-led government – a prospect which has some jumping for joy and others quaking in their boots. Intelligence Squared is bringing together some of Britain’s top political minds to debate whether Corbyn is potentially the saviour of Britain’s downtrodden or a fringe fanatic who is morally unfit to be Prime Minister.
According to his critics, Corbyn leads a dangerous gang of hard-left zealots who cosy up to enemies of the West and are hell-bent on rehashing the disastrous politics of the 1970s. He has turned a blind eye to the antisemitism festering away within the Labour Party and has crafted a foreign policy which would make Putin proud. And when it comes to the economy, his old-school socialist programme of borrowing, tax hikes and rena…
Sep 6, 2018
Linda Yueh and Jesse Norman on the Economists That Shaped History
Linda Yueh, renowned economist, broadcaster and author of The Great Economists, in conversation with Jesse Norman, MP for Hereford and South Herefordshire and author of Adam Smith: What He Thought, and Why it Matters, discussed the transformative legacies of history's great economists, from Adam Smith to Karl Marx.
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Aug 30, 2018
Tom Baldwin and Nina Schick on How the Information Age Crashed Our Democracy
Tom Baldwin, former Director of Communications for the UK Labour Party under Ed Miliband and author of Ctrl Alt Delete, has spent the best part of three decades at the centre of politics and journalism. In a wide-ranging conversation with Nina Shick, Director of Data and Polling at Rasmussen Global, they explored the toxic relationship between today's politics, the media, and the new information age.
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Aug 23, 2018
Tim Marshall in conversation with Catherine Philp on Why We're Living in an Age of Walls
Tim Marshall, renowned journalist and author of Divided, in conversation with the Times diplomatic correspondent Catherine Philp, examine the fault lines that will shape our world for years to come. Walls are going up around the world. Nationalism and identity politics are on the rise once more. What are the causes of this new era of division?
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Aug 16, 2018
Jamie Susskind in conversation with Helen Lewis On How Tech Is Transforming Our Politics
Jamie Susskind, author of Future Politics, in conversation with the New Statesman's Helen Lewis, discuss how digital technology will radically transform how we live together, exploring how the very concepts of democracy, liberty, justice and power could be fundamentally changed by tech.
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Aug 9, 2018
James Bloodworth in conversation with Matthew Taylor on the Gig Economy and the Reality of Low-Wage Work
Journalist James Bloodworth spent six months working undercover across Britain, taking on some of the country's most gruelling and menial jobs for his recent book Hired: Six Months Undercover in Low-Wage Britain. In this Intelligence Squared podcast in conversation with the RSA's Matthew Taylor, he discussed his findings from Amazon's warehouses to the care industry to the taxicabs of Uber.
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Aug 2, 2018
Tom Whipple in Conversation With Rosamund Urwin on Why Gender Still Matters
Referencing the latest research on the science of sexuality, Tom Whipple talks about dating apps, Love Island, the relative testicle size of bonobos and chimpanzees, and gay penguins, to throw light on why men and women behave the way they do when it comes to love and sex.
He was in conversation with Rosamund Urwin about his book X and WHY: The rules of attraction: why gender still matters.
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Jul 27, 2018
Blockchain: Quantum leap forward or digital snake oil?
Blockchain, the technology on which Bitcoin is based, has gone mainstream. Evangelists describe it as a thrilling and versatile foundation that will revolutionise everything from finance to governance. But is it really the radical new paradigm its adherents claim?
We were joined on stage by Jamie Bartlett, one of the UK’s leading thinkers on the politics and social influence of the internet; Primavera De Filippi, expert on the legal challenges and opportunities of blockchain technologies and author of Blockchain and The Law; David Gerard, author of the news blog and book Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain: Bitcoin, Blockchain, Ethereum & Smart Contracts; and Vít Jedlička, founder and first elected president of the Free Republic of Liberland, which aims to be the first country to base its government structure on blockchain technology.
The event was chaired by BBC Economics Editor Kamal Ahmed.
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Jul 20, 2018
The Rise of the Smart City: Urban Wonderland or Fool’s Paradise?
More humans than ever before live in cities. Technology is now being rolled out across the world’s urban areas, making day-to-day city living more pleasant, more efficient and more sustainable. For example, traffic flows are being improved by sensors that detect snarl-ups, allowing a central computer to coordinate traffic lights and even change the direction of a highway during rush hour – saving commuters time and lowering the pollution caused by stop-start congestion. Smart energy meters are allowing the power companies to provide the energy we need from the best sources, at the right times of day. But what we’re already seeing is just the beginning. By using computing, automation and big data, the cities of tomorrow will be transformed by practical, disruptive solutions, helping us tackle the energy challenge and achieve a lower carbon future.
But there’s a flip side to letting technology take over the way our cities are run. Automation opens up systems like traffic, commun…
Jul 12, 2018
The Battle for the Countryside: Britain Should Rewild its Uplands
Imagine if swathes of the British countryside were allowed to be wild once again, if trees and rare plants could flourish and beavers, boars and white-tailed eagles could retake their place in the ecosystem. That’s the goal of the growing numbers of nature-lovers who support the idea of rewilding Britain’s uplands. We tend to think of these uplands as ‘wild’ and ‘natural’. But in fact, as the rewilders point out, they are entirely man-made, the result of clearances by man to make way for millions of sheep whose grazing over the last 200 years has rendered the land bare. Sheep farming, once a major source of Britain’s wealth, is now largely uneconomic and depends on billions of pounds of subsidies. But where rewilding is taking place, in Britain and in Europe, a boom in tourism is providing a more sustainable local economy. We must make space for wild nature in places where farming does not make sense.
That’s romantic tosh, say the opponents of rewilding. People matter…
Jul 5, 2018
Mary Beard on Women and Power, with Miriam González and Laurie Penny
Mary Beard is Britain’s best known classicist. Widely admired for her scholarship and popular television programmes about the ancient world, she is also one of this country’s most prominent feminists. By refusing to be cowed by the misogynistic trolls who have abused her on Twitter, she has become a heroine for our times.
On June 7th Beard comes to the Intelligence Squared stage to talk about the themes of her No. 1 bestselling book Women and Power: A Manifesto. Examining misogyny’s deep cultural roots, she will explore the ways in which women have been excluded from power for thousands of years. Take the decapitated, snake-haired head of Medusa in Greek mythology – seen by Freud as a castrator figure. It has been used recently to demonise Theresa May, Angela Merkel, and in the 2016 presidential campaign Hillary Clinton, who appeared in a meme as Medusa, with Trump holding her severed head aloft. The message? That the ultimate way to silence a woman is to kill her. Beard wil…
Jun 29, 2018
James Comey in Conversation with Emily Maitlis on Speaking Truth To Power
When President Trump sacked James Comey as FBI Director in May last year, he ignited a political firestorm with huge implications for American democracy. Comey’s dismissal led to the appointment of Special Counsel Robert Mueller to look at possible links between the Russian government and the Trump campaign — an investigation which may bring to light dark secrets about President Trump and his close associates. Now to mark the publication of his global bestseller, A Higher Loyalty, Comey came to the Intelligence Squared stage for an exclusive event. In conversation with the BBC’s Emily Maitlis, he revealed what really happened in those strange early months of the Trump presidency, as well as his long career in public service and speaking truth to power.
Before his tenure at the head of the FBI under Obama from 2013 to 2017, Comey served in the highest echelons of American law enforcement, first as a senior prosecutor during the Clinton administration and then as Deputy Attorney G…
Jun 22, 2018
The World Should Recognise Jerusalem As Israel’s Capital
Many of Israel's supporters, including Donald Trump, claim Jerusalem should be recognised as the country's capital city. After all, it has been the Jewish people's spiritual capital for millennia. But will recognising Jerusalem be the death blow for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process?
Arguing in favour of the motion "The World Should Recognise Jerusalem As Israel’s Capital" were Ehud Omert, former Israeli Prime Minister; and Natasha Hausdorff, barrister at Six Pump Court Chambers and a director of the NGO ‘UK Lawyers for Israel’.
Against them were former UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and leading Palestinian activist, academic and writer Ghada Karmi.
The debate was chaired by Emily Maitlis, presenter of BBC Newsnight and one of the UK's best known broadcasters.
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Jun 14, 2018
Anshel Pfeffer in conversation with Catherine Philp on Netanyahu and The Future of Israel
This week's Intelligence Squared podcast features Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz journalist and author of Bibi - The Turbulent Life And Times Of Benjamin Netanyahu in conversation with Catherine Philp, diplomatic correspondent on The Times. In this in-depth podcast on the leadership and story of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, they discuss the state of modern Israel and the future of the Middle East.
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Jun 7, 2018
The Threat From Russia: Can Putin Be Stopped?
Is Vladimir Putin the most powerful – and dangerous – man in the world? With Putin in the Kremlin, we have returned to an era where former Russian spies are mysteriously poisoned on British soil and where Russia feels emboldened to roll its tanks into an eastern European state. The Kremlin uses deadly force to wipe out opponents and stifle dissent at home, while overseas it props up Bashar al-Assad, the butcher of Damascus, who slaughters civilians with barrel bombs and chemical weapons. And that’s not to mention Moscow’s alleged meddling in the US election, which may have played a decisive role in the rise of Donald Trump. Tensions have increased so much in recent months that the UN secretary general António Guterres has warned of a ‘full-blown military escalation’ between Russia and the West.
So what should we do? Some argue that the West has been appeasing Russia for too long, and that it’s finally time to get tough. Putin’s crimes in Syria and Ukraine – and alle…
May 31, 2018
The Disunited States: Is the Trump presidency causing irreparable damage to America?
America has never seen anything like this. Time and again, Donald Trump has attacked the very fabric of US democracy. He has called the press ‘the enemy of the American people’. He says that claims that Russia interfered in the US election are a hoax. And that the FBI - currently investigating his campaign - should be personally loyal to the president.
And it’s not just political institutions Trump is damaging, his opponents say: in America he has stoked racial tension, coddled Wall Street and given succour to the gun lobby. On the world stage, he’s alienated key allies, slapped $50 billion in tariffs on China that may spark off a trade war, and appointed the hawkish John Bolton, who has advocated regime change in Iran and North Korea, as national security adviser.
If Trump is a new kind of threat, the big question is whether the damage he is doing to America will be permanent. Will the country that survived two world wars, the Cold War and the attacks of 9/11 really be put o…
May 23, 2018
Jordan Peterson on Gender, Patriarchy and the Slide Towards Tyranny
In May 2018, we recorded a special episode of the Intelligence Squared podcast in London. Jordan Peterson, author of 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos, was joined by Anne McElvoy, Senior Editor at The Economist and head of Economist Radio, to discuss identity politics, liberalism and #MeToo.
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May 17, 2018
Revere or Remove? The Battle Over Statues, Heritage and History
Statues and memorials to famous figures of the past adorn our towns and cities. But what should be done when some of these figures have come to be seen by many people as controversial symbols of oppression and discrimination?
In Britain, the Rhodes Must Fall campaign hit the headlines when it demanded the removal of the statue of Cecil Rhodes from Oxford’s Oriel College, of which he was a leading benefactor, because of his colonialism. In the US, violent protests in Charlottesville were sparked by a decision to remove from a park a statue of Robert E. Lee, a Confederate general in the American Civil War, because of the association of the Confederacy with slavery.
Passions run high on both sides. Are those calling for the removal of controversial statues seeking to right an historical injustice or are they trying to erase history? And are those who object to removing memorials defending the indefensible or are they conserving historical reality, however unpalatable that may be?
To…
May 10, 2018
The nuclear deal with Iran won't make the world a safer place
For this week's episode we're revisiting our debate from November 2015, "The nuclear deal with Iran won't make the world a safer place".
Alan Dershowitz, one of America’s most formidable and celebrated lawyers, and Emily Landau, one of Israel’s top nuclear proliferation experts, went head to head with senior politicians Norman Lamont and Jack Straw, both impassioned advocates of rapprochement with Iran.
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May 3, 2018
Send Them Back: The Parthenon Marbles Should be Returned to Athens
What’s all this nonsense about sending the Parthenon Marbles back to Greece? If Lord Elgin hadn’t rescued them from the Parthenon in Athens and presented them to the British Museum almost 200 years ago, these exquisite sculptures – the finest embodiment of the classical ideal of beauty and harmony – would have been lost to the ravages of pollution and time. So we have every right to keep them: indeed, returning them would set a dangerous precedent, setting off a clamour for every Egyptian mummy and Grecian urn to be wrenched from the world’s museums and sent back to its country of origin. It is great institutions like the British Museum that have established such artefacts as items of world significance: more people see the Marbles in the BM than visit Athens every year. Why send them back to relative obscurity?
But aren’t such arguments a little too imperialistic? All this talk of visitor numbers and dangerous precedents – doesn’t it just sound like an excuse for Brit…
Apr 26, 2018
Jamie Bartlett in conversation with Helen Lewis on how the internet is threatening our freedoms
This week's Intelligence Squared podcast features Jamie Bartlett, tech journalist and author of The People vs Tech in conversation with the New Statesman's Deputy Editor Helen Lewis. In this in-depth discussion on the politics of technology, they explored the addictive nature of social media and whether the tech giants are a threat to democracy.
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Apr 19, 2018
Rembrandt Vs Vermeer: The Titans of Dutch Painting
(For a list of all paintings referenced by Simon Schama and Tracy Chevalier in this debate please go to: https://www.intelligencesquared.com/events/rembrandt-vs-vermeer-titans-of-dutch-painting-simon-schama-tracy-chevalier/
Rembrandt van Rijn is the best known of all the Dutch masters. His range was vast, from landscapes to portraits to Biblical scenes; he revolutionised every medium he handled, from oil paintings to etchings and drawings. His vision encompassed every element of life – the sleeping lion; the pissing baby; the lacerated soles of the returned prodigal son.
Making the case for him in this debate was Simon Schama. For him Rembrandt is humanity unedited: rough, raw, violent, manic, vain, greedy and manipulative. Formal beauty was the least of his concerns, argues Schama, yet he attains beauty through his understanding of the human condition, including to be sure, his own.
But for novelist Tracy Chevalier it can all get a little exhausting. Rembrandt’s paintings, she…
Apr 12, 2018
Psychiatrists & the pharma industry are to blame for the current ‘epidemic’ of mental disorders
Drug pushers. We tend to associate them with the bleak underworld of criminality. But some would argue that there’s another class of drug pushers, just as unscrupulous, who work in the highly respectable fields of psychiatry and the pharmaceutical industry. And they deserve the same moral scrutiny that we apply to the drug pedlar on the street corner. Within the medical profession labels are increasingly being attached to everyday conditions previously thought to be beyond the remit of medical help. So sadness is rebranded as depression, shyness as social phobia, childhood naughtiness as hyperactivity or ADHD. And Big Pharma is only too happy to come up with profitable new drugs to treat these ‘disorders’, drugs which the psychiatrists and GPs then willingly prescribe, richly rewarded by the pharma companies for doing so.
That’s the view of those who object to the widespread use of the ‘chemical cosh’ to treat people with mental difficulties. But many psychiatrists, while…
Apr 5, 2018
Hilton Als and Afua Hirsch on Race, Gender and Identity
In March 2018, we recorded a special episode of the Intelligence Squared podcast at the Acast studio in east London. Pulitzer prize winning writer and chief theatre critic for The New Yorker Hilton Als was in conversation with Guardian columnist and author Afua Hirsch. In this wide ranging discussion, they talked about issues of race, gender, culture and identity, which were some of the themes explored in Als' recent book White Girls.
Image © Brigitte Lacombe (2018).
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Mar 29, 2018
Stop Brexit
It’s time we came to to our senses. Brexit is a disaster and must be stopped. Leave campaigners promised our exit from the European Union would herald a glorious new era – the sunlit uplands of ‘global Britain’, with new trade deals signed in a matter of months and an extra £350 million per week for the NHS. But what do we have today? Sterling has collapsed, Boris has been busy bungling in Brussels, and the government’s own leaked economic assessments show that leaving the EU will harm every single region of the country, especially ‘left behind’ areas that voted to Leave. The public was misled, and as David Davis once said, ‘If a democracy cannot change its mind, it ceases to be a democracy’. Let’s end this madness and call the whole thing off.
That’s the reasoning of the Remoaners. But can you imagine the damage we’d do to our politics if we overturned the democratic expression of 17 million people – the single biggest mandate in British history? If these s…
Mar 22, 2018
If You Believe You Are a Citizen of the World, You Are A Citizen of Nowhere
When Theresa May uttered these words at the Tory party conference in 2016, there was uproar. May was targeting the liberal establishment, who flit business class from Mayfair to Monaco, from Davos to Doha; those in positions of power, who, as May put it, ‘behave as though they have more in common with international elites than with the people down the road’.
But many people who don’t fit in this frequent flyer category felt under attack too. For this group, believing you are a citizen of the world is a badge of honour, not shame. The cosmopolitan impulse, they believe, isn’t about loyalty to any single community. On the contrary, you can be a citizen of your street, your city, your country and the entire globe. And in our interconnected world, those with a burning concern for global justice, for the environment, for the strife and carnage happening beyond our borders, see themselves as part of humanity at large – as citizens of the world.
But for a different group of people…
Mar 15, 2018
Disruption Ahead: Will Future Transport Systems Benefit Society Or Drive It Apart?
A transport revolution in our cities is under way. Ride-sharing schemes, driverless cars and electric vehicles look set to bring us all kinds of benefits, such as lower pollution, faster flowing traffic and fewer accidents.
But these benefits won’t just fall into our laps. What will we have to do to ensure that we reap the rewards of these changes and avoid potential pitfalls? Will technological change bring us closer together as a society or drive us further apart? Will we the consumers be the ones who make the all-important decisions, or will we be at the mercy of the tech and car companies and the policy-makers? And will these decisions actually result in a lower carbon future? There’s a lot of excitement about the future of cars: will people be prepared to give up the independence of the privately owned vehicle and use hailing schemes? Given that a total switchover to electric vehicles is unlikely to happen within the next ten years, how will a mix of vehicles on our streets a…
Mar 8, 2018
The Power of Poetry, with William Sieghart, Jeanette Winterson and Helena Bonham Carter
For 15 years, the power of the spoken word has been at the heart of Intelligence Squared’s mission. Argument and debate, we believe, can move, persuade and create real change. Now, in these anxious and divided times, we held a special event that celebrated the positive, transformative force of another kind of spoken word – poetry.
William Sieghart told the extraordinary story of his bestselling book, The Poetry Pharmacy: Tried-and-True Prescriptions for the Heart, Mind and Soul. This is no conventional collection but one created from Sieghart’s own, personal experience of prescribing real poems to real people in need. Every poem is matched to a specific condition: fear of the unknown, unrequited love, stagnation, purposelessness, convalescence, oppression
Joining him in conversation were novelist and poetry devotee Jeanette Winterson. Together they explored poetry’s uncanny ability to calm, console and, above all, connect us to the minds and feelings of others. Finding th…
Mar 1, 2018
Western Parents Don't Know How to Bring Up Their Children
Why are there so many Chinese maths and music prodigies? Because Chinese mothers believe schoolwork and music practice come first, that an A-minus is a bad grade, that sleepovers, TV and computer games should never be allowed and that the only activity their children should be permitted to do are ones in which they can eventually win a medal - and that medal must be gold.
These methods certainly seem to get results but do they make for the rounded individuals Western parents are striving to bring up? Isn't it better that our children should be happy rather than burnt-out brain boxes? Who's right and who's wrong?
In this debate from June 2011, Amy Chua, author of the best-selling Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, and Theodore Dalrymple, the writer and psychologist, speak for the motion.
Justine Roberts, co-founder of Mumsnet, and Frank Furedi, emeritus professor of sociology at the University of Kent and parenting expert, speak against the motion.
The debate was chaired by columnist…
Feb 22, 2018
The Left has right on its side
Letís be honest. Itís the political Left that has societyís best interests at heart, that works for the good of all. It has always been the Left that has struggled to protect the weak from the strong, that has fought for workersí rights, for sexual and racial equality, for the welfare state. It is the Left that now challenges abuses of power by corporations and financial institutions. And it is the Left that seeks to build a world based on mutual respect, not individualistic self-seeking. It is the Left, not the Right, that has right on its side.
Yet according to conservatives, it is precisely that self-regard, that attempt to monopolise virtue, which exposes the hypocrisy of left-wing ideology. To flaunt your concern for your fellow man doesnít make you right ñ it just gives you the smug glow of virtue signalling. In fact, by expanding the state, overtaxing the rich and splurging benefits on the poor, the Left has always damaged society by crippling peopleís natural instinct t…
Feb 15, 2018
James Rhodes And Armando Iannucci on the Transformative Power of Music
In February 2018 Intelligence Squared brought Armando Iannucci and James Rhodes to our stage to discuss the transcendent power of music. Rhodes is known as the wild man of concert pianists. His approach to the piano is raw and unbridled, his tousled hair a whirl, his hands a blur over the keyboard – the diametric opposite to the composed figure in white tie and tails of classical music convention. He is as likely to play the Latitude pop music festival as the Albert Hall. His knowledge of, and passion for, the great composers is also unrestrained, pouring forth in recitals, documentaries, best-selling albums and his 2015 memoir, Instrumental.
The extraordinary thing is that this virtuoso has no formal musical education. He had a place at the Guildhall but was unable to go, due to mental health issues brought on by harrowing sexual abuse at his London prep school. In his forthcoming book, Fire on All Sides, Rhodes airs his daily struggles with mental illness during a gruelling c…
Feb 8, 2018
Ten Years On: The Financial Crisis and the State of Modern Capitalism
It’s been ten years since we saw suddenly unemployed Lehman Brothers bankers carrying their possessions out of their offices in boxes; since whole neighbourhoods in suburban America turned into empty ghost towns; since the British and American governments pumped trillions into the banking system, saving some institutions and abandoning others. The crash of 2008 and 2009 shook the very foundations of modern capitalism.
So where are we today? Although we may have been spared a second Great Depression, post-crisis productivity has flatlined and the last decade has seen Britain’s worst pay squeeze since the nineteenth century. And according to some, the seeds of today’s political upheavals, from Brexit to Trump to the Corbyn surge, were sown during the 2008 crash, which irreparably damaged public trust in the establishment and its institutions.
To look back at this critical moment for the global economy and examine its repercussions today, Intelligence Squared brought together a…
Feb 1, 2018
Karen Armstrong on Religion and the History of Violence
Karen Armstrong has written over 16 books on faith and the major religions, studying what Islam, Judaism and Christianity have in common, and how our faiths have shaped world history and drive current events.
She came to the Intelligence Squared stage to talk about her forthcoming book 'Fields of Blood: Religion and the History of Violence'. Journeying from prehistoric times to the present, she contrasted medieval crusaders and modern-day jihadists with the pacifism of the Buddha and Jesus’ vision of a just and peaceful society. And she demonstrated that the underlying reasons – social, economic, political – for war and violence in our history have often had very little to do with religion. Instead, Armstrong celebrates the religious ideas and movements that have opposed war and aggression and promoted peace and reconciliation.
Armstrong was in discussion with journalist and broadcaster Tom Sutcliffe.
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Jan 25, 2018
Brian Cox and Alice Roberts on the Incredible Unlikeliness of Human Existence
Who are we? Why are we here? Are we alone in the universe? How did we become the creatures that we are? How might we further evolve?
These are some of the big questions that Brian Cox and Alice Roberts tackled when they came to the Intelligence Squared stage in December. Brian Cox is the rockstar who became a scientist, and is now a rockstar scientist. He is known to millions as the presenter of the BBC Wonders series in which he unravels the complexities of the universe with calm clarity and an infectious sense of wonder. Alice Roberts is a no less talented science story-teller. A doctor, anatomist, osteoarchaeologist and writer, she has enthralled television audiences with BBC series such as The Incredible Human Journey.
In this wide-ranging conversation Cox and Roberts discussed the origins of the universe, life and humanity – and you. You’re the product of what seems to be an extremely unlikely chain of events. Our universe was born with just the right laws for galaxies to fo…
Jan 18, 2018
Break Up The Tech Giants
It is time to call the tech companies to account. In the space of just ten years, Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft have become the biggest companies on the planet and have accrued a level of power that threatens us all. They control our data, warp our democratic discourse, and exert increasing dominance over our markets. No wonder we are in the middle of a long-awaited ‘techlash’ against the technology giants. Look at the EU’s recent crackdown on tax avoidance by Amazon and Apple, or its record €2.4 billion fine of Google. In the UK, the Committee on Standards in Public Life has just set out guidelines for prosecuting web giants such as Facebook, arguing that they are publishers, not mere ‘platforms’, and therefore responsible for the content they host. Through the influence of ‘network effects’ (whereby the first to dominate a market reaps almost all the rewards), these companies have snuffed out the competition. This matters to everyone – not simply for…
Jan 11, 2018
Caitlyn Jenner on Identity and Self-Realisation
This week's episode of the Intelligence Squared podcast was recorded in a studio in London's Soho. We were joined by Caitlyn Jenner, the world's most famous transgender woman, as she talked with the Guardian's Jonathan Freedland about US politics, Caitlyn's fascinating personal journey and the recent revolution in how people think and talk about gender and sexuality.
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Jan 4, 2018
David Brooks on the Road to Character
In May 2015, New York Times columnist David Brooks came to the Intelligence Squared stage to share the insights of his latest book, 'The Road to Character'. Brooks argued that today’s ‘Big Me’ culture is making us increasingly self-preoccupied: we live in a world where we’re taught to be assertive, to master skills, to broadcast our brand, to get likes, to get followers. But amidst all the noise of self-promotion, Brooks claimed that we’ve lost sight of an important and counterintuitive truth: that in order to fulfil ourselves we need to learn how to forget ourselves.
Brooks was joined on stage by writer and lecturer on psychology, politics, and the arts Andrew Solomon.
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Dec 28, 2017
Inside The Head Of Terry Gilliam
Terry Gilliam is one of the most multifaceted, visionary talents alive. He first found fame as a member of Monty Python, the surreal comedy troupe that has had a cult following since its inception in 1969 right up to today. Had Gilliam stopped there, his artistic immortality would have been guaranteed. But over the decades his talent has rampaged across different genres – comedy, opera and above all cinema. He ranks among the tiny handful of film directors the world’s leading actors will drop everything for. Hollywood royalty including Robert De Niro, Bruce Willis, Brad Pitt, Robin Williams, Uma Thurman and Johnny Depp have flocked to work on his masterpieces Brazil, Twelve Monkeys, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
In October 2015, Gilliam made an exclusive appearance at Royal Festival Hall, presented by Intelligence Squared and Southbank Centre. Joined on stage by BBC arts editor Will Gompertz, he took us on an immersive, multimedia journey t…
Dec 21, 2017
Joseph Stiglitz on the Great Divide
Inequality is an increasing problem in the Western world, leaving everyone – the rich as well as the poor – worse off. The dream of a socially mobile society is becoming an ever more unachievable myth. That’s the view of Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, who came to the Intelligence Squared stage for a rare London appearance on May 20th. Stiglitz argued that inequality is not inevitable but a choice – the cumulative result of unjust policies and misguided priorities.
Stiglitz was joined on stage by Economics Editor of Sky News Ed Conway.
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Dec 14, 2017
Stephen Fry and Friends on the Life, Loves and Hates of Christopher Hitchens
In this historic event, Stephen Fry and other friends of Christopher Hitchens came together to celebrate the life and work of this great writer, iconoclast and debater. Fry was joined on stage at the Southbank Centre's Royal Festival Hall by Richard Dawkins and the two discussed Hitch's unflinching commitment to the truth. Hollywood actor Sean Penn was beamed in from LA by Google+ and, between cigarette puffs, read from Hitch's acclaimed work, 'The Trial of Henry Kissinger'. Five friends of Hitch spoke via satellite in New York: satirist Christopher Buckley and editor Lewis Lapham mused on Hitch's prowess as a journalist. 'Like a pot of gold', said Lapham. Martin Amis, Salman Rushdie and James Fenton delighted the audience with stories of Hitchens as a young man. Rushdie drew roars of laughter when he recounted a word game invented by Amis and Hitchens where the word 'love' is replaced with 'hysterical sex'. Particular favourites included Hysterical Sex in the Time of Cholera and Hyste…
Dec 7, 2017
Words that Changed The World, with Jeremy Irons and Carey Mulligan
For 15 years, Intelligence Squared has vigorously championed the spoken word. The finest speakers from across the globe have come to our stage — to argue, to move, to persuade and change minds. Their speeches epitomise the vital role that public speaking plays in our lives. To celebrate the power of oratory, we held a major event which will showcase how great speeches have swayed the course of history and demonstrate how, more than ever, we need them to help define our values and who we are.
Barack Obama’s director of speechwriting, Cody Keenan, shared his experience of helping craft the presidential speeches that moved the hearts and minds of millions around the world. Alongside him was be Philip Collins, Tony Blair’s former speechwriter and Times columnist, whose new book argues for the importance of speeches in protecting and promoting democracy. With Newsnight’s Emily Maitlis in the chair, Keenan and Collins unpacked the tricks and techniques that have been used by the…
Nov 30, 2017
Brave New World vs Ninety Eighty-Four
Dystopian books and films are in the zeitgeist. Reflecting the often dark mood of our times, Intelligence Squared are staging a contest between two of the greatest dystopian novels, Brave New World and Nineteen Eighty-Four. Each book captured the nightmares of the 1930s and 40s. But which vision looks more prescient to us now in the 21st century? Are we living in George Orwell’s sinister surveillance state? Or in Aldous Huxley’s vapid consumerist culture? To battle it out, we are bringing two celebrated writers, Adam Gopnik and Will Self, to our stage.
After Donald Trump was elected, it seemed as if Nineteen Eighty-Four had clinched it. The book shot to the top of the bestseller charts. It felt so ominously familiar. In Orwell’s dystopia, the corporate state controls the news, insisting that ‘whatever the Party holds to be truth is truth’. That sounds very like Trump’s ‘alternative facts’, and the war he is waging on the ‘fake news’ media. Orwell imagined t…
Nov 23, 2017
Michael Lewis On How Behavioural Economics Changed The World
Michael Lewis is one of the most successful non-fiction authors alive. He has been acclaimed as a genius by Malcolm Gladwell and as the best current writer in America by Tom Wolfe. In a series of titles that have sold 9 million copies worldwide, he has lifted the lid on the biggest stories of our times, enthralling readers with his knack for humanising complex subjects and giving them the page-turning urgency of the best thrillers. Liar's Poker is the cult classic that defined Wall Street during the 1980s; Moneyball was made into a film with Brad Pitt; Boomerang was a breakneck tour of Europe’s post-crunch economy; and The Big Short was made into a major Oscar-winning film starring Christian Bale, Ryan Gosling and Steve Carell.
In November 2017 Lewis came to the Intelligence Squared stage, where he was joined by Stephanie Flanders, former economics editor at the BBC. Discussing the themes of his latest book, The Undoing Project: A Friendship that Changed the World, t…
Nov 17, 2017
Jaron Lanier on the Future of Our Digital Lives
Jaron Lanier is one of the foremost digital visionaries of our times. One of Silicon Valley’s key early innovators, this dreadlocked digital prophet has been dubbed the ‘father of virtual reality’ and named as one of Time’s 100 most influential people in the world.
A former goatherd and midwife, and a virtuoso player of rare instruments, Lanier is sometimes called the ‘alternative Steve Jobs’. Neither a tech optimist nor a doom-monger, he is unique for always seeing the opportunities offered by technology as well as the dangers. In bestsellers such as You Are Not A Gadget and Who Owns the Future? he sounded an early warning about the perils of the internet – describing the tech giants as ‘spy agencies’ and ‘lords of the clouds’ for the way they reduce the value of humans to that of the data they provide. But he has also proposed another, more imaginative way to use technology. A ‘human-centered approach’, he argues, ‘leads to more interesting, more exotic…
Nov 9, 2017
Neville Chamberlain did the right thing: Appeasement of Hitler was the best policy for the British government in the 1930s
If ever a politician got a bum rap it’s Neville Chamberlain. He has gone down in history as the British prime minster whose policy of appeasement in the 1930s allowed the Nazis to flourish unopposed. He has never been forgiven for ceding part of Czechoslovakia to Hitler in the Munich Agreement of September 1938, and for returning home triumphantly declaring “peace for our time”. The very word “appeasement” is now synonymous with him, signifying a craven refusal to stand up to bullies and aggressors. What a contrast to Winston Churchill, the man who took over as prime minister and who has ever since been credited with restoring Britain’s backbone.
But is the standard verdict on Chamberlain a fair one? After all, memories of the slaughter of the First World War were still fresh in the minds of the British, who were desperate to avoid another conflagration. And anyway what choice did Chamberlain have in 1938? There’s a good case for arguing that the delay in hostilities eng…
Nov 2, 2017
Me, My Selfie and I: Self-Expression in the Digital Age
We are living in the age of selfie mania. Everyone from the Pope to Obama has appeared in one. In the past, only a handful of people were able to propagate their own images, whether it was artists like Rembrandt or Van Gogh painting self-portraits, society beauties commissioning fashionable artists to create a flattering likeness of themselves to be admired by a select few. But now, the smartphone has democratised visual self-expression. The instant transferability of photos to social media and imaging apps at our disposal allow us all to constantly ‘curate’ our look and present ourselves as we want the world to see us, recording ourselves day by day.
But what effect is this cultural addiction having on us? Do we look out at our exciting world as observers full of curiosity, or do we simply wonder how we look in it, and what filter would work best? Has the selfie reduced life to a popularity contest governed by likes, Instagram followers and Facebook friends? How do we deal with t…
Oct 26, 2017
Warfare: The New Rules - The Cyber Threat to States, Businesses and All of Us
We are at war: cyberwar. Cyber attacks are becoming the weapon of choice for states, terrorists and criminal organisations. Through the fragile, interconnected structure of the web, anything can be hacked – from national infrastructure to an individual’s identity. The recent worldwide Ransomware epidemic, for example, affected more than 200,000 computers in 150 countries, targeting individuals and global companies including Fedex. The nightmare scenario of an entire city’s physical infrastructure being brought down by cybercriminals is well within the realms of possibility. As tensions escalate, will they explode into traditional military conflict? Or – almost as frightening – will countries wall off their internets to protect themselves, bringing the dream of an global, open worldwide web to an end? To discuss this pressing topic, Intelligence Squared brought together a panel of the world’s top intelligence professionals and cyber experts: Jeh Johnson, former Homeland Secu…
Oct 19, 2017
Oslo: Can We Bring Peace Between Enemies?
On October 17th Intelligence Squared staged a pre-theatre discussion, ‘Can We Bring Peace Between Enemies?’ before a performance of the award-winning play Oslo. The play is a political thriller which tells the true story of two maverick Norwegian diplomats who coordinated top secret talks culminating in the groundbreaking Oslo Peace Accords. The discussion took place at the Harold Pinter theatre, and brought together James Rubin, former Assistant Secretary of State for the US State Department, William Sieghart, founder of an NGO which works with leaders from all parties on both sides of the divide in the Israel/Palestine conflict, and award-winning CNN correspondent Clarissa Ward. Chaired by Jonathan Freedland, they discussed their experience of against-the-odds peace negotiations and what lessons can be learned from the past that apply to the political climate today. To find out more about the play and book tickets, please visit www.OsloThePlay.com.
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Oct 12, 2017
Niall Ferguson on History's Hidden Networks
Have historians misunderstood everything? Have they missed the single greatest idea that best explains the past? Niall Ferguson is the preeminent historian of the ideas that define our time. He has challenged how we think about money, power, civilisation and empires. Now he wants to reimagine history itself. On October 4th, Ferguson came to the Intelligence Squared stage to unveil his new book, 'The Square and The Tower'. Historians have always focused on hierarchies, he argued – on the elites that wield power. Economists have concentrated on the marketplace – on the economic forces that shape change. These twin structures are symbolised for Ferguson by Siena’s market square, and its civic tower looming above. But beneath both square and tower runs something more deeply significant: the hidden networks of relationships, ideas and influence. Networks are the key to history. The greatest innovators have been ‘superhubs’ of connections. The most powerful states, empires and comp…
Oct 5, 2017
Randall Munroe with Marcus du Sautoy on Making the Complicated Simple
On 2nd October, Intelligence Squared brought together two of the world’s best-loved masters of explaining and popularising science, who lifted the lid on the technology we love and on the cutting edge of current scientific research. Randall Munroe is a physicist who once built robots for NASA. His webcomic xkcd uses simple cartoons and diagrams to make science funny, touching and incredibly clear. It gets a billion hits a year. In his latest series, Munroe has simplified the workings behind everything from space rockets to smartphones, while using only the thousand most common words in the English language. On stage with Munroe was Oxford’s professor for the public understanding of science Marcus du Sautoy, who has won a wide following through his bestselling books and TV programmes explaining the elegance and complexity of mathematics. While Munroe unpicked the detailed mechanics behind such technological breakthroughs as the large hadron collider at CERN, du Sautoy will examined…
Sep 28, 2017
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella on hitting refresh and seizing the opportunity of the digital revolution
Satya Nadella is one of the world’s most inspirational business leaders, as much a humanist as a technologist and executive. On September 28th, he comes to the Intelligence Squared stage to discuss his personal journey from a childhood in India to becoming CEO of Microsoft, the culture change that he has driven inside his legendary technology company, and the transformation that is coming to all our lives as we face the most disruptive wave of technology humankind has experienced: artificial intelligence, mixed reality, and quantum computing. While many people worry about the negative impact of exponential digital growth – from automation taking over our jobs to the increasing power that algorithms are having over our lives – Nadella will proffer his optimistic vision of the future, which he sets out in his forthcoming book Hit Refresh. He will argue that, as technology upends the status quo, the very human quality of empathy will become increasingly valuable. And he will explain…
Sep 21, 2017
Napoleon the Great? A debate with Andrew Roberts, Adam Zamoyski and Jeremy Paxman
How should we remember Napoleon, the man of obscure Corsican birth who rose to become emperor of the French and briefly master of Europe? In 2014, as the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo approached, Intelligence Squared brought together two of Britain’s finest historians to debate how we should assess Napoleon’s life and legacy. Was he a military genius and father of the French state, or a blundering nonentity who created his own enduring myth? Was his goal of uniting the European continent under a common political system the forerunner of the modern ‘European dream’? Or was he an incompetent despot, a warning from history of the dangers of overarching grand plans? Championing Napoleon was historian Andrew Roberts, author of, among other books, 'Napoleon the Great', 'Napoleon and Wellington', and 'Waterloo: Napoleon's Last Gamble'. Opposing him was fellow historian Adam Zamoyski, author of, among other books, '1812. Napoleon's Fatal March on Moscow' and 'Rites of Pea…
Sep 14, 2017
The Great Realignment: Britain's Political Identity Crisis
Is Britain facing an identity crisis? The traditional dividing lines of left and right seem to be dissolving into new political tribes – metropolitan liberals versus the culturally rooted working classes, graduates versus the uneducated, the young versus the old. In June's general election, traditional Labour heartlands like Mansfield went Conservative, while wealthy areas such as Kensington swung to Corbyn. Britain seems utterly confused about its politics. As the far left and Eurosceptic right have gained strength, much of the country has been left feeling politically homeless. So what’s going on? How will these new alignments play out as the country faces the historic challenge of leaving the EU and forging a new relationship with the rest of the world? Are the Conservatives really up to the job, as they bicker over what kind of Brexit they want and jostle over who should succeed Theresa May? Is it now unthinkable that Jeremy Corbyn could be the next prime minister? Looming over…
Sep 7, 2017
Sam Harris on the Science of Good and Evil
Where do our ideas about morality and meaning come from? Most people - from religious extremists to secular scientists - would agree on one point: that science has nothing to say on the subject of human values. Indeed, science's failure to explain meaning and morality has become the primary justification for religious faith and the reason why even many non-believers feel obliged to accord respect to the beliefs of the devout. In this podcast, recorded at our event in April 2011, Sam Harris, the American philosopher and neuroscientist, argues that these views are mistaken - that amidst all the competing arguments about how we should lead our lives, science can show us that there are right and wrong answers. This means that moral relativism is mistaken and that there can be neither a Christian nor a Muslim morality - and that ultimately science can and should determine how best to live our lives. After an opening speech, Revd Dr Giles Fraser, former-canon chancellor of St Paul's Cathedra…
Aug 31, 2017
Is London too rich to be interesting?
It used to be so easy. You left university, came to London and got yourself a flatshare in one of the cheaper areas: Notting Hill, Maida Vale or Highgate. Living was cheap and if it took you a while to find out what you really wanted to do with your life you could drift about a bit and get by. But now thanks to vast City bonuses and the influx of foreign billionaires, London house prices have soared beyond the reach of all but the seriously rich. Parts of Notting Hill and Kensington have become ‘buy to leave’ ghost towns, the houses boarded up and showing no signs of life. Shoreditch and Hackney, not long ago the hip new outposts for musicians and artists, are now home to well-paid professionals. And London is the worse for it. That’s the argument of those who worry that London is becoming too rich to be interesting. But is there any evidence that the city is growing bland? Quite the reverse. On any evening almost wherever you go London’s streets are abuzz with life. People her…
Aug 24, 2017
Atheism is the new Fundamentalism, with Richard Dawkins and Richard Harries
Does God exist? Has atheism replaced religion as the new faith of the secular age? Are today's atheists as blinkered and dogmatic as they claim religious believers to be? This Intelligence Squared debate from November 2009 was recorded at Wellington College. Arguing for the motion were former Bishop of Oxford Richard Harries and Editor of the Daily Telegraph Charles Moore. Arguing against the motion were evolutionary biologist and science author Richard Dawkins and philospher AC Grayling. The debate was chaired by historian, author and Master of Wellington College Anthony Seldon.
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Aug 17, 2017
The Elders in conversation with Jon Snow (Pres. Jimmy Carter, Archbp. Desmond Tutu & Mary Robinson)
Independent, free now from the constraints of office, with a wealth of experience and the ability to open doors at the highest level, The Elders are helping tackle some of the world's most intractable problems. Brought together by Nelson Mandela in 2007, The Elders use their collective experience and influence to promote peace, justice and human rights worldwide, using private advocacy and public diplomacy. They include the former holders of some of the world's most important and demanding posts, as well as individuals with an extraordinary track record on peace-making, reconciliation and driving social change. To celebrate the group's fifth anniversary, in July 2012 Intelligence Squared hosted three of the Elders on stage in London at the Barbican Centre. We were joined by Former President of the United States Jimmy Carter, the first female president of Ireland and former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson, and Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town, Nobel Peace Laureate, a…
Aug 10, 2017
The Allied bombing of German cities in World War II was unjustifiable
No one doubts the bravery of the thousands of men who flew and died in Bomber Command. The death rate was an appalling 44%. And yet until the opening of a monument in Green Park in 2012 they had received no official recognition, with many historians claiming that the offensive was immoral and unjustified. How can it be right, they argue, for the Allies to have deliberately targeted German cities causing the death of hundreds of thousands of civilians? Even on a strategic level the offensive failed to bring about the collapse of civilian morale that was its intention. Others, however, maintain that the attacks made a decisive contribution to the Allied victory. Vast numbers of German soldiers and planes were diverted from the eastern and western fronts, while Allied bombing attacks virtually destroyed the German air force, clearing the way for the invasion of the continent. Arguing for the motion were AC Grayling, philosopher and author of 'Among the Dead Cities: Is the Targeting of Civ…
Aug 4, 2017
Britain Should Not Have Fought in the First World War
The First World War is not called the Great War for nothing. It was the single most decisive event in modern history, as well as one of the bloodiest: by the time the war ended, some nine million soldiers had been killed. It was also a historical full stop, marking the definitive end of the Victorian era and the advent of a new age of uncertainty. By 1918, the old order had fallen: the Bolsheviks had seized power in Russia; the German, Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman empires had been destroyed; and even the victorious Allied powers had suffered devastating losses. It was supposed to be the war to end all wars. And yet barely two decades later, the world was again plunged into conflict. Little wonder then that historians still cannot agree whether Britain's engagement was worth it. For some, the war was a vitally important crusade against Prussian militarism. Had we stayed out, they argue, the result would have been an oppressive German-dominated Europe, leaving the British Empire isolated…
Jul 27, 2017
Marina Abramović on art, performance, time and nothingness
Marina Abramović is the most celebrated performance artist in the world. Over a career spanning four decades she has pioneered performance as an art form and accumulated a devoted following that includes Jay-Z and Lady Gaga. Using her body as both subject and object, Abramović explores notions of nothingness and time, and draws in the audience as part of her performance. At her 2010 exhibition, ‘The Artist is Present’, at New York’s MOMA visitors were invited to sit silently opposite her and gaze into her eyes for an unspecified amount of time. Every day people broke down in tears. Her exhibition ‘512 Hours’ featured featured only herself, the empty gallery, a few props, and the audience who both literally and metaphorically left their baggage at the gate: bags, phones, iPads etc were left in lockers before entry. Warned only to expect the unexpected, visitors were invited to give testimony to their experiences on video, and many have spoken of their overwhelming sense of p…
Jul 20, 2017
The EU is Failing Europe's Citizens
In the eyes of pro-Europeans, the founding of the EU after WWII secured peace across the continent for decades. But one needn’t look further than Brexit to see that the EU is teetering on the edge. By showing itself blind to the concerns of ordinary people and incapable of reform, has the European Union failed its citizens? Or should we ignore the doomsayers and march ahead with more European integration? Listen to the arguments from our inaugural Intelligence Squared debate in Berlin.
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Jul 13, 2017
Francis Fukuyama with David Runciman - Democracy: Even the Best Ideas Can Fail
In September 2014, Professor Francis Fukuyama came to the Intelligence Squared stage to square up with one of Britain’s most brilliant political thinkers, David Runciman, to assess how democracy is faring in 2014. We certainly haven’t attained the rosy future that some thought Fukuyama was predicting in his book 'The End of History and The Last Man' in 1992: authoritarianism is entrenched in Russia and China, in the last decade the developed democracies have experienced severe financial crises and rising inequality, and Islamic State militants are wreaking havoc in Iraq and Syria. Is religion becoming the new politics? How will the technological revolution continue to impact our politics? And in the West are we in danger of becoming complacent about the challenges to democracy that we face?
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