Intelligence Squared

Understanding how the diversity of life on earth came to be is one of the greatest puzzles in biology. In his new book, The Tree of Life: Solving Science's Greatest Puzzle, Professor Max Telford charts a four-billion-year journey through the evolution of our planet, from humans, fish and butterflies to oak trees, mushrooms and bacteria. On today’s episode, Professor Telford sheds light on an epic history of the family tree that records the relationships between every living thing - from Darwin’s early sketches to the vast computer generated diagrams scientists are building today, this is an epic history of the gigantic  Professor Max Telford is an evolutionary biologist and the Jodrell Chair of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy at University College London, where he founded the Centre for Life's Origins and Evolution and the Telford Lab.  Joining Telford to discuss the book is Güneş Taylor, Fellow at the Centre for Reproductive Health and science communicator. If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all our full conversations, plus all of our Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you'll also receive: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes, wherever you get your podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events  ...  Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series … Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access. … Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more. https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 24 April 2025

What do we owe to the dead? What responsibilities do we inherit from the past, and how do they intersect with the crises of the present? In an era of ecological collapse and cultural dislocation, how can we meaningfully honour ancestral memory when the material sites of remembrance - tombs, villages, traditions - are themselves vanishing? In this episode, sociologist and author Alice Mah joins us to discuss her new book, Red Pockets, a deeply personal yet globally resonant exploration of ancestry, ecological anxiety, and cultural memory. Mah is a writer and Professor of Urban and Environmental Studies at the University of Glasgow. Originally from a small town in northern British Columbia, she has a long-standing interest in ecology and place. Drawing on her experiences tracing her family’s lineage from the rice-growing villages of South China, through the Chinatowns of Western Canada where she was raised, to the post-industrial landscapes of Scotland and England where she now lives, Mah reflects on what it means to reckon with a legacy of silence, displacement, and environmental degradation. As Qingming Festival tomb-sweeping traditions fade and wildfires rage across ancestral lands, Mah’s meditation on the “hungry ghosts” of forgotten obligations is both an intimate memoir and a cultural history of rupture.  Joining Mah to discuss environmental sociology, intergenerational responsibility, and the often overlooked spiritual dimensions of ecological grief, is journalist and book critic Mythili Rao. If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all our full conversations, plus all of our Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you'll also receive: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes, wherever you get your podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events  ...  Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series … Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access. … Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more. https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 23 April 2025

What if a single ancient language lay at the root of nearly half of the world’s spoken tongues? In today’s episode, acclaimed science writer and journalist Laura Spinney joins us to discuss her new book Proto: How One Ancient Language Went Global. In Proto, Spinney takes us deep into the mystery of Proto-Indo-European (PIE) - a prehistoric language that no one alive has heard, yet whose echoes can still be found in words spoken from Ireland to India. From the English word star, to Icelandic stjarna, to the Iranic stare - Spinney reveals how echoes of a prehistoric language still ripple across continents and centuries. Along the way, she meets the archaeologists, linguists, and geneticists working to uncover the origins of this linguistic Big Bang - and what it tells us about human history, identity, and movement. Joining Spinney in discussion is global historian Caroline Dodds Pennock, to retrace the paths of nomads, monks, warriors, and kings across the Eurasian steppe, the Caucasus, the Silk Roads, and beyond.  If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all our full conversations, plus all of our Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you'll also receive: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes, wherever you get your podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events  ...  Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series … Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access. … Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more. https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 21 April 2025

Jane Austen created the definitive picture of Georgian England. No writer matches Austen’s sensitive ear for the hypocrisy and irony lurking beneath the genteel conversation. That’s the argument of the Janeites, but to the aficionados of Emily Brontë they are the misguided worshippers of a circumscribed mind. In Wuthering Heights, Brontë dispensed with Austen’s niceties and the upper-middle class drawing rooms of Bath and the home counties. Her backdrop is the savage Yorkshire moors, her subject the all-consuming passions of the heart. To help you decide who should be crowned queen of English letters we have the lined up the best advocates to make the case for each writer. In this event, chaired by author and critic Erica Wagner, we invited guests including author Kate Mosse, Professor and author John Mullan, and actors Mariah Gale, Samuel West and Dominic West, to discuss each writer's influence. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 20 April 2025

Jane Austen created the definitive picture of Georgian England. No writer matches Austen’s sensitive ear for the hypocrisy and irony lurking beneath the genteel conversation. That’s the argument of the Janeites, but to the aficionados of Emily Brontë they are the misguided worshippers of a circumscribed mind. In Wuthering Heights, Brontë dispensed with Austen’s niceties and the upper-middle class drawing rooms of Bath and the home counties. Her backdrop is the savage Yorkshire moors, her subject the all-consuming passions of the heart. To help you decide who should be crowned queen of English letters we have the lined up the best advocates to make the case for each writer. In this event, chaired by author and critic Erica Wagner, we invited guests including author Kate Mosse, Professor and author John Mullan, and actors Mariah Gale, Samuel West and Dominic West, to discuss each writer's influence. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 20 April 2025

Elif Shafak’s award-winning novels are celebrated globally. Her work has been translated into 58 languages, and her latest, There Are Rivers in the Sky, is a testament to the power of storytelling across borders and cultures. This is an epic story of interconnection. Spanning ancient Mesopotamia to contemporary London, Shafak charts the lifespan of a raindrop, as it is consumed, subsumed and transformed across continents and centuries. This sweeping narrative is anchored by the lives of three characters, all of whom live on the banks of the Thames or the Tigris. Their lives are all touched by the Epic of Gilgamesh, a poem written during the late second millennium BC. In April 2025 Shafak was be joined by historian Peter Frankopan on the Intelligence Squared stage. In his acclaimed The Earth Transformed, Frankopan explores how the natural environment has shaped the development and demise of civilisations across time. Here he joined Shafak to shed light on the history of ancient Mesopotamia and the weaving of epic narratives across time and place. ------ If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all our full conversations, plus all of our Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you'll also receive: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes, wherever you get your podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events  ...  Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series … Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access. … Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more. https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 18 April 2025

What if the biggest threat to liberal democracy isn’t authoritarianism - but our failure to build? On today’s episode we’re joined by journalist Derek Thompson to unpack Abundance, a new vision of progressive politics co-authored by Thompson and Ezra Klein.  In it, Klein and Thompson trace the political, economic, and cultural barriers to progress and propose a path toward a politics of abundance.  Derek Thompson is a staff writer at The Atlantic, host of the Plain English podcast, and the author of the international bestseller Hit Makers. Carl Miller, writer and fellow at Demos, joins Thompson to discuss the book, and everything from housing policy to the failures of de-growth. If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all our full conversations, plus all of our Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you'll also receive: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes, wherever you get your podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events  ...  Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series … Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access. … Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more. https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 16 April 2025

On today’s episode: the untold history of Russia’s deep cover spy programme. Shaun Walker is an international correspondent for The Guardian. He reported from Moscow for more than a decade, and his coverage of Russia's war in Ukraine was shortlisted for the Foreign Reporter of the Year category at the British 2023 Press Awards.  In his new book, The Illegals: Russia's Most Audacious Spies and the Plot to Infiltrate the West, Walker explores the untold history of Russia’s deep cover spy programme, following its evolution from the talented “great Illegals” of the 1920s and ’30s up to the 21st century, when agents maintained their fake identities and loyalties even after the fall of the Soviet Union. These deep-cover missions - some remarkable feats of espionage, others high-profile failures - could last for decades. Walker shines new light on the long arc of the Soviet experiment and its messy aftermath - and how that hidden history shaped Russia and the West. Joining him to discuss the book is Carl Miller, the journalist, co-founder of the Centre for the Analysis of Social Media at Demos, and host of crime podcast Kill List. If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all our full conversations, plus all of our Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you'll also receive: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes, wherever you get your podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events  ...  Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series … Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access. … Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more. https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 13 April 2025

These days, so much of our lives takes place online - but what about our afterlives? A recent study by the Oxford Internet Institute predicts that the number of deceased Facebook users could outnumber the living by 2070. As AI advances, a debate is growing over digital remains and what should be done with the vast amounts of data we leave behind. In this episode, Carl Öhman, author of The Afterlife of Data: What Happens to Your Information When You Die and Why You Should Care, explores the ethics, politics, and future of our digital identities. Named one of The Economist's Best Books of 2024, Öhman’s work sheds light on who truly owns our data after death - and whether we should have a say in our digital legacy. Carl Öhman is an assistant professor of political science at Uppsala University, Sweden. His research spans several topics, including the politics and ethics of AI, deepfakes and digital remains. He is joined in conversation by Stephanie Hare, researcher, broadcaster, and author of Technology is Not Neutral: A Short Guide to Technology Ethics.  If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all our full conversations, plus all of our Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you'll also receive: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes, wherever you get your podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events  ...  Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series … Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access. … Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more. https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 12 April 2025

On today’s episode, Dr Moudhy Al-Rashid sheds light on the history of Ancient Mesopotamia. Mesopotamia, the land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, gave rise to writing, literature, astronomy, and law - shaping human history in ways that still resonate today. Drawing on her new book Between Two Rivers, Al-Rashid brings to life the stories of ordinary people from thousands of years ago: working mothers, enslaved individuals seeking freedom, and even a princess who may have founded the first museum. In conversation with archeologist and author Rebecca Wragg Sykes, Al-Rashid discusses the earliest written records, from economic tallies to personal letters, and explores how Mesopotamians grappled with timeless human concerns - love, illness, ambition, and the quest for knowledge. Why does Mesopotamia often remain in the shadow of Egypt and Greece? And what can we learn from this ancient civilization today? Dr Moudhy Al-Rashid is an Honorary Fellow at the University of Oxford’s Wolfson College, where she specialises in the languages and history of ancient Mesopotamia. She has written for academic and popular journals, including History Today, on topics as diverse as mental illness in ancient Mesopotamia to Late Assyrian scholarly networks. If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all our full conversations, plus all of our Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you'll also receive: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes, wherever you get your podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events  ...  Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series … Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access. … Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more. https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 10 April 2025

We are entering a new era of global instability. The world is facing an era of war, climate change, great power rivalry and unprecedented technological advancement. In April 2025, geopolitical expert and bestselling author Robert Kaplan came to Intelligence Squared to analyse where the world is heading in 2025 and beyond. Drawing from the themes of his new book Waste Land, he argued that history can help guide us through a world that is changing at an unprecedented pace. Kaplan drew comparisons between today’s challenges and the Weimar Republic, the post-World War I democratic German government that arguably paved the way for Nazism in the 1930s. Just as in Weimar, which faced crises inextricably bound up with global systems, the singular dilemmas of the twenty-first century—pandemic disease, recession, mass migration, the destabilizing effects of large-scale democracy and great power conflicts, and the intimate bonds created by technology—mean that every national disaster has the potential to become a global crisis, too. According to Kaplan, solutions lie in prioritising order in governing systems, and he will argue that stability and historic liberalism rather than mass democracy will save global populations from a chaotic future. ---- If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all our full ad free conversations, plus all of our Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you'll also receive: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes, wherever you get your podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events  ...  Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series … Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access. … Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more. https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 8 April 2025

We are entering a new era of global instability. The world is facing an era of war, climate change, great power rivalry and unprecedented technological advancement. In April 2025, geopolitical expert and bestselling author Robert Kaplan came to Intelligence Squared to analyse where the world is heading in 2025 and beyond. Drawing from the themes of his new book Waste Land, he argued that history can help guide us through a world that is changing at an unprecedented pace. Kaplan drew comparisons between today’s challenges and the Weimar Republic, the post-World War I democratic German government that arguably paved the way for Nazism in the 1930s. Just as in Weimar, which faced crises inextricably bound up with global systems, the singular dilemmas of the twenty-first century—pandemic disease, recession, mass migration, the destabilizing effects of large-scale democracy and great power conflicts, and the intimate bonds created by technology—mean that every national disaster has the potential to become a global crisis, too. According to Kaplan, solutions lie in prioritising order in governing systems, and he will argue that stability and historic liberalism rather than mass democracy will save global populations from a chaotic future. ---- This is the first instalment of a two-part episode. If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all our full ad free conversations, plus all of our Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you'll also receive: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes, wherever you get your podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events  ...  Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series … Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access. … Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more. https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 6 April 2025

They are the titans of the spy novel, who have elevated thrillers to the level of literary fiction. Much imitated, much adapted by the big and small screens, Ian Fleming and John Le Carré have painted our picture of post-war espionage: Fleming through the dashing figure of James Bond, with his lush locations and Martinis as icy as his heart; Le Carré through his damning portrait of the British secret service drawn from his own time in MI5 and MI6. But which of the two novelists is the greater? In this thrilling contest, Fleming’s case was made by Anthony Horowitz, creator of the bestselling Alex Rider spy novels and author of the official Bond continuation novel Trigger Mortis. Championing Le Carré – whose memoir about his life as a former spy currently sits in the bestseller lists – was David Farr, Emmy-nominated screenwriter of the BBC’s adaptation of The Night Manager. Actors Lesley Manville, Simon Callow, Matthew Lewis and Alex Macqueen joined us to bring both authors' works to life along with our host, author and critic Erica Wagner. ----  If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all our full ad free conversations, plus all of our Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you'll also receive: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes, wherever you get your podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events  ...  Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series … Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access. … Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more. https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 5 April 2025

In 1957 John Lennon and Paul McCartney were two ordinary teenagers who met in suburban Liverpool and decided to play rock and roll together. Twenty-three years later that friendship came to a tragic end when Lennon was murdered. But those 23 years changed the world. Lennon and McCartney became global stars, created a body of work that has never been matched in popular music, and arguably had more influence on our culture than any other figures in the past century. InMarch 2025 writer Ian Leslie came to Intelligence Squared to tell a new history of the world’s most influential creative relationship and explain why Lennon and McCartney were a combination of friends, rivals and collaborators. Drawing from his new book John and Paul: A Love Story in Songs, Leslie explored how both Beatles had the fabric of their world ruptured at a young age, and longed to make emotional connections – with each other, and with audiences. The pop song was a vessel into which they poured feelings of grief and euphoria and everything in between. When they couldn’t speak what they felt, they sang it. After the break-up of their group, they maintained a musical dialogue at a distance, in songs full of recrimination, regret, and affection. Leslie traced the twists and turns of the Lennon/McCartney relationship through the music it produced and the huge impact it still has on the world today. If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all our full ad free conversations, plus all of our Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you'll also receive: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes, wherever you get your podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events  ...  Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series … Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access. … Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more. https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 3 April 2025

In 1957 John Lennon and Paul McCartney were two ordinary teenagers who met in suburban Liverpool and decided to play rock and roll together. Twenty-three years later that friendship came to a tragic end when Lennon was murdered. But those 23 years changed the world. Lennon and McCartney became global stars, created a body of work that has never been matched in popular music, and arguably had more influence on our culture than any other figures in the past century. InMarch 2025 writer Ian Leslie came to Intelligence Squared to tell a new history of the world’s most influential creative relationship and explain why Lennon and McCartney were a combination of friends, rivals and collaborators. Drawing from his new book John and Paul: A Love Story in Songs, Leslie explored how both Beatles had the fabric of their world ruptured at a young age, and longed to make emotional connections – with each other, and with audiences. The pop song was a vessel into which they poured feelings of grief and euphoria and everything in between. When they couldn’t speak what they felt, they sang it. After the break-up of their group, they maintained a musical dialogue at a distance, in songs full of recrimination, regret, and affection. Leslie traced the twists and turns of the Lennon/McCartney relationship through the music it produced and the huge impact it still has on the world today. This is the first instalment of a two-part episode. If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all our full ad free conversations, plus all of our Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you'll also receive: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes, wherever you get your podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events  ...  Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series … Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access. … Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more. https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 1 April 2025

Unpaid domestic labor has long been the invisible backbone of economies worldwide - but what if it were compensated? In this episode, historian Emily Callaci takes us inside the Wages for Housework movement, a bold and controversial campaign that emerged in the 1970s.  Drawing on her new book, Wages for Housework: The Story of a Movement, an Idea, a Promise, Callaci tells the story of this campaign by exploring the lives and ideas of its key creators, tracing their wildly creative political vision over the past five decades.  Joining Callaci to discuss the history, impact, and lasting relevance of this revolutionary idea is Hannah Dawson, historian of ideas at King’s College London and editor of The Penguin Book of Feminist Writing. ------ If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all our full conversations, plus all of our Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you'll also receive: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes, wherever you get your podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events  ...  Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series … Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access. … Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more. https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 30 March 2025

Between 1199 and 1399, English politics was high drama. These two centuries witnessed savage political blood-letting - including civil war, deposition, the murder of kings and the ruthless execution of rebel lords - as well as international warfare, devastating national pandemic, economic crisis and the first major peasant uprising in English history. In today’s episode, historians Caroline Burt and Richard Partington discuss the six Plantagenet kings who ruled during these two centuries, and the significance of these monarchs to England's emergent statehood. Drawing on original accounts and new scholarship, they explore the resonances between government, international relations, and the abilities, egos and ambitions of political actors, then and now.  Burt and Partington are joined in conversation by medieval historian and author, Helen Carr. If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all our full conversations, plus all of our Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you'll also receive: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes, wherever you get your podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events  ...  Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series … Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access. … Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more. https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 30 March 2025

Reid Hoffman is one of the world’s most influential and successful entrepreneurs. The co-founder of LinkedIn, Manas AI, Inflection AI and part of the original team at PayPal, he has built companies that have shaped the internet and AI revolutions of the twenty-first century. As part of Reid’s staunch commitment to Democracy, he was a supporter of Kamala Harris in the 2024 US election. In March 2025, Hoffman returned to the Intelligence Squared stage to discuss how AI is rapidly changing our world and how we can use it inclusively to improve our lives and create positive change. Drawing from the themes of his new book Superagency: What Could Possibly Go Right with Our AI Future, he acknowledged the challenges of disinformation and dislocation in the jobs market but argued that we need to be optimistic about the immense potential of AI to increase individual agency and create better outcomes for society as a whole. Hoffman argued that we must embrace AI’s most important opportunities: AI tutors that can personalise education for each student; machines that can rapidly discover cures for diseases like Alzheimer’s and cancer; and AI-crafted inventions that can prevent climate catastrophe. Hoffman set out a positive vision for an AI world where these possibilities, and many more, become a reality.  ------ If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all our full ad free conversations, plus all of our Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you'll also receive: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes, wherever you get your podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events  ...  Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series … Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access. … Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more. https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 28 March 2025

Reid Hoffman is one of the world’s most influential and successful entrepreneurs. The co-founder of LinkedIn, Manas AI, Inflection AI and part of the original team at PayPal, he has built companies that have shaped the internet and AI revolutions of the twenty-first century. As part of Reid’s staunch commitment to Democracy, he was a supporter of Kamala Harris in the 2024 US election. In March 2025, Hoffman returned to the Intelligence Squared stage to discuss how AI is rapidly changing our world and how we can use it inclusively to improve our lives and create positive change. Drawing from the themes of his new book Superagency: What Could Possibly Go Right with Our AI Future, he acknowledged the challenges of disinformation and dislocation in the jobs market but argued that we need to be optimistic about the immense potential of AI to increase individual agency and create better outcomes for society as a whole. Hoffman argued that we must embrace AI’s most important opportunities: AI tutors that can personalise education for each student; machines that can rapidly discover cures for diseases like Alzheimer’s and cancer; and AI-crafted inventions that can prevent climate catastrophe. Hoffman set out a positive vision for an AI world where these possibilities, and many more, become a reality.  ------ This is the first instalment of a two-part episode. If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all our full ad free conversations, plus all of our Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you'll also receive: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes, wherever you get your podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events  ...  Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series … Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access. … Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more. https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 26 March 2025

Reid Hoffman is one of the world’s most influential and successful entrepreneurs. The co-founder of LinkedIn, Manas AI, Inflection AI and part of the original team at PayPal, he has built companies that have shaped the internet and AI revolutions of the twenty-first century. As part of Reid’s staunch commitment to Democracy, he was a supporter of Kamala Harris in the 2024 US election. In March 2025, Hoffman returned to the Intelligence Squared stage to discuss how AI is rapidly changing our world and how we can use it inclusively to improve our lives and create positive change. Drawing from the themes of his new book Superagency: What Could Possibly Go Right with Our AI Future, he acknowledged the challenges of disinformation and dislocation in the jobs market but argued that we need to be optimistic about the immense potential of AI to increase individual agency and create better outcomes for society as a whole. Hoffman argued that we must embrace AI’s most important opportunities: AI tutors that can personalise education for each student; machines that can rapidly discover cures for diseases like Alzheimer’s and cancer; and AI-crafted inventions that can prevent climate catastrophe. Hoffman set out a positive vision for an AI world where these possibilities, and many more, become a reality.  ------ This is the first instalment of a two-part episode. If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all our full ad free conversations, plus all of our Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you'll also receive: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes, wherever you get your podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events  ...  Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series … Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access. … Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more. https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 26 March 2025

Music has become increasingly playlisted, personalized, and autoplayed. But how did we get here, and what does it mean for artists, listeners, and the music industry as a whole? In today’s episode, journalist Liz Pelly unpacks the origins of Spotify, its meteoric rise, and its transformative impact on the way we create and experience music. Whilst researching for her new book, Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist, Pelly conducted over one hundred interviews with industry insiders, former Spotify employees, and musicians. Liz Pelly is a music journalist and author living in New York. Her essays and reporting have appeared in the Baffler, where she is a contributing editor, as well as in the Guardian, NPR, Rolling Stone and Pitchfork. She’s joined by Timandra Harkness, writer, presenter and author of Technology is Not the Problem, for a conversation on the ethics of streaming, the economics of playlists, and the hidden costs of the “perfect” listening experience. If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all our full conversations, plus all of our Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you'll also receive: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes, wherever you get your podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events  ...  Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series … Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access. … Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more. https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 24 March 2025

The Bengal Famine is the forgotten story of the Second World War. Between 1943 and 1944, at least three million Indians, all of whom were British subjects, died from starvation or diseases linked to malnutrition. It is one of the darkest chapters in colonial history, yet the memory of those millions who perished is not broadly nurtured in Britain, India or Bangladesh. There is no memorial, museum, or archive dedicated to them anywhere in the world – not even a plaque. Who better to shed light on these untold stories than the award-winning journalist Kavita Puri? Described by The Radio Times as ‘our foremost chronicler of the lives of British South Asians,’ Puri has received critical acclaim for her radio series and writing on Indian history. In March 2025 she joined author Sathnam Sanghera live on stage to uncover this tragic chapter of British and Indian history. Drawing on the themes of her hit podcast Three Million, Puri told the dramatic and complex story of British colonialism, Indian nationalism, global war and the end of empire, while challenging national mythologies, the prevailing British narrative of World War II, and what we understand a hero to be. Puri also discussed the extensive archival research that went into the making of the podcast, and the new discoveries uncovered by forensically piecing together the stories of eyewitnesses and survivors. ---- If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all our full ad free conversations, plus all of our Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you'll also receive: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes, wherever you get your podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events  ...  Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series … Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access. … Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more. https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 23 March 2025

The Bengal Famine is the forgotten story of the Second World War. Between 1943 and 1944, at least three million Indians, all of whom were British subjects, died from starvation or diseases linked to malnutrition. It is one of the darkest chapters in colonial history, yet the memory of those millions who perished is not broadly nurtured in Britain, India or Bangladesh. There is no memorial, museum, or archive dedicated to them anywhere in the world – not even a plaque. Who better to shed light on these untold stories than the award-winning journalist Kavita Puri? Described by The Radio Times as ‘our foremost chronicler of the lives of British South Asians,’ Puri has received critical acclaim for her radio series and writing on Indian history. In March 2025 she joined author Sathnam Sanghera live on stage to uncover this tragic chapter of British and Indian history. Drawing on the themes of her hit podcast Three Million, Puri told the dramatic and complex story of British colonialism, Indian nationalism, global war and the end of empire, while challenging national mythologies, the prevailing British narrative of World War II, and what we understand a hero to be. Puri also discussed the extensive archival research that went into the making of the podcast, and the new discoveries uncovered by forensically piecing together the stories of eyewitnesses and survivors. ------ This is the first instalment of a two-part episode. If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all our full ad free conversations, plus all of our Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you'll also receive: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes, wherever you get your podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events  ...  Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series … Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access. … Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more. https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 21 March 2025

Ed Winters, known to his millions of online followers as Earthling Ed, has perfected the art of persuasion. During his extensive career as an activist and educator, he has made the case for veganism everywhere from university campuses to live on GB News. His compelling and informative content has garnered millions of views, and earned him a dedicated following across online platforms. Earthling Ed joined us live at the Kiln Theatre to share his insights on how we can all become better conversationalists and critical thinkers. How can we productively engage with those who have opposing views? How can emotionally charged conversations become productive? And how can we engage others to create a more ethical, kind and sustainable world? Drawing on the new paperback edition of his bestselling book, How to Argue with a Meat Eater (And Win Every Time), Ed discussed how to debunk and respond to every argument against veganism: from classic conspiracy theories and questions over a lack of protein to newer issues surrounding processed vegan substitutes and more. If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all our full conversations, plus all of our Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you'll also receive: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes, wherever you get your podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events  ...  Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series … Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access. … Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more. https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 19 March 2025

Ed Winters, known to his millions of online followers as Earthling Ed, has perfected the art of persuasion. During his extensive career as an activist and educator, he has made the case for veganism everywhere from university campuses to live on GB News. His compelling and informative content has garnered millions of views, and earned him a dedicated following across online platforms. Earthling Ed joined us live at the Kiln Theatre to share his insights on how we can all become better conversationalists and critical thinkers. How can we productively engage with those who have opposing views? How can emotionally charged conversations become productive? And how can we engage others to create a more ethical, kind and sustainable world? Drawing on the new paperback edition of his bestselling book, How to Argue with a Meat Eater (And Win Every Time), Ed discussed how to debunk and respond to every argument against veganism: from classic conspiracy theories and questions over a lack of protein to newer issues surrounding processed vegan substitutes and more. If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all our full conversations, plus all of our Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you'll also receive: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes, wherever you get your podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events  ...  Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series … Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access. … Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more. https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 17 March 2025

This event was part of our Age of the Strongman series. Click here to see the other events in the series: https://www.intelligencesquared.com/the-age-of-the-strongman/. ---- War in Ukraine. Interference in democratic elections. The sponsorship of extremist politics to destabilise Europe. In recent years, Vladimir Putin has waged a relentless campaign to expand his influence beyond Russia’s borders and to undermine Western democracy. But how did he come to have such control over Russia – and what is it that he really wants? In March 2025 Catherine Belton, acclaimed journalist and author of the bestselling book Putin’s People: How the KGB Took Back Russia and Then Took on the West joined us live from Kyiv for this installment of our series, The Age of the Strongman. Drawing on years of investigative reporting, Belton revealed how Putin’s rise was orchestrated by a network of former KGB officers and oligarchs who used economic power, fear and corruption to install him in the Kremlin. She explored how this model of governance and ‘strongman leadership’ has been exported globally and what the consequences continue to be for us all.  The event was chaired by Gideon Rachman, Chief Foreign Affairs Commentator for the Financial Times. ----- If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all our full ad free conversations, plus all of our Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you'll also receive: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes, wherever you get your podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events  ...  Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series … Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access. … Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more. https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 16 March 2025

This event was part of our Age of the Strongman series. Click here to see the other events in the series: https://www.intelligencesquared.com/the-age-of-the-strongman/. ---- War in Ukraine. Interference in democratic elections. The sponsorship of extremist politics to destabilise Europe. In recent years, Vladimir Putin has waged a relentless campaign to expand his influence beyond Russia’s borders and to undermine Western democracy. But how did he come to have such control over Russia – and what is it that he really wants? In March 2025 Catherine Belton, acclaimed journalist and author of the bestselling book Putin’s People: How the KGB Took Back Russia and Then Took on the West joined us live from Kyiv for this installment of our series, The Age of the Strongman. Drawing on years of investigative reporting, Belton revealed how Putin’s rise was orchestrated by a network of former KGB officers and oligarchs who used economic power, fear and corruption to install him in the Kremlin. She explored how this model of governance and ‘strongman leadership’ has been exported globally and what the consequences continue to be for us all.  The event was chaired by Gideon Rachman, Chief Foreign Affairs Commentator for the Financial Times. ----- This is the first instalment of a two-part episode. If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all our full ad free conversations, plus all of our Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you'll also receive: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes, wherever you get your podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events  ...  Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series … Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access. … Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more. https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 14 March 2025

George Mpanga, known as George the Poet, is seen by many as one of the UK’s most compelling voices in poetry, music, and social commentary.  Originally hailing from St Raphael’s Estate in Neasden, Mpanga has spent over a decade working at the intersection of art and politics reflecting on his upbringing to shed light on how race and inequality still shape Britain today. His debut poetry collection in 2015, Search Party, tackled the north-south divide, the housing crisis and critiqued government anti-immigration policies, to widespread acclaim. Since then, Mpanga’s work has bridged grime, prose, spoken-word performance, and most recently longer-form audio, as he has continued to interrogate the socio-political status quo. In February 2025 he joined us on stage to discuss the themes of his new memoir, Track Record: Me, Music, and the War on Blackness. He discussed his personal story alongside a broader social history of race and identity in Britain, and examined what he terms “the war on Blackness”: the systemic forces that continue to oppress people of African descent worldwide. ----- If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all our full ad free conversations, plus all of our Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you'll also receive: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes, wherever you get your podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events  ...  Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series … Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access. … Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more. https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 12 March 2025

George Mpanga, known as George the Poet, is seen by many as one of the UK’s most compelling voices in poetry, music, and social commentary.  Originally hailing from St Raphael’s Estate in Neasden, Mpanga has spent over a decade working at the intersection of art and politics reflecting on his upbringing to shed light on how race and inequality still shape Britain today. His debut poetry collection in 2015, Search Party, tackled the north-south divide, the housing crisis and critiqued government anti-immigration policies, to widespread acclaim. Since then, Mpanga’s work has bridged grime, prose, spoken-word performance, and most recently longer-form audio, as he has continued to interrogate the socio-political status quo. In February 2025 he joined us on stage to discuss the themes of his new memoir, Track Record: Me, Music, and the War on Blackness. He discussed his personal story alongside a broader social history of race and identity in Britain, and examined what he terms “the war on Blackness”: the systemic forces that continue to oppress people of African descent worldwide. ----- If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all our full ad free conversations, plus all of our Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you'll also receive: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes, wherever you get your podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events  ...  Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series … Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access. … Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more. https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 10 March 2025

This event took place on the 31st of October 2016 at the Royal Institution in London. CHAIR: Afua Hirsch - Writer and broadcaster SPEAKERS FOR THE MOTION: AA Gill - The Sunday Times’s star restaurant and TV critic AGAINST THE MOTION: George Monbiot - Guardian columnist, environmental campaigner and author of Regenesis: Feeding the World without Devouring the Planet Fancy a nice juicy steak? Most of us do from time to time, and we don’t trouble our consciences too much with the rights and wrongs of eating meat. Others, while vaguely aware that we ought to go vegan, just can’t face the rest of our lives denying ourselves bacon, beef, butter etc. But once we start looking into the arguments for veganism, it becomes difficult to justify the omnivore diet. Take the environment for starters. Livestock farming has a massive impact on the planet, producing around 14% of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions according to the UN. That’s roughly the same as the total amount of global transport emissions. Animals are extremely inefficient processors of the maize and soya that farmers grow to feed them. If we ate those crops ourselves instead of feeding them to livestock, we could free up hundreds of millions of hectares of rainforests, savannahs and wetlands where wild animals could flourish instead. And then there are the arguments about animal welfare. Recent scientific research indicates what many of us feel we already know – that animals have complex emotional lives not dissimilar to our own. Intensive farming – the kind that confines hens, pigs and cattle to squalid indoor pens – thwarts their instincts to move around freely and build social bonds with their group. Tens of billions of animals exist in this way, and that’s before their short lives are ended in the horror house of the abattoir. As for those who say a vegan diet isn’t healthy, elite athletes who have made the switch, including world tennis No 1 Novak Djokovic, prove you don’t need animal protein to excel at the highest levels in sport. On the other side of the argument we developed as omnivores and every human culture has its culinary traditions, based on the taste and aesthetics of meat and dairy. Do we really want to live in a world where there is no beef Wellington or cheese soufflé? As for the environmentalist arguments, omnivores now have some serious eco-credentials behind them. A study at Cornell University shows that a diet that includes a few small portions of grass-fed meat a week may actually be greener than eating no animal products at all. And when it comes to animal welfare, rather than abandoning animal products altogether, couldn’t we do more good by pressing for genuinely transparent labelling of our meat and dairy? If consumers really know what they are getting, fewer people might be willing to buy the £3 chicken produced in the barbaric conditions of the agricultural industry. As for a vegan diet being healthier, we should stop giving airtime to self-appointed health experts and lifestyle bloggers. Some dieticians argue that there are nutrients we need that we just can’t get from plants alone. Yes, we can get calcium from kale and iron from beans, but the quantity, quality and bio-availability of such elements are far better when we get them from animal rather than plant sources. -- If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all our full ad free conversations, plus all of our Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you'll also receive: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes, wherever you get your podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events  ...  Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 9 March 2025

This event is part of Conversations at the Kiln, a new event series at Kiln Theatre programmed by Intelligence Squared. For more events with speakers from the worlds of literature, art, poetry and politics, click here. Douglas Stuart, Booker Prize-winning author of Shuggie Bain and Young Mungo, is celebrated globally for his heartbreaking, funny and moving depictions of working-class life, identity and resilience. Born and raised in Glasgow, Stuart’s fiction draws heavily from his own experiences growing up as a gay man in Margaret Thatcher’s Britain. His debut Shuggie Bain received worldwide acclaim for its searing portrayal of poverty, addiction and one young boy’s tumultuous relationship with his mother in 1980s Scotland. It was heralded as a masterpiece by many critics, and received the Booker Prize in 2020; to date, it has sold over a million copies. In his second novel Young Mungo, Stuart returned to the streets of Glasgow to tell an equally compelling story of vulnerability and strength. This coming-of-age tale delves into the forbidden love between two young men, set against the backdrop of sectarian violence and familial expectations. Similarly critically acclaimed, the book cemented Stuart’s place as one of today’s most compelling literary voices. In February 2025 Stuart joined us live on stage to discuss his literary journey, the inspiration behind his award-winning novels, and his insights on writing honest depictions of marginalised worlds rarely seen in the literary mainstream. With the respected production company A24 set to adapt both novels for the BBC, Stuart also discussed the process of bringing his characters to life on screen. ----- If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all our full ad free conversations, plus all of our Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you'll also receive: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes, wherever you get your podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events  ...  Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series … Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access. … Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more. https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 7 March 2025

This event is part of Conversations at the Kiln, a new event series at Kiln Theatre programmed by Intelligence Squared. For more events with speakers from the worlds of literature, art, poetry and politics, click here. Douglas Stuart, Booker Prize-winning author of Shuggie Bain and Young Mungo, is celebrated globally for his heartbreaking, funny and moving depictions of working-class life, identity and resilience. Born and raised in Glasgow, Stuart’s fiction draws heavily from his own experiences growing up as a gay man in Margaret Thatcher’s Britain. His debut Shuggie Bain received worldwide acclaim for its searing portrayal of poverty, addiction and one young boy’s tumultuous relationship with his mother in 1980s Scotland. It was heralded as a masterpiece by many critics, and received the Booker Prize in 2020; to date, it has sold over a million copies. In his second novel Young Mungo, Stuart returned to the streets of Glasgow to tell an equally compelling story of vulnerability and strength. This coming-of-age tale delves into the forbidden love between two young men, set against the backdrop of sectarian violence and familial expectations. Similarly critically acclaimed, the book cemented Stuart’s place as one of today’s most compelling literary voices. In February 2025 Stuart joined us live on stage to discuss his literary journey, the inspiration behind his award-winning novels, and his insights on writing honest depictions of marginalised worlds rarely seen in the literary mainstream. With the respected production company A24 set to adapt both novels for the BBC, Stuart also discussed the process of bringing his characters to life on screen. ----- This is the first instalment of a two-part episode. If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all our full ad free conversations, plus all of our Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you'll also receive: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes, wherever you get your podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events  ...  Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series … Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access. … Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more. https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 5 March 2025

Sam McAlister is the woman who secured the now infamous Newsnight interview with Prince Andrew, when he claimed to Emily Maitlis that he was in a Pizza Express in Woking on the night Virginia Giuffre alleges he slept with her. This was the broadcast which set public opinion alight, and from which many have supposed the royal family will never quite recover. In February 2025, McAlister joined us on stage to discuss the behind the scenes drama of the Prince Andrew interview, the making of the film adaption Scoop, the EMMY-nominated Netflix film starring Billie Piper and Gillian Anderson, and the challenges of navigating truth, power, celebrity and accountability in today’s media landscape.  --------- This is the first instalment of a two-part episode. If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all our full ad free conversations, plus all of our Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you'll also receive: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes, wherever you get your podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events  ...  Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series … Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access. … Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more. https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 3 March 2025

Sam McAlister is the woman who secured the now infamous Newsnight interview with Prince Andrew, when he claimed to Emily Maitlis that he was in a Pizza Express in Woking on the night Virginia Giuffre alleges he slept with her. This was the broadcast which set public opinion alight, and from which many have supposed the royal family will never quite recover. In February 2025, McAlister joined us on stage to discuss the behind the scenes drama of the Prince Andrew interview, the making of the film adaption Scoop, the EMMY-nominated Netflix film starring Billie Piper and Gillian Anderson, and the challenges of navigating truth, power, celebrity and accountability in today’s media landscape.  --------- This is the first instalment of a two-part episode. If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all our full ad free conversations, plus all of our Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you'll also receive: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes, wherever you get your podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events  ...  Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series … Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access. … Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more. https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 2 March 2025

On February 24, veteran BBC journalist, former North America editor and presenter Justin Webb came to Intelligence Squared to discuss what we all need to know about the new Trump world order. Webb analysed the first month of Trump's new administration to explain how from trade to conflict, Trump is abandoning international systems and creating a new global order based around personal relationships and dealmaking. He discussed what Trump's return means for Europe, the UK and what his changes in US policy on Ukraine, the Middle East and China mean for us all. The host for the conversation was journalist and broadcaster Ritula Shah. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 28 February 2025

On February 24, veteran BBC journalist, former North America editor and presenter Justin Webb came to Intelligence Squared to discuss what we all need to know about the new Trump world order. Webb analysed the first month of Trump's new administration to explain how from trade to conflict, Trump is abandoning international systems and creating a new global order based around personal relationships and dealmaking. He discussed what Trump's return means for Europe, the UK and what his changes in US policy on Ukraine, the Middle East and China mean for us all. The host for the conversation was journalist and broadcaster Ritula Shah. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 26 February 2025

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 believes – even those that are not his celebrated self-portraits – are all about himself. Championing Vermeer, she claimed that his charm lies in the very fact that he absents himself from his paintings. As a result they are less didactic and more magical than Rembrandt’s, giving the viewer room to breathe. Chevalier has been obsessed with Vermeer since the age of 19, when she first saw his Girl with a Pearl Earring. The girl’s startled eyes and luscious, inviting mouth produce a tantalising sense of mystery and contradiction. An other-worldly mystery also veils Vermeer’s Delft street scenes and interiors. Apparently so everyday, they are lifted to a higher sphere by the indirect gaze and the turned back, all bathed in that fuzzy, filmic Vermeer veneer. And so often they, too, ask a question. Who wrote the letter that the woman in blue reads so attentively? Who does the girl in the gold jacket strum her guitar for? The questions are never answered but we are lured back again and again in search of an answer. Which of these two titans is the greater master – Rembrandt or Vermeer? ------ If you’d like to become a Member and get access to all our full conversations, plus all of our Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you’ll also receive: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes, wherever you get your podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events ... Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series … Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access. … Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more. https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 24 February 2025

In this episode, we’re joined by Edward Fishman, one of the foremost experts on economic statecraft and sanctions. With a career spanning roles at the U.S. State Department, the Pentagon, and the Treasury Department, Fishman has been at the forefront of America’s strategic response to global challenges.  He now works as a professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and as a senior research scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy. His writing on global policy and economic strategy has been featured in outlets including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and Foreign Affairs. Today, we’ll be discussing his new book, Chokepoints: American Power in the Age of Economic Warfare. We’ll explore how economic tools like sanctions, trade restrictions, and financial levers have become the U.S.’s primary means of addressing international crises and countering rivals in an increasingly interconnected world. Joining Fishman to discuss the book is Chris Miller, author of Chip War and Professor of International History at the Fletcher School at Tufts University. ------ If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all our full conversations, plus all of our Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you'll also receive: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes, wherever you get your podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events  ...  Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series … Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access. … Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more. https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 23 February 2025

‘We live today in a perpetual superbloom – not of flowers but of messages’ –- Nicholas Carr   In this episode we explore the hidden costs of constant connection with American journalist and writer Nicholas Carr.  Best known for his New York Times bestselling book The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains, Carr discusses his latest book Superbloom: How Technologies of Connection Tear Us Apart. In conversation with writer and researcher Adam McCauley, Carr shows us how platforms such as Facebook and X which promised to democratise information and foster greater understanding have instead fueled tribalism, misinformation, and social fragmentation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 21 February 2025

For today's Classic Debate we're revisiting our 2018 debate "Parenting Doesn’t Matter (Or Not As Much As You Think)". We were joined by Professor of Behavioural Genetics Robert Plomin, the Developmental Clinical Psychologist Susan Pawlby, therapist, parenting counsellor and broadcaster Ann Pleshette Murphy, and Stuart Ritchie, lecturer in social genetics and developmental psychiatry and author of Science Fictions. Hosting the debate was Doctor and broadcaster, Dr Xand van Tulleken. ------- If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all our full ad free conversations, plus all of our Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you'll also receive: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes, wherever you get your podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events  ...  Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series … Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access. … Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more. https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 19 February 2025

What is a monster? Why do humans create stories about otherness? What does it tell you about a society that engages in monster making? Our guest today is Surekha Davies. Writer and historian, who has written a book about these questions, Humans: A Monstrous History.  Davies was joined in conversation by Sophie McBain, associate editor of The New Statesman to discuss the topic.  ...  Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series … Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access. … Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more. https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 17 February 2025

Is democracy in crisis? British judge and historian Jonathan Sumption thinks so and in this episode he explains why. Drawing from the themes of his latest book The Challenges of Democracy: and the Rule of Law, he explores the enduring struggles and conflicts within democratic societies today — and how we might overcome them. Joining him in conversation is historian of ideas Sophie Scott-Brown.  ------- If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all our full ad free conversations, plus all of our Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you'll also receive: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes, wherever you get your podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events  ...  Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series … Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access. … Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more. https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 16 February 2025

2025 is set to be a seismic year for the global economy. Donald Trump will return to the White House with an ‘America First’ agenda that threatens to dismantle global trade. Wars in Ukraine and Gaza could continue to escalate and cause turmoil in diplomacy. And the race to develop AI will accelerate as China and the US battle it out for technological supremacy. Who better to make sense of these unsettling and fast-changing times than Martin Wolf, Chief Economics Commentator at the Financial Times? Widely regarded as one of the world’s most influential writers on the global economy and a multi-award-winning financial journalist, Wolf has been chronicling and analysing geopolitical and economic upheaval for nearly 40 years. He has written five bestselling books. His latest, The Crisis of Democratic Capitalism, maps out the implications of globalisation, technological development and the impact of democratic decline on the global economy. Wolf joined us onstage for the this installment of the Intelligence Squared Economic Outlook as he discussed what we can expect from 2025 and beyond in conversation with BBC News presenter and Royal Correspondent Jonny Dymond. This recording is part of The Intelligence Squared Economic Outlook series of events made in partnership with Guinness Global Investors, an independent British fund manager that helps both individuals and institutions harness the future drivers of growth to achieve their investment goals. To find out more visit: https://www.guinnessgi.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 14 February 2025

2025 is set to be a seismic year for the global economy. Donald Trump will return to the White House with an ‘America First’ agenda that threatens to dismantle global trade. Wars in Ukraine and Gaza could continue to escalate and cause turmoil in diplomacy. And the race to develop AI will accelerate as China and the US battle it out for technological supremacy. Who better to make sense of these unsettling and fast-changing times than Martin Wolf, Chief Economics Commentator at the Financial Times? Widely regarded as one of the world’s most influential writers on the global economy and a multi-award-winning financial journalist, Wolf has been chronicling and analysing geopolitical and economic upheaval for nearly 40 years. He has written five bestselling books. His latest, The Crisis of Democratic Capitalism, maps out the implications of globalisation, technological development and the impact of democratic decline on the global economy. Wolf joined us onstage for the this installment of the Intelligence Squared Economic Outlook as he discussed what we can expect from 2025 and beyond in conversation with BBC News presenter and Royal Correspondent Jonny Dymond. This recording is part of The Intelligence Squared Economic Outlook series of events made in partnership with Guinness Global Investors, an independent British fund manager that helps both individuals and institutions harness the future drivers of growth to achieve their investment goals. To find out more visit: https://www.guinnessgi.com/ --------- This is the first instalment of a two-part episode. If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all our full ad free conversations, plus all of our Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you'll also receive: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes, wherever you get your podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events  ...  Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series … Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access. … Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more. https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 12 February 2025

Our guest today is Minna Salami, the feminist author, social critic and currently Program Chair at The New Institute. Her first book was Sensuous Knowledge: A Black Feminist Approach for Everyone, and her writing can be found in the Guardian, Project Syndicate, Al Jazeera, and The Philosopher, and many others. In her new book, Salami explores the question Can Feminism Be African?. Drawing from feminist thought, postcolonial theory, historical insights, and African knowledge systems, Salami combines personal reflection with cultural criticism to offer a vivid and cohesive discussion about power, identity, patriarchy, imagination, and the human condition.   Joining Salami to discuss the book is Hannah Dawson, historian of ideas at King’s College London and editor of The Penguin Book of Feminist Writing. If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all our full conversations, plus all of our Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you'll also receive: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes, wherever you get your podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events  ...  Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series … Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access. … Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more. https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 10 February 2025

Having reported from over sixty countries, from the front lines of wars in Ukraine and Syria to the wilds of the Antarctic, ABC News Chief International Correspondent James Longman has witnessed the extremes of human existence firsthand. But the story that has stayed with him the longest is closer to home. In his new memoir, The Inherited Mind, James applies his journalistic skills to explore a family legacy marked by mental illness, and the science and people that shape us. James was just a preteen at boarding school when his father, who struggled with depression and schizophrenia, died by suicide. His uncle was also diagnosed with schizophrenia, and his grandfather also ended his life. As James grew older, his own battles with depression led him to examine how his father’s mental health might have influenced his own. Drawing on conversations with leading experts, he delves into the science of inheritance, the impact of environment on genetic predispositions, and how one can overcome a familial history of mental illness and trauma. On January 30, James was joined in conversation with longtime friend, barrister and broadcaster Rob Rinder for a powerful discussion on family, resilience, and frontline reporting, live at the Kiln Theatre in London. --------- If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all our full ad free conversations, plus all of our Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you'll also receive: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes, wherever you get your podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events  ...  Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series … Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access. … Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more. https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 9 February 2025

Having reported from over sixty countries, from the front lines of wars in Ukraine and Syria to the wilds of the Antarctic, ABC News Chief International Correspondent James Longman has witnessed the extremes of human existence firsthand. But the story that has stayed with him the longest is closer to home. In his new memoir, The Inherited Mind, James applies his journalistic skills to explore a family legacy marked by mental illness, and the science and people that shape us. James was just a preteen at boarding school when his father, who struggled with depression and schizophrenia, died by suicide. His uncle was also diagnosed with schizophrenia, and his grandfather also ended his life. As James grew older, his own battles with depression led him to examine how his father’s mental health might have influenced his own. Drawing on conversations with leading experts, he delves into the science of inheritance, the impact of environment on genetic predispositions, and how one can overcome a familial history of mental illness and trauma. On January 30, James was joined in conversation with longtime friend, barrister and broadcaster Rob Rinder for a powerful discussion on family, resilience, and frontline reporting, live at the Kiln Theatre in London. --------- This is the first instalment of a two-part episode. If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all our full ad free conversations, plus all of our Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you'll also receive: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes, wherever you get your podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events  ...  Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series … Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access. … Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more. https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 7 February 2025

Atossa Araxia Abrahamian is a journalist and author who writes about the cracks in the nation-state system. A former editor at the Nation and Al Jazeera America, Abrahamian’s reporting and criticism have appeared in the New York Review of Books, the New York Times, the London Review of Books, the Intercept, and many other publications. In her new book, The Hidden Globe: How Wealth Hacks the World, Abrahamian maps the hidden geography of the wealthy elite, exposing a parallel universe that transcends national borders, bureaucracy and red tape. From the legal twilight zones of Geneva art warehouses to passports for sale, this is a geography of wealth in the modern age. Joining her to discuss the book is Adam McCauley, the politics and philosophy writer and researcher. ------- If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all our full ad free conversations, plus all of our Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you'll also receive: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes, wherever you get your podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events ... Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series … Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 5 February 2025

In this episode, we uncover the story of a painter who was never recognised for his art during his lifetime with television scriptwriter Joe Tucker. Drawing from his new book The Secret Painter, Tucker sheds light on the life of his uncle Eric Tucker –  an unassuming working-class man from Warrington who secretly created over 500 extraordinary paintings, which were only discovered after his death.  Why did Eric paint in private for decades? What compels someone to create art with no intention of sharing it? And what does Eric’s story reveal about who gets to be recognized as an artist? Joining Tucker in conversation is Kathryn Hughes, author and critic, whose latest book Catland examines the life of Victorian cat artist Louis Wain. Together, they discuss creativity without an audience, hidden talent and the barriers that keep certain people out of the art world.  If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all our full conversations, plus all of our Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you'll also receive: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes, wherever you get your podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events  ...  Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series … Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access. … Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more. https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 3 February 2025

For today's episode we're revisiting our debate from January 2020, "There's Not Much Great About Britain". 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. Speaking for the motion we had journalist and broadcaster Peter Hitchens alongside Will Self, the novelist, broadcaster, and literary critic. Speaking against the motion were Kate Hoey, the former Labour MP for Vauxhall and alongside Sayeeda Warsi, the lawyer, politician, and former co-chairwoman of the Conservative Party. -------- If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all our full ad free conversations, plus all of our Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you'll also receive: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes, wherever you get your podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events  ...  Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series … Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access. … Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 2 February 2025