Shows / Intelligence Squared
Intelligence Squared
Ideas shape the world. Intelligence Squared brings you the conversations that explain them. In every episode, we bring together leading thinkers, writers, scientists, policymakers and entrepreneurs, to challenge assumptions, test ideas and debate the questions shaping our future. If you want to think more clearly about the world and where it's heading, you're in the right place. If you’d like to support our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations, as well as ad-free…
Episodes
Intelligence SquaredArchive: Is Mark Zuckerberg Damaging Society?
With the release of Aaron Sorkin's new film The Social Reckoning, Mark Zuckerberg and the dark side of Facebook are back in the spotlight.In 2019, Intelligence…
Intelligence SquaredHas America Abandoned Ukraine? With Michael McFaul
Donald Trump’s growing accommodation of Vladimir Putin has raised a stark question: has the US abandoned Ukraine? Conor Boyle speaks to Michael McFaul, former…
Intelligence SquaredWhat Must Burnham Sacrifice To Make Britain Grow? With Michael Gove
Few figures in modern British politics have operated as close to the centre of power as Michael Gove. Over more than a decade in government, he has held some…
Intelligence SquaredWhy Are People Having Fewer Children Than They Want? With Camilla Cavendish
In England and Wales, the total fertility rate fell to 1.39 children per woman in 2025. More than half of the world’s countries and areas are now below the…
Intelligence SquaredArchive: Can the Arts Drive Social Change? With Idris Elba, Kwame Kwei-Armah and Yassmin Abdel-Magied
In the summer of 2020, as Black Lives Matter protests swept the world, the arts and creative industries faced urgent questions about racism, representation and…
Intelligence SquaredHow One Family Remade Britain: Thomas and Oliver Cromwell, with Miranda Malins
Thomas Cromwell helped Henry VIII break with Rome, reshape government and establish the Church of England. A century later, his distant relative Oliver…
Intelligence SquaredCan Europe Defend Itself? Timothy Garton Ash on Europe's Future
Europe’s past is not past. The borders of vanished empires still surface in election results. The European Union and Nato face a world in which Russia is…
Intelligence SquaredCan Pigs Really Appreciate Bach? Katherine Rundell Live
Katherine Rundell has dazzled millions of readers globally with her writing on fantastical beasts. In her bestselling book The Golden Mole, she profiled some…
Intelligence SquaredArchive: What Are the Chances We Exist at All? With Brian Cox and Alice Roberts
Who are we? Why are we here? Are we alone in the universe? How did we become the creatures that we are? How might we further evolve? These are some of the big…
Intelligence SquaredWhat James Baldwin Can Teach Us About the World Today
On the 70th anniversary of the publication of Giovanni’s Room, James Baldwin’s seminal novel about sexuality, race and myth in America, Booker Prize-winning…
Intelligence SquaredThe Age of Change with Jeremy Hunt, in Partnership with IBM
In this episode, Kamal was joined by Jeremy Hunt, former Chancellor of the Exchequer, Lawrence Tallon, Chief Executive of the Medicines and Healthcare products…
Intelligence SquaredCarlo Rovelli Live: Why Numbers Don’t Exist
Carlo Rovelli is an award-winning theoretical physicist and writer with a gift for making complex ideas feel real and accessible. Whether exploring black…
Intelligence SquaredAnthony Scaramucci Tour Highlights
With the US midterm elections one month away, we revisit highlights from Anthony Scaramucci’s recent Intelligence Squared tour across the UK. The former White…
Intelligence SquaredHarlan Coben and Bill Nighy on the Art of the Plot Twist
The bestselling author of more than 36 novels, including Fool Me Once, Tell No One and the Myron Bolitar series, Coben is renowned for his ability to build…
Intelligence SquaredIntroducing: Intelligence Squared Live
This podcast has always brought together two kinds of conversation. Original episodes recorded in the studio, and live events from the Intelligence Squared…
Intelligence SquaredBritain’s War in Palestine, with Sebastian Faulks
Sebastian Faulks is one of the country’s best loved novelists, known for books such as Birdsong, Human Traces, Engleby and Charlotte Gray. His writing is…
Intelligence SquaredThe CIA vs MI6: Allies or Rivals? With David McCloskey
What if the CIA and MI6 began spying on each other? This is the question that David McCloskey, the former CIA analyst and co-host of the Rest is Classified…
Intelligence SquaredIs There a Royal Sex Scandal Hidden in the Bayeux Tapestry? With David Musgrove
This September the Bayeux Tapestry went on display at the British Museum to huge crowds of eager patrons. This is the first time it has been displayed in…
Intelligence SquaredAnthony Scaramucci and Marina Hyde: What Comes After Trump? Live from Guildford
According to Anthony Scaramucci, former White House Communications Director, outspoken Trump critic and co-host of The Rest Is Politics: US, President Trump…
Intelligence SquaredWhat Lyse Doucet Has Learned from 40 Years Reporting From War Zones, Live
As the BBC’s Chief International Correspondent, Lyse Doucet has witnessed and reported on some of the most consequential events of our time. She has reported…
Intelligence SquaredAnthony Scaramucci and Tina Brown on How To Fix America, Live in London
According to Anthony Scaramucci, former White House Communications Director, outspoken Trump critic and co-host of The Rest Is Politics: US, President Trump…
Intelligence SquaredWhy Your Plans Will Fail After Five Minutes, and How To Fix Them, with Kevin Fong
Kevin Fong has spent his working life in high-risk, high-performance teams. He flies as a Helicopter Emergency Medical Service doctor, has worked on NASA’s…
Intelligence SquaredHas Tech Lost All Humanity? With Mark Little
The internet was once imagined as a place that would bring us closer together – a shared space for curiosity, creativity and connection. So how did it become a…
Intelligence SquaredLuke Harding and Alastair Campbell: Trump, Putin and the New Age of Conquest (Part Two)
The post-war international order is under increasing strain. The principle that borders cannot be changed by force is being challenged –not only by Russia’s…
Intelligence SquaredLuke Harding and Alastair Campbell: Trump, Putin and the New Age of Conquest (Part One)
The post-war international order is under increasing strain. The principle that borders cannot be changed by force is being challenged –not only by Russia’s…
Intelligence SquaredFrancis Fukuyama on the New World Order (Part Two)
Francis Fukuyama is one of the most influential political thinkers of our time. His famous 1989 essay, The End of History? – written as the Berlin Wall fell…
Intelligence SquaredWhat Comes After the End of History? with Francis Fukuyama (Part One)
Francis Fukuyama is one of the most influential political thinkers of our time. His famous 1989 essay, The End of History? – written as the Berlin Wall fell…
Intelligence SquaredThe New Silencing: Women Versus the Manosphere (Part Two)
When the MeToo movement ignited in 2017, many believed it would be a turning point for women after which positive change would become inevitable. And for a…
Intelligence SquaredThe New Silencing: Women Versus the Manosphere (Part One)
When the MeToo movement ignited in 2017, many believed it would be a turning point for women after which positive change would become inevitable. And for a…
Intelligence SquaredWhy Did the Working Class Abandon the Left? With Nobel Economist Daron Acemoglu
Liberal democracy was once a radical force. It challenged monarchies, expanded political rights and, at its most successful, helped deliver rising wages and…
Intelligence SquaredHow Trade Shapes Our World, With Ed Conway
Trade has shaped human civilisation for thousands of years. From the copper used in Mesopotamian ploughs to the silicon inside our smartphones, vast networks…
Intelligence SquaredNYT’s Novel of the Century? Marlon James on The Disappearers
In 1988, eight men in Kingston, Jamaica, begin rehearsals for a play. Though strangers to one another, they share an inescapable truth: All of them are gay…
Intelligence SquaredThe Secret History in Our DNA: Adam Rutherford Meets David Olusoga (Part Two)
Adam Rutherford is a science broadcaster, and author of A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived, which transformed the way we think about human history. By…
Intelligence SquaredThe Secret History in Our DNA: Adam Rutherford Meets David Olusoga (Part One)
Adam Rutherford is a science broadcaster, and author of A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived, which transformed the way we think about human history. By…
Intelligence SquaredCan Democracy Survive the Age of AI? With Jill Lepore
We live in the age of data. Over the past century, rapidly evolving technologies have transformed almost every aspect of our society, in ways that can seem…
Intelligence SquaredWhat John Berger Saw That We Still Don’t, with Tom Overton
John Berger transformed the way generations thought about art, politics and the act of looking. Best known for Ways of Seeing, his work ranged across…
Intelligence SquaredIs Tech Making Our Kids Less Capable? With Dr Jared Cooney Horvath
Schools were promised that laptops, educational apps and artificial intelligence would make learning more personalised, engaging and effective. Cognitive…
Intelligence SquaredIs Ukraine’s Culture Worth Fighting For? With Charlotte Higgins
Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has placed not only lives and cities under attack, but also the country’s language, history and culture. Museums have…
Intelligence SquaredHow George Michael Changed Music Forever, with Sathnam Sanghera (Part Two)
George Michael wrote Careless Whisper, one of the biggest pop songs of our age, in an hour in his childhood bedroom. Alongside his childhood best friend Andrew…
Intelligence SquaredHow George Michael Changed Music Forever, with Sathnam Sanghera (Part One)
George Michael wrote Careless Whisper, one of the biggest pop songs of our age, in an hour in his childhood bedroom. Alongside his childhood best friend Andrew…
Intelligence SquaredSpielberg, Coppola and Lucas: The Remaking of Modern Cinema, With Paul Fischer
By the early 1980s Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas were the richest, best-known filmmakers in the world, with an empire of their own…
Intelligence SquaredColm Tóibín on Stories of Exile (Part Two)
Colm Tóibín is widely acclaimed for the emotional restraint and quiet power of his prose. His writing explores exile, abandonment, loss and denial, the things…
Intelligence SquaredColm Tóibín on Stories of Exile (Part One)
Colm Tóibín is widely acclaimed for the emotional restraint and quiet power of his prose. His writing explores exile, abandonment, loss and denial, the things…
Intelligence SquaredUncovering the Epstein Story, with Emily Maitlis and Amy Wallace (Part Two)
The Jeffrey Epstein story has created shockwaves on both sides of the Atlantic. As new documents continue to emerge, and as journalists continue to report…
Intelligence SquaredUncovering the Epstein Story, with Emily Maitlis and Amy Wallace (Part One)
The Jeffrey Epstein story has created shockwaves on both sides of the Atlantic. As new documents continue to emerge, and as journalists continue to report…
Intelligence SquaredIs the Algorithm Destroying Taste? With Polyester Editor-In-Chief Ione Gamble
What we like has never been entirely our own. Taste has always been shaped by class, culture and the people around us. But in the age of algorithms and AI, our…
Intelligence SquaredHow Do Our Sibling Relationships Shape Us? With Catherine Carr
For many of us, our relationships with our siblings are the longest of our lives. They shape our earliest experiences of love, rivalry, identity and belonging…
Intelligence SquaredCan the US Survive Donald Trump? With Pod Save the US’ Ben Rhodes (Part Two)
Ben Rhodes served as one of Barack Obama’s closest foreign-policy aides, holding the role of Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications and…
Intelligence SquaredCan the US Survive Donald Trump? With Pod Save the US’ Ben Rhodes (Part One)
Ben Rhodes served as one of Barack Obama’s closest foreign-policy aides, holding the role of Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications and…
Intelligence SquaredWhat Everyone Gets Wrong About Iran, with Clarissa Ward and Lyse Doucet (Part Two)
Since the United States and Israel launched coordinated strikes on Iran in late February, the world has changed dramatically. More than fourteen countries have…
Intelligence SquaredWhat Everyone Gets Wrong About Iran, with Clarissa Ward and Lyse Doucet (Part One)(Part One)
Since the United States and Israel launched coordinated strikes on Iran in late February, the world has changed dramatically. More than fourteen countries have…
Intelligence SquaredHotels with History | The Adlon, Berlin
This is an episode of Hotels with History, produced by Intelligence Squared on behalf of Perowne International. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit…
Intelligence SquaredHow Has Forensic Science Transformed Criminal Justice? With Sue Black
Forensic science has transformed the way crimes are investigated and justice is delivered. From fingerprints and DNA to new forms of anatomical identification…
Intelligence SquaredShould We Stop Catastrophising About AI? With Eleanor Drage and Carl Miller
We are deeply confused about artificial intelligence: what it is, who it serves and whether it is leading us towards utopia or catastrophe. But according to AI…
Intelligence SquaredThe Intelligence Squared Economic Outlook, with Robert Peston (Part Two)
Robert Peston is one of Britain’s most trusted journalists. A fixture in British politics and business coverage, he came to national prominence as Business…
Intelligence SquaredThe Intelligence Squared Economic Outlook, with Robert Peston (Part One)
Robert Peston is one of Britain’s most trusted journalists. A fixture in British politics and business coverage, he came to national prominence as Business…
Intelligence SquaredHow Sex Scenes in Film Can Reshape Real Intimacy, With Intimacy Coordinator Ita O’Brien
Intimacy coordinators have irreversibly transformed how we portray sex on screen, and they are not without their detractors. In the wake of MeToo, Ita…
Intelligence SquaredOlivia Laing on Art, Solitude, and The Lonely City at 10 (Part Two)
Olivia Laing is known as one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary literature. Their work is renowned for its capacity to make abstract ideas feel…
Intelligence SquaredOlivia Laing on Art, Solitude, and The Lonely City at 10 (Part One)
Olivia Laing is known as one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary literature. Their work is renowned for its capacity to make abstract ideas feel…
Intelligence SquaredHow Did World War II Create Modern Asia? With Professor Hans van de Ven
Is our history of World War II missing its most important chapter? For many in the West, the story of the Second World War is told through D-Day, the Blitz and…