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 Squared
Who is the Real Xi Jinping? With Kerry Brown
Writer and academic Kerry Brown's latest book is Xi: A Study in Power, which profiles the policies and personality behind China's leader for the last decade…
- Intelligence Squared
The Crimes of History, with Linda Kinstler and Peter Pomerantsev
How do you put a ghost on trial? In Linda Kinstler's deeply personal new book, Come to This Court and Cry, she uncovers the atrocities of her Latvian…
- Intelligence Squared
The Sunday Debate: Chinese Investment Is Good for Africa
Between 2007 and 2020, China invested $23 billion into infrastructure for nations across Africa, $8 billion more than the other top eight lenders combined. But…
- Intelligence Squared
Mental Health: Hope and Healing With Horatio Clare and Alex Riley
How we understand mental health and the level of compassion we show to those suffering from depression and other forms of mental illness define us as a…
- Intelligence Squared
Otherlands: A Journey Into Our Planet’s Deep Past, with Thomas Halliday
Palaeobiologist and bestselling author Thomas Halliday is helping us better understand how the natural world evolved over the past 500 million years. His…
- Intelligence Squared
The New Science of the Body Clock, with Russell Foster
Every second of the day, tiny biological clocks are ticking throughout your body, from the neural pathways of your brain down to your very cells. But modern…
- Intelligence Squared
The Sunday Debate: The Left has right on its side
The political Left often purports that it has society’s best interests at heart and that it works for the good of all. Yet according to conservatives, it is…
- Intelligence Squared
No Bullsh*t Leadership, with Roula Khalaf
Chris Hirst, Global CEO of advertising group Havas Creative, cuts through the bullshit and gets to the heart of modern leadership in this straight-talking…
- Intelligence Squared
The Afghan Women Writing for Freedom, with Marie Bamyani, Zarghuna Kargar and Lucy Hannah
Afghan women’s voices are at increasing risk of being silenced and as more of their rights slip away, so do their stories. In this episode we hear from three…
- Intelligence Squared
How to Avert the Climate Catastrophe and a Financial Meltdown, with Eugene Linden
Author and environmental journalist Eugene Linden's new book, Fire and Flood: A People’s History of Climate Change from 1979 to the Present, lays out how…
- Intelligence Squared
Is it Time to Abandon the Five-Day Work Week?
Is it time to abandon the five-day work week? Or is the "five-days on, two days off" cadence of work and rest more important than ever? This event was…
- Intelligence Squared
How to Make Democracy Work for Everyone, with Yascha Mounk
During an era of identity politics, culture wars and increasing awareness of the structural biases that contribute to global inequality, it’s easy to become…
- Intelligence Squared
The Futureverse: The World Will Be a Better Place in 5, 50 and 500 Years
We live in a time of greater uncertainty than ever before in human history. We are poised between the twin precipices of climate change and rapidly…
- Intelligence Squared
Ukrainians on the War in Ukraine, with Kira Rudyk, Michael Bociurkiw and Olha Poliukhovych
Is the West doing enough to help Ukraine? What kind of endgame should Ukraine be seeking – all-out victory over Russia or a negotiated settlement that will…
- Intelligence Squared
The Sunday Debate: Abolish Billionaires
Reportedly the planet's richest person, multibillionaire Elon Musk is currently seeking to buy the World's online public square, Twitter. Should billionaires…
- Intelligence Squared
Russia's Crackdown on Dissenting Voices
Since the war in Ukraine began, dwindling remaining hopes of maintaining even the outward appearance of a free democratic process in Russia have been all but…
- Intelligence Squared
What Next for France, Europe and the World? With Sophie Pedder and Ben Judah
For the second part of our analysis of one of the most tense elections in Europe of recent years, we hear from Sophie Pedder, Paris bureau chief at The…
- Intelligence Squared
Building a Global Brand, with former Nike CMO Greg Hoffman
Greg Hoffman spent nearly three decades building the Nike brand. In the process he helped transform a shoe company into an identity that resonates the world…
- Intelligence Squared
The Sunday Debate: Macron Paved the Way for Populism in France
Emmanuel Macron has become the first sitting president of France to be re-elected since 2002. But while Macron won the election, France’s far-right and its…
- Intelligence Squared
The Psychology of Language, with Morten Christiansen and Nick Chater
Morten Christiansen is Professor of Psychology at Cornell University and Nick Chater is Professor of Behavioural Science at Warwick Business School. Together…
- Intelligence Squared
No Bullsh*t Leadership, with Anthony Scaramucci
Chris Hirst, Global CEO of advertising group Havas Creative, cuts through the bullshit and gets to the heart of modern leadership in this straight-talking…
Intelligence SquaredReaching Across the Divide in US Politics, with George Packer
George Packer is journalist and author whose words, during 15 years as staff writer for the New Yorker and latterly at the Atlantic, have helped frame American…
- Intelligence Squared
Who Are We Now? Exploring English identity, with Jason Cowley
Jason Cowley is Editor of British political weekly, The New Statesman. He’s also an author and his latest book, Who Are We Now? Stories of Modern England, is a…
- Intelligence Squared
Debate: Old Testament vs New Testament
Adam and Eve, Noah’s Ark, Moses and the Ten Commandments, the parting of the Red Sea. These are a few of the stories from the Old Testament. And then there’s…
Intelligence SquaredAfrica Is Not A Country, with Dipo Faloyin
Journalist and writer Dipo Faloyin's new book, Africa Is Not A Country, looks to challenge overly simplistic narratives for one of the most culturally diverse…
Intelligence SquaredHow to Lead a Sustainable Business, with Alannah Weston and Andy Cato
Back for a third series, Alannah Weston, Chairman of Selfridges Group, speaks to inspiring leaders driving transformational systems change to put…
- Intelligence Squared
A Delicate Game: Confronting Brain Injury in Sport, with Hana Walker-Brown
Writer and audio documentary maker Hana Walker-Brown’s new book, A Delicate Game, investigates the reasons for sport’s troubling relationship with CTE (chronic…
Intelligence SquaredPutin and The Age of The Strongman, with Gideon Rachman
By launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin has started the first war in Europe for a generation, defying the post-Cold War international…
- Intelligence Squared
The Sunday Debate: The European Green Deal is Not Fit For Purpose
This week's podcast is from our friends at Intelligence Squared Germany who hosted a live debate in Berlin last week on whether the EU's 'Green Deal', a plan…
- Intelligence Squared
The Journey of Humanity, with Oded Galor
Oded Galor’s remarkable new book, The Journey of Humanity, can feel like seeing the world with fresh eyes. His analysis of the origins of wealth and inequality…
Intelligence SquaredDebunking the Great Food Myths, with Tim Spector and Dan Saladino
Food is the best medicine, believes genetics expert Tim Spector, but most of the dietary advice that we are given is wrong, he claims. In his latest…
- Intelligence Squared
Walking the Walk: How to Go Beyond Sustainable Storytelling
With the world facing a climate crisis, how can travel and tourism be part of the solution? For this programme, Intelligence Squared partners with Singapore…
- Intelligence Squared
The Sunday Debate: Blockchain, Quantum Leap Forward or Digital Snake Oil?
Blockchain technology has gone mainstream. It earns huge amounts of column inches and airtime. Stories abound of Bitcoin millionaires and multimillion-dollar…
- Intelligence Squared
Is Liberalism Obsolete? With Francis Fukuyama and John Gray
Following the fall of communism in 1989, American political scientist Francis Fukuyama shot to fame with his thesis about the ‘end of history’ – the idea that…
- Intelligence Squared
The Mercenary River, with Nick Higham
Nick Higham is a journalist and author known to TV viewers in the UK as a former correspondent for BBC News and also as regular host of its literary interview…
Intelligence SquaredSeeking Refuge in a Hostile World, with Sally Hayden
Over four million people have fled Ukraine since Russia's invasion began. The support for Ukranians has been compassionate and heartwarming but it has also…
- Intelligence Squared
The Sunday Debate: Hydrogen, the green ‘silver bullet’ or a lot of hype?
How we save the planet is clear: we need to prevent global temperatures from rising more than 1.5 degrees in order to avoid doing irreversible damage. But…
- Intelligence Squared
Sexual Revolution: Modern Fascism and the Feminist Fightback, with Laurie Penny
We are in an era of crisis, collapse, and reactionary tyrants, argues Laurie Penny, but we are also witnessing a transformation: a revolutionary change in how…
- Intelligence Squared
The World for Sale, with Javier Blas and Jack Farchy
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has laid bare the West’s reliance on Russian oil and gas. Around 40 per cent of Europe’s gas comes from Russia, while some 7 per…
- Intelligence Squared
How Britain became Butler to the World, with Oliver Bullough
Bestselling investigative journalist Oliver Bullough discusses his recent book, Butler to the World, which details how Britain became a favoured destination…
- Intelligence Squared
The Sunday Debate: Iran Is Not Our Enemy
In this debate from the Intelligence Squared archive, we head back to 2020, when we invited journalist and broadcaster Mehdi Hasan, academic and writer Azadeh…
- Intelligence Squared
Reflections on Black Consciousness: Lewis Gordon and Paul Gilroy in conversation
Professor Lewis Gordon is a leading philosopher and Department Head at the University of Connecticut who believes that intellectual thought matters as much as…
- Intelligence Squared
The Animal Queendom: Rethinking Zoology, with Lucy Cooke
In his theory of evolution, Charles Darwin cast the female animal as passive, coy, monogamous and submissive: in other words, in the shape of a Victorian…
- Intelligence Squared
Disorder: Ukraine, Politics and Conflict in the 21st Century, with Helen Thompson
Helen Thompson is Professor of Political Economy at the University of Cambridge, a columnist for The New Statesman, and has been a regular contributor to the…
- Intelligence Squared
The Sunday Debate: Sanctions Won’t Stop Putin
Banks, energy suppliers and oligarchs are just some of the targets that sanctions enforced by the West are looking to put pressure on in order to halt Vladimir…
Intelligence SquaredThe Allure of Abandoned Places, with Cal Flyn
Cal Flyn’s Islands of Abandonment was one of the UK’s bestselling books of 2021. It was the Sunday Times Science and Environment book of the year and won her…
Intelligence SquaredNo Bullsh*t Leadership, with John Simpson
John Simpson is the BBC’s World Affairs Editor and has dedicated his life to telling stories from the frontline having joined the BBC more than 50 years ago as…
- Intelligence Squared
The Mystery of Robert Maxwell, with John Preston
Journalist and author John Preston is a master of storytelling, with his novels The Dig and A Very English Scandal having been snapped up for both Netflix and…
- Intelligence Squared
The Sunday Debate: The Robots are Coming and They Will Steal Our Livelihoods
Technology might move fast but the fears surrounding it remain ever-present. Back in 2015 Intelligence Squared gathered both tech evangelists and technology…
Intelligence SquaredJon Ronson and David Baddiel on Conspiracies, Culture Wars and How Things Fell Apart
Whether it's arguing over cancel culture, mask-wearing or what to do with statues, the culture wars now seem to be a constantly reappearing flashpoint in…
- Intelligence Squared
Africa to the Americas: Sites of Slavery, Resistance and Civil Rights, with David Harewood and Bonnie Greer
Between 1500 and 1866, 12.5 million enslaved Africans were transported by ship from Africa to the Americas as part of the Middle Passage crossing. Some 1.8…
- Intelligence Squared
Secrets of the Sprakkar, with Eliza Reid
'Sprakkar' is an ancient Icelandic word meaning extraordinary or outstanding women. It forms the basis of the new book by Eliza Reid, author and co-founder of…
- Intelligence Squared
Debate: Burgundy vs Bordeaux
Among wine lovers, there is no greater divide than that between Burgundy and Bordeaux. These are the world’s most celebrated wine regions. What separates them…
Intelligence SquaredThe Futureverse: From the Ancients to AI
The future. It’s all there, in front of us. It could go wonderfully. Or it could go badly wrong. It will inevitably require our passions and our ingenuity. So…
- Intelligence Squared
The Russia-Ukraine Crisis, with Owen Matthews and Radek Sikorski
Journalist and Russia expert Owen Matthews and Radek Sikorski, former foreign minister of Poland, discuss the biggest crisis Europe has faced since the Second…
- Intelligence Squared
The Art of the Scam, with Rachel Williams and Erlend Ofte Arntsen
Anna Delvey and Simon Leviev, now infamously known as The Fake Heiress and The Tinder Swindler, are two characters who have infiltrated pop culture and gripped…
Intelligence SquaredJackpot: How Gambling Conquered Britain, with Rob Davies
Rob Davies is an investigative journalist for The Guardian and his new book, Jackpot, tells the story of how Britain came to be one of the largest gambling…
- Intelligence Squared
Chasing the Urge: Addiction Throughout History, with Carl Erik Fisher
Carl Erik Fisher is a psychiatrist, bioethicist and recovering alcoholic who has spent years tracing the history of addiction. His new book is The Urge: Our…
- Intelligence Squared
Essays at the Crossroads of Race, with Esi Edugyan
Canadian novelist and writer Esi Edugyan's latest work is a collection of nonfiction writing, Out of the Sun: Essays at the Crossroads of Race. The book’s five…
- Intelligence Squared
Business Weekly: Counting the Cost of Climate Change, with Kristian Rönn
Kristian Rönn is CEO and co-founder of Normative, a start-up which provides carbon-accounting software for businesses. His young company is official software…