Intelligence Squared

The Intelligence Squared team look back across 2023 in the third of our staff picks episodes. Senior Producer Tom Hall joins Associate Producer Layla Ishmail to select their highlights. Layla's pick is comedian and writer David Baddiel, who appeared onstage earlier in 2023 to discuss his book The God Desire along with religious scholar Ben Quash and fellow comedian, actor and broadcaster Richard A...

The Intelligence Squared team continue their look back across 2023 to pick their favourite moments from all of the podcasts we've produced over the past 12 months. Technical Operations Manager Mark Roberts joins Senior Producer Conor Boyle to select their highlights. Mark is going for comedian Russell Kane, who appeared on Intelligence Squared's How I Found My Voice podcast. While Conor replays US...

The Intelligence Squared team look back across 2023 to pick their favourite moments from all of the podcasts we've produced over the past 12 months. First up are producers Feyi Adegbite and Bella Soames. Bella discusses how she brought together the documentary maker and adventurer Simon Reeve along with war reporter Chistina Lamb and journalist Kamal Ahmed to discuss the concept of risk. Feyi pick...

For the third and final instalment of Intelligence Squared's Holiday Reads selection looking back at some of the best books of the year, Conor Boyle and Feyi Adegbite revisit conversations with authors including Michael Lewis, whose book, Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon, tells the story of crypto entrepreneur Sam Bankman Fried. We also listen back to a discussion between The Sund...

In this special Christmas episode in association Tortoise, Intelligence Squared welcomes the team from Tortoise Media's The News Meeting podcast to a live recording of the show at London's Tabernacle theatre, hosted by Tortoise editor and co-founder James Harding. Joining Harding and the team onstage to discuss the biggest stories of the year was ITV's political editor Robert Peston, co-author of...

As leader of the Bad Seeds, musician Nick Cave is well known for his dark take on the songwriting craft but in recent years the performer and author has also become a distinct voice reflecting on how we deal with the process of grief. Cave’s most recent book is Faith, Hope, and Carnage, a collection of writing formed from conversations between the singer and the Irish journalist and critic Seán O’...

For the second instalment of Intelligence Squared's Holiday Reads selection looking back at some of the best books of the year, Conor Boyle and Feyi Adegbite revisit conversations with authors including journalist Tania Branigan, whose book, Red Memory, tells the story of China’s cultural revolution. Plus, writer Tomiwa Owolade discusses his book, This is Not America: Why Black Lives in Britain Ma...

Pen Vogler is the acclaimed food historian whose recent book, Stuffed, tells the history of food in Britain and how what we eat has shaped society over the centuries. Drawing on social records, literature and cookbooks of the past, Vogler traces how staples such as bread and beer have been signposts for measuring the class system in Britain through eras of both feast and famine, while also celebra...

Intelligence Squared's Feyi Adegbite and Conor Boyle compile a selection of stocking fillers while enjoying a look back at some of the year's best chats from the podcast for the first in our Holiday Reads episodes. Author and activist Naomi Kein discusses Doppelganger, her book that jumps down the rabbit hole of conspiracy and the disjointed political age we live in. Plus broadcaster, fearless deb...

Organisational psychologist Adam Grant and IT research scientist Andrew McAfee discuss how we can all learn to unlock a bit more of our own potential with Intelligence Squared's executive producer, Hannah Kaye. Grant is the author of recent book Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Greater Things. McAfee recently published The Geek Way, which charts the rise of what he terms geeks in running...

Arun Kundnani is a writer on issues such as race, culture and empire. His most recent book is: What Is Antiracism? And Why It Means Anticapitalism. Kundnani teaches at New York University and his previous books include The Muslims are Coming! Islamophobia, Extremism, and the Domestic War on Terror. Joining him in conversation on the podcast is Ruchira Sharma, the writer and journalist who is also...

For this episode we’re heading back to the Poetry Pharmacy – a health-check for both mind and spirit – brought to you by poetry publisher, advocate and founder of the Forward Prizes for Poetry, William Sieghart. It’s not our first visit. Regular listeners may have enjoyed our previous two Poetry Pharmacy events, in which Sieghart and a host of acting talent explored the power of words to help us m...

The poet, writer and activist Benjamin Zephaniah sadly passed away this week, aged 65. In this archive discussion from 2019, journalist Samira Ahmed speaks with Zephaniah about his life's work and the journey that took him from his youth in Birmingham to becoming one of the UK's most distinct and relevant voices harnessing the power of poetry and the spoken word. Learn more about your ad choices....

In this episode from the Intelligence Squared archive, we jump back to 2019 for a discussion with the acclaimed food writer Michael Pollan, whose book How To Change Your Mind is a deep dive into the world of psychedelic exploration and what it can teach us about consciousness, addiction, depression and more. He was interviewed by the doctor and science broadcaster Xand Van Tulleken. If you'd like...

Michele Lamont is a Professor of Sociology and African and African American Studies at Harvard University, and a pioneer of cultural and comparative sociology. Her new book, Seeing Others: How to Redefine Worth in a Divided World, argues that we have lived for too long with the neoliberal idea that our worth is defined by our wealth and our achievements and calls for a new way of thinking about ho...

Taylor Lorenz is a writer, tech journalist and columnist for the Washington Post. Her new book is is Extremely Online: The Untold Story of Fame, Influence and Power on the Internet. The book tells the often messy and constantly evolving story of social media and the creator economy that's been building since the early 2000s to the present day. Host of this conversation is Conor Boyle, Senior Produ...

Paul Caruana Galizia is an award-winning journalist and now author. His new book is A Death in Malta, which tells the story of the life and death of his mother, the investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, who was assassinated by a car bomb on the island of Malta in 2017. Joining Paul in conversation is the journalist and historian Anne Applebaum. She is staff writer for the Atlantic and a...

For episode three of Intelligence Squared's new podcast exploring Saudi Arabia's pursuit of global influence, award winning author and journalist James Montague, who focuses on the intersection of football and politics, explains the eye-watering sums of money Saudi Arabia is spending on sport and why the reasons for this are not as obvious as they might seem. Montague has reported from over 80 cou...

What are the true origins of gendered oppression? Why does gender inequality persist despite efforts for change? What part do we all play in keeping patriarchal structures alive? In Summer 2023 award-winning science journalist Angela Saini came to Intelligence Squared to address these questions and challenge long-held beliefs about gender and power. In conversation with acclaimed zoologist Lucy Co...

For this episode, we’re revisiting one of our favourite events from the past few years, The Poetry Pharmacy Returns. Back in 2019, we gathered a stellar line-up to celebrate the power of poetry all thanks to the vision of publisher William Sieghart. Sieghart’s Poetry Pharmacy books look to use the written word as a healing antidote to many of life’s everyday challenges. Sieghart will be returning...

In summer 2023, academic and politician Faiza Shaheen came to Intelligence Squared to argue that social mobility is collapsing in Britain and the government’s leveling up strategy does not work. Drawing from her recent book Know Your Place she discussed the ways in which inequality has continued to widen across various domains, from education to healthcare. She offered a manifesto for how we can r...

In this episode, Kamal Ahmed is joined by two bestselling authors: a life designer and a behavioural scientist to discuss the tools and insights that we can use to build happy and healthy lives. A mechanical engineer by training, Dave Evans teaches the overwhelmingly popular Designing Your Life courses at Stanford, and is the co-author of the New York Times bestseller Designing Your Life: How to B...

In this excerpt from Intelligence Squared's new podcast, The Saudi Project, Quinn Slobodian, author of Crack-Up Capitalism and Professor of History at Wellesley College, discusses how the development of cities like Dubai and countries like Qatar are influencing the Saudi economy and the huge projects the country is spending its money on. This episode was hosted and produced by Conor Boyle. If you'...

For the first episode of Intelligence Squared's new podcast, The Saudi Project, Saudi Arabian professor of social anthropology and author of Salman's Legacy: The Dilemmas of a New Era in Saudi Arabia, Madawi Al-Rasheed, joins Senior Producer Conor Boyle. She explains the foundations of the Saudi state and how two key factors – religion and oil – shaped the kingdom. Search for The Saudi Project whe...

This is Part Two of a three-episode discussion. Who gets to win power and how do they keep it – and lose it? These are the questions that Mary Beard and Rory Stewart addressed when they came to Intelligence Squared on in November 2023. Beard, Britain’s best known classicist, has won legions of fans through her enthusiasm for the ancient world and her exploration of our cultural assumptions about p...