Intelligence Squared

Steve McQueen is one of Britain’s most acclaimed filmmakers and artists. He is the recipient of the Academy Award for Best Picture, two BAFTA Awards, the Caméra d’Or, a Golden Globe, and the Turner Prize. McQueen’s work includes his first feature-length film Hunger about Bobby Sands and the 1981 Irish hunger strike, the Oscar-winning 12 Years a Slave, the BBC anthology Small Axe, and his most rece...

Steve McQueen is one of Britain’s most acclaimed filmmakers and artists. He is the recipient of the Academy Award for Best Picture, two BAFTA Awards, the Caméra d’Or, a Golden Globe, and the Turner Prize. McQueen’s work includes his first feature-length film Hunger about Bobby Sands and the 1981 Irish hunger strike, the Oscar-winning 12 Years a Slave, the BBC anthology Small Axe, and his most rece...

This event is part of our ⁠Age of the Strongman⁠ series. ⁠Click here⁠ to see the other events in the series. President Xi Jinping has ruled China for more than a decade. He has overseen an era of unprecedented economic prosperity, cracked down on dissidents, reinvented national identity in his own image and adopted a confrontational ‘wolf warrior’ style of diplomacy on the world stage. Xi has also...

This event is part of our Age of the Strongman series. Click here to see the other events in the series. President Xi Jinping has ruled China for more than a decade. He has overseen an era of unprecedented economic prosperity, cracked down on dissidents, reinvented national identity in his own image and adopted a confrontational ‘wolf warrior’ style of diplomacy on the world stage. Xi has also abo...

This event is part of Critical Conversations, a new series on the age of misinformation by Intelligence Squared and Sage & Jester, hosted by Sophia Smith Galer. To see other events in this series, click here. Where do we draw the line between free speech and dangerous misinformation? Algorithms not only dictate our data feeds but also reinforce our echo chambers, and the stakes have never been hig...

This event is part of Critical Conversations, a new series on the age of misinformation by Intelligence Squared and Sage & Jester, hosted by Sophia Smith Galer. Have you ever clashed with someone on social media or even a loved one? Conversations can easily escalate in a time where everyone is consuming different media with wildly different messaging. At Truth Hurts: From Conflict to Connection, w...

This event was part of Critical Conversations, a new series on the age of misinformation by Intelligence Squared and Sage & Jester, hosted by Sophia Smith Galer. Sometimes the best way to expose a lie is to laugh at it. Satire is a force to be reckoned with in any democracy and artists are essential in shedding light on the truth. Comedy has long been a way to bring difficult conversations to the...

Is prosperity possible without growth? And in an age of environmental crisis and rising inequality, is our obsession with economic expansion doing more harm than good? On the podcast today, renowned economist Professor Tim Jackson challenges the very foundations of our economic thinking. In his groundbreaking book 'Prosperity Without Growth', Jackson argued that relentless pursuit of GDP not only...

The ‘Smartphone-free Childhood’ movement has alerted many of us to the dangers inherent in our – and our kids’ – use of devices. But while we can shield children from technology in their early years, withdrawing from the online world is not an option for most of us in adult life. So how do we ensure that we – and our children when they grow up – develop a healthy relationship with smartphones and...

The ‘Smartphone-free Childhood’ movement has alerted many of us to the dangers inherent in our – and our kids’ – use of devices. But while we can shield children from technology in their early years, withdrawing from the online world is not an option for most of us in adult life. So how do we ensure that we – and our children when they grow up – develop a healthy relationship with smartphones and...

‘The world as we knew it is gone’ – UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s response to Trump’s tariffs President Donald Trump recently announced a 90-day pause for his monumental ‘liberation day’ tariffs while at the same time escalating a dangerous trade war with China. Trump’s announcement came just weeks after import taxes on all goods entering the US were introduced, in the biggest upheaval of i...

‘The world as we knew it is gone’ – UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s response to Trump’s tariffs President Donald Trump recently announced a 90-day pause for his monumental ‘liberation day’ tariffs while at the same time escalating a dangerous trade war with China. Trump’s announcement came just weeks after import taxes on all goods entering the US were introduced, in the biggest upheaval of i...

From the earliest stone circles to Mozart’s obsession with numbers to the radically modern architecture of Zaha Hadid, maths and creativity are interwoven across time and space. Whether we are searching for meaning in an abstract painting or finding patterns in poetry, there are blueprints everywhere: symmetry, prime numbers, the golden ratio and more. In May 2025 we were joined by award-winning m...

From the earliest stone circles to Mozart’s obsession with numbers to the radically modern architecture of Zaha Hadid, maths and creativity are interwoven across time and space. Whether we are searching for meaning in an abstract painting or finding patterns in poetry, there are blueprints everywhere: symmetry, prime numbers, the golden ratio and more. In May 2025 we were joined by award-winning m...

What if apocalypse isn’t the end of the world - but a chance to remake it? On today’s episode we’re joined by science journalist Lizzie Wade to explore Apocalypse, her bold new book about how catastrophe has shaped humanity’s past and can forge more just futures. Drawing on archaeology and anthropology, Wade reframes collapse not as destruction but transformation - revealing how people have endure...

In this episode of Intelligence Squared, financier, philanthropist, and author Robert Rosenkranz joins host Bill Browder for a thought-provoking conversation on how ancient wisdom can power modern achievement. Drawing from his latest book, The Stoic Capitalist, Rosenkranz explores how Stoic philosophy—rooted in ideas from 300 BC—can be applied to create a life of accomplishment, fulfillment, and i...

Moral ambition is the will to make the world a wildly better place. To devote your career to the greatest challenges of our time. To be one of the best, but measured by a new standard of success.’ – Rutger Bregman The brightest minds of our generation may dream of changing the world. But in reality most high achievers will settle for making a lot of money for themselves and their family. World ren...

Moral ambition is the will to make the world a wildly better place. To devote your career to the greatest challenges of our time. To be one of the best, but measured by a new standard of success.’ – Rutger Bregman The brightest minds of our generation may dream of changing the world. But in reality most high achievers will settle for making a lot of money for themselves and their family. World ren...

Acclaimed author and journalist Oliver Burkeman has captivated readers with his refreshing insights on how to embrace the finiteness of existence and find meaning in the everyday. Author of the bestselling book Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals and formerly a columnist for the Guardian, Burkeman challenges conventional productivity advice, offering a more realistic perspective on ho...

Acclaimed author and journalist Oliver Burkeman has captivated readers with his refreshing insights on how to embrace the finiteness of existence and find meaning in the everyday. Author of the bestselling book Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals and formerly a columnist for the Guardian, Burkeman challenges conventional productivity advice, offering a more realistic perspective on ho...

“This great rewiring of childhood, I argue, is the single largest reason for the tidal wave of adolescent mental illness that began in the early 2010s.” — Jonathan Haidt The mental health of young people has become one of the most pressing issues of our time. In recent months, debates have raged about the impact of smartphones on adolescent wellbeing: Should they be banned in schools? Should child...

“This great rewiring of childhood, I argue, is the single largest reason for the tidal wave of adolescent mental illness that began in the early 2010s.” — Jonathan Haidt The mental health of young people has become one of the most pressing issues of our time. In recent months, debates have raged about the impact of smartphones on adolescent wellbeing: Should they be banned in schools? Should child...

What does it mean to have a private life? Our guest today is Tiffany Jenkins, a writer, cultural historian and broadcaster. She is the author of the acclaimed Keeping Their Marbles: How Treasures of the Past Ended Up in Museums and Why They Should Stay There, and a former honorary fellow in the History of Art at the University of Edinburgh. She wrote and presented the BBC Radio 4 series ‘A History...

For this week's Sunday Debate, we're dipping back into the archive to 2014, when we gathered a panel of expert historians to debate whether Britain was right to fight in the First World War, a tragedy that laid the foundations for decades of destructive upheaval and violence across Europe. To debate the issue, we invited leading historians Margaret MacMillan, Max Hastings, John Charmley and Domini...

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...