Intelligence Squared

In this episode of Intelligence Squared, head of programming Conor Boyle speaks with author and tech expert Jamie Bartlett about how podcasting, video and social media have transformed modern politics and public discourse. Bartlett unpacks the role of podcasters in shaping new political narratives and how our online information ecosystem is designed in a way that perfectly suits digital populism a...

This is the second instalment of our full-length in-depth discussion. Tim Marshall is one of the world’s most successful authors on foreign affairs. He’s the writer who put the ‘geo’ into geopolitics with his multi-million-selling books Prisoners of Geography and The Power of Geography. Marshall’s principal argument is that without geography we cannot understand the world. Geography explains why V...

Tim Marshall is one of the world’s most successful authors on foreign affairs. He’s the writer who put the ‘geo’ into geopolitics with his multi-million-selling books Prisoners of Geography and The Power of Geography. Marshall’s principal argument is that without geography we cannot understand the world. Geography explains why Vladimir Putin wanted to annex Crimea; to remain a world power, Russia...

This is the second instalment of our full-length in-depth discussion. A fan favourite at Arsenal and previously Manchester City, Oleksandr Zinchenko has been lighting up the Premier League with his fearless performances for many years. But his success has come while facing immense challenges. Having begun his career as a teenager at Shakhtar Donetsk, on the border with Russia, he was acutely aware...

A fan favourite at Arsenal and previously Manchester City, Oleksandr Zinchenko has been lighting up the Premier League with his fearless performances for many years. But his success has come while facing immense challenges. Having begun his career as a teenager at Shakhtar Donetsk, on the border with Russia, he was acutely aware of the politics of sport. Initially he played football as an amateur...

This is the second instalment of a three-part episode. We once thought liberalism could and should be universal. But recent decades have shown that this presumption could be flawed. Now, with the re-election of Donad Trump in the US, liberalism has fallen out of favour at the ballot box with populism and authoritarianism taking root globally. Where do we go from here? On the day of the US election...

We once thought liberalism could and should be universal. But recent decades have shown that this presumption could be flawed. Now, with the re-election of Donad Trump in the US, liberalism has fallen out of favour at the ballot box with populism and authoritarianism taking root globally. Where do we go from here? On the day of the US election, November 6th, John Gray, the renowned philosopher who...

This is the second instalment of a two-part episode. The October 7 Hamas-led terrorist attacks on Israel and the subsequent siege of Gaza by the Israeli military upended the Middle East. Can the conflict be contained or will the tensions between Israel, Hezbollah and Iran escalate and engulf the Middle East in a regional war? On October 27, 2024, Jeremy Bowen, the International Editor of the BBC,...

The October 7 Hamas-led terrorist attacks on Israel and the subsequent siege of Gaza by the Israeli military upended the Middle East. Can the conflict be contained or will the tensions between Israel, Hezbollah and Iran escalate and engulf the Middle East in a regional war? On October 27, 2024, Jeremy Bowen, the International Editor of the BBC, joined Intelligence Squared CEO Matt McAllester in co...

This is the second instalment of a three-part episode. Japan’s Masayoshi Son has purportedly invested or controlled assets worth $1trn in the past two decades through his media-tech giant, SoftBank. He bankrolled Alibaba, China’s internet colossus, before the world had heard about it. He plotted with Steve Jobs to turn the iPhone into a miracle product and he invested in hundreds of tech start-ups...

Japan’s Masayoshi Son has purportedly invested or controlled assets worth $1trn in the past two decades through his media-tech giant, SoftBank. He bankrolled Alibaba, China’s internet colossus, before the world had heard about it. He plotted with Steve Jobs to turn the iPhone into a miracle product and he invested in hundreds of tech start-ups, helping to fuel the biggest boom Silicon Valley has e...

This is the second instalment of a three-part episode. The foods we turn to behind closed doors are deeply personal, saturated in memories and topped with a healthy dollop of guilty pleasure. In Comfort Eating, the podcast and accompanying book of the same name, Grace Dent – one of the UK's best-loved food writers – throws open her kitchen cupboards to reveal why we hold these secret snacks, naugh...

The foods we turn to behind closed doors are deeply personal, saturated in memories and topped with a healthy dollop of guilty pleasure. In Comfort Eating, the podcast and accompanying book of the same name, Grace Dent – one of the UK's best-loved food writers – throws open her kitchen cupboards to reveal why we hold these secret snacks, naughty nibbles and hand-me-down recipes so dear to our hear...

This is the second instalment of a three-part episode. Gary Younge has had a ringside seat during the biggest events in modern Black history: accompanying Nelson Mandela on his first election campaign, joining revellers on the southside of Chicago during Barack Obama’s presidential election victory, entering New Orleans days after Hurricane Katrina, covering the rise of Black Lives Matter and inte...

Gary Younge has had a ringside seat during the biggest events in modern Black history: accompanying Nelson Mandela on his first election campaign, joining revellers on the southside of Chicago during Barack Obama’s presidential election victory, entering New Orleans days after Hurricane Katrina, covering the rise of Black Lives Matter and interviewing prominent figures including Archbishop Desmond...

How should we remember Napoleon, the man of obscure Corsican birth who rose to become emperor of the French and briefly master of Europe? In this archive debate from 2014, as the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo approached, Intelligence Squared brought together two of Britain’s finest historians to debate how we should assess Napoleon’s life and legacy. Was he a military genius and fath...

Dame Maggie Aderin-Pocock is an award-winning space scientist, broadcaster, author and familiar face from the BBC's The Sky at Night programme. She's also Chancellor of the University of Leicester and for this episode she joins us to discuss her new book, The Story of the Solar System: A Visual Journey. In conversation with Aderin-Pocock for the podcast is scientist, communicator and Fellow at Edi...

This is the second instalment of a three-part episode. Henry V reigned over England for nine years and four months before he died at the early age of 35. He was known as a hardened, sometimes brutal, warrior, yet one who was also intelligent and artistic. He was a leader who made many mistakes, who misjudged his friends and family members, yet always seemed to triumph when it mattered. As king, he...

Henry V reigned over England for nine years and four months before he died at the early age of 35. He was known as a hardened, sometimes brutal, warrior, yet one who was also intelligent and artistic. He was a leader who made many mistakes, who misjudged his friends and family members, yet always seemed to triumph when it mattered. As king, he saved a shattered country from economic ruin, put down...

Chris Haughton is a designer, illustrator and children's book author, whose bold imagery is known for lighting up the pages of books such as Well Done, Mummy Penguin, and Don't Worry, Little Crab. But Haughton has a healthy enthusiasm for real-world innovation, which sits side by side with his artistic output. His latest book is thinking about some of those bigger ideas. It’s called The History of...

This discussion is a dip back into the extensive Intelligence Squared archive, first aired in late 2022. Jerk chicken, curried goat, ackee and saltfish - these are just some of the famous dishes which make up the varied patchwork of Jamaican cuisine. With influences from West Africa, Spain, China and the East India region, each dish can tell a different story ranging from the influence of indigeno...

Many liberals believe that in recent years we have seen an erosion of the right to air unpopular opinions without the risk of being cancelled. We are in an ever-intensifying shutting down of conversation, they maintain, with constituencies on both the left and the right demanding that opinions they don’t like be declared out of bounds, socially, morally or legally. But some argue otherwise: that t...

Academic, author, broadcaster and ordained deacon Diarmaid MacCulloch is Emeritus Professor of the History of the Church at Oxford University, and Fellow of St Cross College and of Campion Hall. His latest book is Lower than the Angels: A History of Sex and Christianity, which explores how Christianity or historically Christian societies have witnessed one of the most extraordinary about-turns in...

This discussion is a dip back into the extensive Intelligence Squared archive, first aired in early 2022. 'Sprakkar' is an ancient Icelandic word meaning extraordinary or outstanding women. It forms the basis of a book by Eliza Reid, author, co-founder of the Iceland Writers Retreat, and at the time of recording was also the nation's First Lady. Rosamund Urwin from the Sunday Times joins Eliza to...

Paul Johnson is the economist who has set the terms of so much political debate over the past few decades in Britain. Having served as Director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies since 2011, his expertise on matters of public spending and global economic trends have provided invaluable insight to the public and policymakers alike. Johnson’s column for the Times, as well as his acclaimed Austerity...