Intelligence Squared

When did you first hear of GPT, Claude, DALL-E or Bard? Feels like a while ago, right? In barely over a year AI has permeated our conversations, our places of work and it feels omnipresent in the culture. It also threatens to make some of the pillars of our society redundant. Join researcher and author Carl Miller for POWER TRIP, a brand new podcast from Intelligence Squared, to see where that jou...

We revisit a debate from 2021 between the former Greek finance minister, economist and author Yanis Varoufakis, and Gillian Tett, the Financial Times columnist, anthropologist, and author. The two gathered to debate: Can We Fix Capitalism? Our chair was Politico's Anne McElvoy, who at time of recording was senior editor at The Economist.  Gillian Tett is also Provost of Kings College at Cambridge...

This is the second instalment of our two-part debate, with George Monbiot, Guardian columnist, environmental campaigner and author of Regenesis: Feeding the World without Devouring the Planet, arguing for the motion We Should All Go Vegan. Patrick Holden, Founder and chief executive of the Sustainable Food Trust, argues against it. Our chair is Alice Thomson, Columnist and interviewer at The Times...

In this two-part debate, George Monbiot, Guardian columnist, environmental campaigner and author of Regenesis: Feeding the World without Devouring the Planet, argues for the motion We Should All Go Vegan. Patrick Holden, Founder and chief executive of the Sustainable Food Trust, argues against it. Our chair is Alice Thomson, Columnist and interviewer at The Times. Livestock farming contributes 14....

Until recently, the Murdoch's formed the most powerful media and political force in America. Now their empire is cracking up and crashing down. Michael Wolff the acclaimed author of a trilogy of books about the the chaotic Trump presidency and the biographer of Rupert Murdoch comes to Intelligence Squared to discuss this real life Succession with Justin Webb. The episode was produced and edited by...

Tomiwa Owolade is a rising star of literary and cultural criticism in the UK. His first book is This Is Not America: Why Black Lives in Britain Matter. In this discussion, Owolade joins commentator Inaya Folarin Iman to argue that too much of the debate around race in Britain today is viewed through the prism of American ideas and history – models that don’t reflect the challenges and achievements...

Mark Galeotti is one of the world’s leading experts on modern Russia and is the author of books such as Putin’s Wars: From Chechnya to Ukraine and The Weaponisation of Everything: A Field Guide to the New Way of War. In conversation with Intelligence Squared's Conor Boyle, he explains how the recent death of the Wagner mercenary Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin means that Russian President Vladimir...

Philosopher Susan Neiman and cultural critic Thomas Chatterton Williams take part in a challenging conversation on the themes of Neiman’s new book Left is Not Woke. The book sets out what Neiman sees as the dangerous consequences of conflating ‘wokeism’ with the Left, arguing that this confusion threatens the core principles that have guided progressive movements for centuries. We’d love to hear y...

Philip Gold is one of the world's leading researchers of depressive illness. Since 1974, he has worked at the National Institute of Health, where he has served as Chief of Neuroendocrine Research, and Senior Investigator in the National Institute of Mental Health Intramural Research Program, and Chief of the Section on Neuroendocrinology. For this episode, he joins science communicator and Postdoc...

Bestselling author and activist Naomi Klein goes down the rabbit hole in pursuit of her doppelganger – another well-known writer with a name similar to hers but whose views couldn’t be more different from her own. She finds herself returning again and again to a place she calls Mirror World, where conspiracy theorists, anti-vaxxers and wellness influencers make common cause with far-right propagan...

This the second instalment of our three-part episode. Mustafa Suleyman is the ultimate AI insider. As co-founder of DeepMind and Inflection AI, he is one of the pioneers of the artificial intelligence revolution, potentially the single greatest accelerant of progress in history. His new book The Coming Wave: Technology, Power and the Twenty-First Century’s Greatest Dilemma, asks questions about wh...

Mustafa Suleyman is the ultimate AI insider. As co-founder of DeepMind and Inflection AI, he is one of the pioneers of the artificial intelligence revolution, potentially the single greatest accelerant of progress in history. His new book The Coming Wave: Technology, Power and the Twenty-First Century’s Greatest Dilemma, asks questions about whether society is prepared for such rapid change. In th...

John Gray is one of the UK’s most important and influential political thinkers. Sceptical of ideas about progress and the perfectibility of human nature, he is an arch critic of liberalism, believing that history moves in cycles rather than inexorably towards a better future. For this episode of Intelligence Squared he is joined by David Runciman, a political scientist known for his clear analysis...

Do you ever turn away from the news in despair? Do you scroll through social media and come away feeling angry, frustrated and fearful? Have you given up on the idea that a level of sanity might ever be restored to our politics? If so, acclaimed political commentator Rafael Behr's new book might be for you, Politics: A Survivor’s Guide: How to Stay Engaged without Getting Enraged. In conversation...

Award-winning journalist Oliver Franklin-Wallis has spent the last number of years investigating the global waste industry. In June 2023 he came to Intelligence Squared to tell us the truth about Britain’s overflowing sewers and hollowed-out mining towns, the mountainous landfills of New Delhi, Ghana’s flooded second-hand markets and what it all means for the future. Joining him to discuss the boo...

We tend to think of these uplands as ‘wild’ and ‘natural’. But in fact, as the rewilders point out, they are entirely man-made, the result of clearances by man to make way for millions of sheep whose grazing over the last 200 years has rendered the land bare. Sheep farming, once a major source of Britain’s wealth, is now largely uneconomic and depends on billions of pounds of subsidies. But where...

In this straight-talking podcast brought to you by Intelligence Squared, Chris Hirst cuts through the bullsh*t and gets to the heart of modern leadership. For this episode, Chris speaks to theatre director Sir Nicholas Hytner. Previously Artistic Director of the National Theatre, his major successes include Miss Saigon, The History Boys, and One Man, Two Guvnors. Under Hytner’s leadership, the Nat...

Accelerated by a pandemic, global conflict and rapid technological change, extremist ideas are becoming more widespread: QAnon proponents run for U.S. Congress, neo-fascists win elections in Europe and hyper-partisan commentators spread dangerous myths to millions online. Julia Ebner is a researcher specialising in far-right extremism, reciprocal radicalisation, conspiracy myths and terrorism prev...

This is the second instalment of a three-part episode. David Baddiel would love there to be a God. The comedian and bestselling author has spent a lot of time fantasising about how much better life would be if there actually were a supreme being – which for him would be some kind of Superhero Dad who chased off Death. Unfortunately for him, there isn’t. Or at least, that’s Baddiel’s view, and it’s...

David Baddiel would love there to be a God. The comedian and bestselling author has spent a lot of time fantasising about how much better life would be if there actually were a supreme being – which for him would be some kind of Superhero Dad who chased off Death. Unfortunately for him, there isn’t. Or at least, that’s Baddiel’s view, and it’s the starting point of his new book The God Desire. In...

What are the connections between propaganda about the Russian Empire and the invasion of Ukraine? Mikhail Zygar, a renowned Russian dissident journalist, is the founding editor-in-chief of Russian news TV channel Dozhd, who was forced to close his company and flee the country after condemning the invasion. In July 2023 he came to Intelligence Squared to share his insights into the power struggles...

Samira Ahmed speaks to comedian Katherine Ryan, as part of the Intelligence Squared series How I Found My Voice. From working at Hooters and her first stand-up gigs to watching TV with her mum, they discuss the moments that inspired Katherine to find her voice and, in her own words, be a disruptive woman. This episode was first aired in 2019. How I Found My Voice explores how some of the world's g...

Food has always been more than just fuel. Beyond mere nourishment, food carries deep meaning in our lives. It evokes feelings of comfort and joy and it can ignite disagreement and discord. It serves as a powerful link to culture and identity, creating a sense of belonging and community. In August 2023 we were joined by restaurateur and author Ravinder Bhogal and award-winning writer and broadcaste...

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 and why the great rivalry? Back in 2015 we invited two of the UK's top wine critics, Jancis Robinson and Hugh Johnson, to debate the issue. Chairing the event was Michelin-starred chef and restauranteur Michel Roux Jr.  We’d love to hear you...

Television and radio broadcaster Aasmah Mir speaks about her recent memoir A Pebble In The Throat, which looks at the interwoven narratives found between the experiences of her own childhood growing up in Glasgow in Scotland and that of her parents raised in Pakistan. Joining her to discuss the book is Iranian-American novelist Dina Nayeri, author of the The Ungrateful Refugee.   We’d love to hear...