Intelligence Squared

Samira Ahmed speaks to one of Britain's most popular podcasters - Adam Buxton. From experimenting with early video recorders to his David Bowie impressions and comedic use of Star Wars figurines on national television, Buxton talks about the moments that shaped and inspired his voice. This discussion first aired on our award-winning podcast, How I Found My Voice, in 2019. We’d love to hear your fe...

Both Queen Elizabeth I and Queen Victoria set their stamp firmly on their era but which was the greater monarch? In this event, recorded in 2017, we welcomed Philippa Gregory, bestselling author of the Tudor Court series of novels to make the case for Queen Elizabeth I, and in the other corner was Daisy Goodwin, writer of the hit ITV series Victoria, arguing the case for that the show’s namesake. ...

Samira Ahmed speaks to the chef Yotam Ottolenghi, who has arguably done more than any other food writer in recent times to change the way we cook and eat. In 2014 the American food magazine Bon Appétit wrote that he had ‘made the world love vegetables’ – although he himself is not a vegetarian. They speak about his life and career, from discovering his love of food in Jerusalem and that his grandm...

The annals of ancient Rome’s first emperors have been recounted countless times. However, in his new book, Palatine: An Alternative History of the Caesars, former editor of The Times Peter Stothard presents a fresh perspective. Stothard shifts the focus to the individuals who orbited around figures such as Tiberius, Caligula, and Claudius – the courtiers, flatterers, slaves, former slaves, glutton...

Samira Ahmed speaks to the novelist and author of An American Marriage, Tayari Jones. They speak about her life and career from growing up in Atlanta and taking a stand on ethical issues as a child to developing her voice as a writer, the role that children's author Judy Blume played in her life, and being selected for President Barack Obama's summer reading list and Oprah's Book Club. This discus...

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 the New Testament, with its account of the life of Jesus, the Good Samaritan, the raising of Lazarus and the feeding of the five thousand. Whatever our creed or background, these stories are embedded in our consciousness. They inform our ever...

Expanding our global electricity networks is the key to unlocking a renewable future. In the US alone, the electric grid will need to expand by at least 60% by 2030 to ensure renewable energy can make its way into our homes and businesses, and the UK’s networks are also in dire need of regeneration. To implement such a project will require seismic policy change, innovative thinking and massive inv...

This is the second part of a two-part episode. It’s the issue that’s more polarising than politics. The world is full of animal lovers but we can’t agree on which pet is more worthy of our love – the loyal, obedient dog, or the inscrutable, capricious cat. In this episode philosopher John Gray goes up against writer Will Self to debate the age old question of which animal is superior. The debate w...

It’s the issue that’s more polarising than politics. The world is full of animal lovers but we can’t agree on which pet is more worthy of our love – the loyal, obedient dog, or the inscrutable, capricious cat. In this episode philosopher John Gray goes up against writer Will Self to debate the age old question of which animal is superior. The debate was chaired by writer, academic and broadcaster...

Distinguished psychologist Kimberley Wilson's recent book is Unprocessed: How the Food We Eat Is Fuelling Our Mental Health Crisis. In it, she explores the tangible links between diet and how the mind works. Wilson was a former Governor of the Tavistock & Portman NHS Mental Health Trust and has a master’s degree in nutrition. She also previously led the therapy service at what was then Europe’s la...

This is the second instalment of a three-part episode. Dickens. Tolstoy. Their names and reputations shake the ground – and so do their books, if you drop one. But whose legacy is more enduring? Whose vision truer and more relevant today? Should you embark on War and Peace or Our Mutual Friend? To battle it out, in 2018 Intelligence Squared brought two celebrated writers, John Mullan for Dickens a...

Dickens. Tolstoy. Their names and reputations shake the ground – and so do their books, if you drop one. But whose legacy is more enduring? Whose vision truer and more relevant today? Should you embark on War and Peace or Our Mutual Friend? To battle it out, in 2018 Intelligence Squared brought two celebrated writers, John Mullan for Dickens and Simon Schama for Tolstoy, to our stage. They called...

What was Rome like during its zenith? In July 2023 acclaimed historian and co-host of The Rest Is History podcast Tom Holland came to Intelligence Squared to paint a vivid picture of Rome during the Pax Romana, when Rome was the world’s great superpower. Drawing on his new book Pax: War and Peace in Rome’s Golden Age, Holland described how at its peak the Roman Empire was the wealthiest and most p...

What is it to imagine exactly? How do we go about it, and why is it so important that we imagine for ourselves? In July 2023 author and Condé Nast Britain managing director Albert Read came to Intelligence Squared to explain that the imagination is not just the preserve of artists and creatives but rather a muscle – an essential faculty of the mind which we can all train and develop throughout our...

This is the second part of a two-part interview. Recorded in 2018, economist and author Mariana Mazzucato discusses her book, The Value of Everything, with UK Labour MP Stella Creasy. It's a wide-ranging discussion looking at how real wealth is created in our economy and how we can measure the true worth of both infrastructure and services. Mariana Mazzucato is Professor in the Economics of Innova...

In this two-part episode recorded in 2018, economist and author Mariana Mazzucato discusses her book, The Value of Everything, with UK Labour MP Stella Creasy. It's a wide-ranging discussion looking at how real wealth is created in our economy and how we can measure the true worth of both infrastructure and services. Mariana Mazzucato is Professor in the Economics of Innovation and Public Value at...

This is the second part of a three-part interview. Join us for more in the following episode. We tend to associate old age with deterioration, especially of our mental powers and memory. But today we are seeing a new cohort of the so-called young-old, people in their sixties, seventies and beyond, who are still healthy, active and fully engaged with life. Neuroscientist and bestselling author Dani...

We tend to associate old age with deterioration, especially of our mental powers and memory. But today we are seeing a new cohort of the so-called young-old, people in their sixties, seventies and beyond, who are still healthy, active and fully engaged with life. Neuroscientist and bestselling author Daniel Levitin is at the forefront of research to find out how to lead a long and healthy life and...

Gloria Estefan is one of the most successful female singers ever. With more than 120 million records sold worldwide, three Grammy Awards, and a career spanning four decades, she has helped make Latin-flavoured pop music an international success. Estefan is also the recipient of the Presidential Medal of Honor and has her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. From fleeing Cuba as a young child wh...

Niall Ferguson is the preeminent historian of the ideas that define our time. He has challenged how we think about money, power, civilisation and empires. Now he wants to reimagine history itself. Networks, he explains, are the key to history. The greatest innovators have been ‘superhubs’ of connections. The most powerful states, empires and companies have been those with the most densely networke...

Not many of us can claim to have hunted with the Bushmen of the Kalahari; been detained for spying by the KGB; or smuggled ourselves over a border into an active war zone under the floorboards of an ambulance. Yet, for our latest guests on the Futureverse, this is all in a day’s work.  The Sunday Times’ Chief Foreign Correspondent Christina Lamb, who has been covering conflict around the globe for...

In the Middle Ages, agricultural advancements enriched the nobility and the Church, which used the wealth generated to build themselves magnificent houses and cathedrals, while the peasants went hungry. The early years of England’s industrial revolution brought stagnant incomes for the working class. In recent decades technological advances have put untold amounts of wealth into the hands of the 0...

The second part of our conversation from 2012 with The Elders, a coalition of world leaders and figureheads freed from the constraints of office whose wealth of experience can open doors at the highest level. In this episode, our panel made up of former US president Jimmy Carter, Mary Robinson – the first female president of Ireland and former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights – and South Afri...

In 2012, Intelligence Squared partnered with The Elders, a coalition of world leaders and figureheads freed from the constraints of office whose wealth of experience can open doors at the highest level. Brought together by Nelson Mandela in 2007, The Elders use their collective experience and influence to promote peace, justice and human rights worldwide, using private advocacy and public diplomac...

In this episode we're bringing you part two of a live recording from our Intelligent Times event series which took place in collaboration with The New York Times. Recorded in 2019, award winning actor Willem Dafoe speaks to the New York Times European culture editor, Matthew Anderson. Together they discuss Dafoe's long and varied career, his approach to acting, and his understanding of the changin...