Intelligence Squared

In this episode we bring you part two of our live event, 'How To Win Every Argument,' with renowned interviewer and debater Mehdi Hasan. Hosted by columnist, author, and broadcaster Jonathan Freedland, Hasan shares his tips and techniques for mastering the art of persuasion, which he explores in-depth in his new book 'Win Every Argument: The Art of Debating, Persuading, and Public Speaking.' From...

In this episode we bring you part one of our live event, 'How To Win Every Argument,' with renowned interviewer and debater Mehdi Hasan. Hosted by columnist, author, and broadcaster Jonathan Freedland, Hasan shares his tips and techniques for mastering the art of persuasion, which he explores in-depth in his new book 'Win Every Argument: The Art of Debating, Persuading, and Public Speaking.' From...

The episode is part two of our live event, System Error: Should We Fix Capitalism or Abandon It? Here Chief Economics Commentator at the Financial Times, Martin Wolf and Greek politician and Economist Yanis Varoufakis continue their debate on the future of capitalism. In his new book, The Crisis of Democratic Capitalism, Wolf argues that democratic capitalism remains the best system for human flou...

This episode brings you part one of our live event, System Error: Should We Fix Capitalism or Abandon It? Chief Economics Commentator at the Financial Times, Martin Wolf, and Greek Politician and Economist, Yanis Varoufakis, debate their views on the future of capitalism. In his new book, The Crisis of Democratic Capitalism, Wolf argues that democratic capitalism remains the best system for human...

Today we're bringing you some content from our premium monthly newsletter The Monthly Read, which is usually reserved for our subscribers. The Monthly Read is a space for a member of the Intelligence squared team to respond to a book, author, or idea that has recently caught our attention. This month, producer Feyi Adegbite posed the question: ‘Is thin back in?’ in response to our recent conversat...

China’s quest for social control is now playing out in ways that should worry us all. In this episode of the podcast, award-winning journalist Josh Chin explains how the Chinese government is weaving digital technology into every aspect of daily life from traffic patterns to food safety to emergency response. And he argues that this is a matter of global concern: Western governments encouraged the...

On this episode of the Sunday Debate we’re going to explore an issue that is timely, yet draws on debates at the heart of British politics and identity for centuries; should King Charles III should be the last British monarch? And where would the UK be without its Royal Family? Speaking for the motion is Graham Smith, CEO of Republic, a British organisation campaigning for the abolition of the mon...

Shortly after her fourteenth birthday, Hadley Freeman stopped eating. From the age of fourteen to seventeen, she lived in various psychiatric wards with a diagnosis of anorexia nervosa. And for the next decade, the condition would revisit and interrupt her life in numerous ways. In conversation with journalist Bari Weiss and drawing on her new book Good Girls, Freeman recounts her harrowing accoun...

The Rohingya people of Myanmar have been persecuted for decades. The worst period of violence flared up in August 2017, when almost 700,000 Rohingya were forced to leave Myanmar after a large-scale military operation. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi was in power at the time. Today very few members of this Muslim minority remain in the country. Instead they live mostly in Bangladesh’s r...

On Easter weekend 1993 Nelson Mandela was engaged in slow-moving power-sharing talks with President F.W. de Klerk when a white supremacist shot Mandela’s heir-apparent, Chris Hani, in the hope of igniting an all-out civil war. On this episode of the podcast, acclaimed South African journalist Justice Malala recounts the riveting story of the pivotal nine days that followed Hani’s murder and the ex...

Is the UK’s 2024 general election a foregone conclusion, with the Labour Party some 20 points ahead in the opinion polls? Can Rishi Sunak turn around the economy in time? Is there enough difference between the two main parties on the issues that voters care most about – the cost of living crisis, the NHS and immigration? As both parties tilt more to the right to win votes, is now a bad time for pr...

As Earth Day approaches, we revisit a compelling conversation from 2021 asking which factors are really responsible for the climate emergency and who might be able to prevent it? Dr Anne Karpf is a writer and sociologist whose book, How Women Can Save the Planet, looks to analyse some of these questions in more granular detail. The BBC's South Asia correspondent Rajini Vaidyanathan joins Karpf to...

The American healthcare system is one of the most expensive and complex systems in the world, yet it remains plagued by significant inequalities. Despite spending more per capita on healthcare than any other country, millions of Americans are still uninsured or underinsured, and healthcare outcomes vary significantly by race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. In this conversation Dr Ali Hosin f...

As technology continues to advance, the once distant concept of growing a human fetus outside the womb is inching closer to reality. But with these advancements come myriad ethical, legal, and social questions that challenge our understanding of parenthood, abortion rights, and even personhood. To discuss these issues our host Helen Czerski is joined by Claire Horn, research fellow at Dalhousie Un...

What is the role of contemporary art museums today? Are biennales and art fairs platforms for experiment and exchange, or little more than social attractions for the elite? Have collectors become the new curators? Are private and corporate interests in culture at odds with the public good? And ultimately, who is art for? In this debate recorded in Hong Kong in 2012, award-winning documentary film-...

Samira Ahmed speaks to award-winning comedian Russell Kane. They speak about his life and career, growing up in Essex, his break into comedy at the prestigious Edinburgh Fringe, and his relationship with class and identity as a comedian. The recording for this episode took place in April 2021. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hercules, Prometheus, Pandora. The compelling characters of Greek mythology continue to fascinate readers thousands of years after their stories were first told. For this edition of the podcast, leading classicist Sarah Iles Johnston comes to Intelligence Squared to discuss their enduring popularity, which is the basis of her recent book, Gods and Mortals: Ancient Greek Myths for Modern Readers. J...

Food Campaigner Henry Dimbleby is co-founder of LEON and recently quit his role as the government’s food tsar over its inaction over obesity. His recent book, Ravenous: How To Get Ourselves And Our Planet Into Shape, looks at the global food system that has resulted in 28% of people now being clinically obese in the UK alone and diet-related disease now being the biggest cause of preventable illne...

In this archive episode from 2021, we hear from a panel of historians, authors and broadcasters – Hallie Rubenhold, Natalie Livingstone, Dan Jones and chair Saul David – about how women's stories and female historians have been marginalised throughout history. The conversation recorded at The Cliveden Literary Festival also discusses how historians today can help redress the imbalance. We’d love t...

Samira Ahmed is joined by Friends star David Schwimmer and comedy writer Nick Mohammed. David Schwimmer is one of the most recognisable faces on television. His iconic role as Ross Geller in all 236 episodes of Friends has made him TV royalty. And beyond the global cultural impact of Friends, Schwimmer is a seasoned stage actor and has gone on to direct the hit comedy Run Fatboy Run and gain criti...

General David Petraeus rose to prominence for his role in the Iraq War. He was credited with implementing a counterinsurgency strategy that helped to stabilise the country and reduce violence, earning him widespread praise and recognition as one of the most effective military commanders of his generation. And from September 2011 until November 2012 he served as director of the CIA. In this episode...

Carl Erik Fisher is a psychiatrist, bioethicist and recovering alcoholic who has spent years tracing the history of addiction. His new book is The Urge: Our History of Addiction, a sweeping study of the issue and an urgent call for a more expansive, nuanced and compassionate view of one of society's most difficult challenges. In conversation with Carl is physicist, oceanographer and science presen...

Over lunch in his house in Oxford, bestselling author Philip Pullman speaks to broadcaster Samira Ahmed about the moments of his childhood and youth that shaped and inspired his unique storytelling. This episode is part of our series How I Found My Voice, hosted by Samira Ahmed. If you like this episode do check out the entire series. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adch...

Samira Ahmed speaks to best-selling author Kate Mosse. Together they discuss her life and career, the success of her historical fiction novels - including Labyrinth which won Best Read of the Year at the 2006 British Book Awards - and her contribution to the recognition of female writers. The recording for this episode took place in February 2021. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastcho...

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...