Intelligence Squared

In this week's Business Weekly, Samira Ahmed speaks to business mogul Sir Richard Branson about becoming a serial entrepreneur developing the Virgin brand, signing some of the biggest names in music and the next frontiers of space travel. How I Found My Voice is an Intelligence Squared podcast that explores how some of the world's greatest artists and thinkers became such compelling – and unique –...

Should there be a broad programme of reparations – not just financial compensation, but acknowledgement of the crimes committed and the lasting damage caused by slavery? Or would this just worsen social tensions by reopening old wounds? That's the theme of this week's Sunday Debate.  Arguing for the motion were Kehinde Andrews, Professor of Black Studies at Birmingham City University; and Esther S...

The history of Africans in Europe may seem recent – a result of migration in the 20th and 21st centuries – but in her new book, African Europeans, historian Olivette Otele tells a very different story – a story of African presence in Europe that stretches back centuries.  Otele writes of African Europeans through the lives of individuals both ordinary and extraordinary. She has uncovered a forgott...

How did one family become associated with an epidemic of drug addiction that has caused the death of almost half a million people? In this episode, award-winning writer and author of Empire of Pain, Patrick Radden Keefe speaks to Hannah Kuchler, the FT’s global pharmaceutical correspondent about how he uncovered fresh material on the Sacklers and discovered a modern parable of greed, corruption an...

Chris Hirst, Global CEO of advertising group Havas Creative, cuts through the bullshit and gets to the heart of modern leadership in this straight-talking podcast brought to you by Intelligence Squared. In this episode Chris Hirst speaks to the internet pioneer and Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales who is perhaps the most famous silicon-valley entrepreneur to not become a billionaire. Wikipedia has ch...

Is China an enemy that needs to be reined in, or a potential partner with whom the West should engage? Hear the arguments and decide for yourself.  Speakers: Martin Wolf, Keyu Jin, Sir Malcolm Rifkind. Chair: Carrie Gracie Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoi...

With data on the Covid-19 pandemic changing shape with every new outbreak and new mutation, it's a complex task to make sense of where the story of the virus will head next. David Spiegelhalter is chair of the Winton Centre for Risk and Evidence Communication at Cambridge University and an expert on crunching figures in order to understand successes and failures. His new book Covid by Numbers, co-...

Should capitalism be reformed or replaced? Former Greek Finance Minister and economist Yanis Varoufakis and Gillian Tett US editor at large at the Financial Times discuss and debate their visions for a post-COVID economy live in London. The moderator is Anne McElvoy senior editor at The Economist.  For the Intelligence Squared discount on Gillian Tett's book click here: https://www.primrosehillboo...

Chris Hirst, Global CEO of advertising group Havas Creative, cuts through the bullshit and gets to the heart of modern leadership in this straight-talking podcast brought to you by Intelligence Squared. In this episode Chris speaks to Kwame Kwei-Armah, the Artistic Director of the Young Vic theatre in London. He is also an actor, playwright, singer and broadcaster. From 2011 to 2018 he was the Art...

For this week's episode of The Sunday Debate, we revisit our event from 2018. Many would argue that these are the fundamental goals of a good education. So why has Cambridge University taken to warning its students that the sexual violence in Titus Andronicus might be traumatic for them? Why are other universities in America and increasingly in Britain introducing measures to protect students from...

The recent publication of The Pandora Papers, a trove of 12 million financial documents obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, has once again shone a spotlight on secret offshore accounts and tax loopholes. The papers contain the financial dealings and global influence of billionaires, world leaders and politicians, plus many more. They also highlight how ineffectiv...

A more interconnected world was supposed to bring us closer together, but Mark Leonard, director of the European Council on Foreign Relations, says the opposite has occurred. He joins Carl Miller to discuss his new book The Age of Unpeace: How Connectivity Causes Conflict, which argues that technology and a lack of joined up thinking is affecting communication on every level. From standoffs betwee...

Today's episode comes from the How To Lead a Sustainable Business podcast, brought to you by Selfridges Group and Intelligence Squared. In the podcast, Alannah Weston, Chairman of Selfridges Group, speaks to inspiring leaders at the forefront of sustainability and business to find out what it takes to lead change and how businesses can put sustainability at their core.  In this episode Alannah is...

This event took place on the 31st of October at the Royal Institution in London. CHAIR: Afua Hirsch - Writer and broadcaster SPEAKERS FOR THE MOTION: AA Gill - The Sunday Times’s star restaurant and TV critic AGAINST THE MOTION: George Monbiot - Guardian columnist, environmental campaigner and author of Regenesis: Feeding the World without Devouring the Planet Fancy a nice juicy steak? Most of us...

Great ideas often come from a simple spark: A soccer player on the New Zealand national team notices all the unused wool his country produces and figures out a way to turn them into shoes (Allbirds). A former Buddhist monk decides the very best way to spread his mindfulness teachings is by launching an app (Headspace). A sandwich cart vendor finds a way to reuse leftover pita bread and turns it in...

In this week's episode Anne Boden CEO of Starling Bank speaks to Linda Yueh about setting up her own bank. In her remarkable story Boden reveals how she broke through bureaucracy and successfully countered widespread suspicion to realise her vision for the future of consumer banking. She fulfilled that dream by founding Starling, the winner of Best British Bank at the British Bank Awards in 2018,...

We are entering the Exponential Age. Between faster computers, better software and bigger data, ours is the first era in human history in which technology is constantly accelerating. Azeem Azhar - writer, technologist, and creator of the acclaimed Exponential View newsletter - understands this shift better than anyone. Technology, he argues, is developing at an increasing, exponential rate. But hu...

Is identity politics tearing society apart or is it a call for social justice for everyone? That's the theme of this week's Sunday Debate.  For the motion were journalist and author of 'We Need To Talk About Kevin', Lionel Shriver and Founding chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission Trevor Phillips. Against the motion were Labour politician David Lammy and Guardian journalist, the late D...

Kai-Fu Lee is one of the world’s leading AI experts and a bestselling author. He founded Microsoft Asia’s research lab that has trained CTOs and AI heads at Baidu, Tencent, Alibaba and Huawei. As President of Google China he helped establish the company in the Chinese market. And now, as CEO of Sinovation Ventures, he is investing in China’s high-tech sector, giving him a unique perspective on how...

In this week's episode Charles Blow speaks to journalist Dele Olojede about the arguments in his new book The Devil You Know: A Black Power Manifesto. He argued that if enough African-Americans move south, the demographic balance in the Southern States will be tipped in favour of Black voters and politicians. His new home state of Georgia – he practises what he preaches and left Brooklyn for Atlan...

In this week's episode we're featuring a podcast produced by Intelligence Squared called 'It’s The Economy' in which host Nicola Walton breaks down the complex economic ideas we have all heard of but may not fully understand in under 15 minutes. In this episode Lord O’Donnell, a former Cabinet Secretary who headed the British Civil Service between 2005-2011 under Prime Ministers Tony Blair, Gordon...

With so much data and power centralised in the hands of a few West Coast companies, the tech giants have become a serious threat to our basic freedoms and must be broken up. That’s the argument that was made at this major Intelligence Squared debate by the FT’s global business columnist Rana Foroohar and by businessman and former chairman of Channel 4 Luke Johnson. But others would argue that it’s...

Does owning a big house and supporting ‘correct’ social causes not just make you feel good about yourself but actually make you healthier and live longer? The answer is yes. This is just one of the fascinating findings that bestselling writer Will Storr shared with Intelligence Squared on September 16 discussing the themes of his new book The Status Game. Storr argues that it is our irrepressible...

Acclaimed novelist Salman Rushdie joins journalist Razia Iqbal to take us back in time and discuss three influential touchstones of his life: a silver ingot engraved with an unpartitioned map of India, Bob Dylan’s ‘Mr. Tambourine man’, and James Joyce’s ‘The Dead’, a slightly intimidating but powerful inspiration. This episode was originally released in 2021 as part of Intelligence Squared’s touch...

On Monday September 7th El Salvador became the first country to accept Bitcoin as legal tender. Businesses in the country will be obliged where possible to accept the digital coins as payment and citizens will be expected to download the government's new digital wallet app which gives away $30 in Bitcoin to every citizen. Bitcoin fans have been jumping for joy and believe the adoption of cryptocur...