Synopsis
Intelligence Squared is the world’s leading forum for debate and intelligent discussion. Live and online we take you to the heart of the issues that matter, in the company of some of the world’s sharpest minds and most exciting orators. Join the debate at www.intelligencesquared.com and download our weekly podcast every Friday.
Episodes
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The Sunday Debate: Hip-hop vs Shakespeare
10/07/2022 Duration: 01h01minCreated in partnership with Sotheby's, in a debate that spans the centuries, Peabody Award-winning spoken word performer George the Poet and Booker Prize-winning author Howard Jacobson go head-to-head over which form of cultural expression best resonates now and forever. Does hip-hop and slam poetry speak more to society than historical texts that require background knowledge to be fully understood? Or does the lasting appeal of Shakespeare and other great figures from the canon show that some works have a universal value that stands the test of time? This event was recorded on the 9th of June 2022, at Sotheby's in London and produced by Executive Producer Hannah Kaye and Audience Development Producer Yosola Olorunshola — We’d love to hear your feedback and what you think we should talk about next, who we should have on and what our future debates should be about. Send us an email or voice note with your thoughts to podcasts@intelligencesquared.com or Tweet us at @intelligence2. At Intelligence Squared we’ve
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A Life in Forensic Psychiatry, with Dr Ben Cave
08/07/2022 Duration: 40minWhat is it like to treat some of the most troubled men and women in society? Dr Ben Cave is a forensic psychiatrist whose 35-year career has been spent helping those with mental health conditions ranging from delusional disorders to schizophrenia, steroid abuse, drug dependency, depression and more. His new book, What We Fear Most, explores what can be learnt from these often misunderstood illnesses, the people who suffer from them and those, like Ben, who treat them. Our host for this episode is Poppy Damon, senior producer for Blanchard House. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Them’s the Breaks: Boris Johnson’s Resignation and Britain’s Political Crisis, with Jonathan Freedland, Simon Jenkins and Manveen Rana
07/07/2022 Duration: 01h03minIn a special programme following the resignation of Boris Johnson as Prime Minister of the UK, we hear from columnist, author and former foreign correspondent Jonathan Freedland, and journalist, author and former editor of The Evening Standard and The Times Simon Jenkins, about where the country is headed next. Our host for the discussion is award-winning journalist and broadcaster Manveen Rana. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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The Hunt for the Missing Cryptoqueen, with Jamie Bartlett
06/07/2022 Duration: 01h02minDr Ruja Ignatova, an Oxford-educated, self-styled cryptocurrency guru, promised her followers a financial revolution through her project: OneCoin. Then, in October 2017, she disappeared. But not before she had duped investors around the world, some of whom are the poorest people in society, into buying up more than $4 billion-worth of OneCoin. Ignatova has been in hiding ever since and was recently added to Europol's most wanted list. Jamie Bartlett is an expert on the politics of the internet and has put the story into a podcast series and now a new book, too: The Missing Cryptoqueen. To talk about it all, he joins our host Carl Miller, Research Director of the Centre for the Analysis of Social Media at Demos, and Layla Begum, a business development executive who was one of the many victims of the OneCoin scandal. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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On Speaking and Being: The Power of Words, with Kübra Gümüsay
04/07/2022 Duration: 01h04minLanguage is expressive, a way of opening doors or a tool for creating new dialogue. But a tool so powerful can also take us to unforeseen or unintended places. It can create narratives that become fixed, unhelpful, or exclusionary. Kübra Gümüsay is a writer and activist focusing on social justice and public discourse. Her new book is Speaking and Being, which looks at the power of words, asking whether language creates freeing new spaces or plays a part in walling them off. Our host for the discussion is Danielle Sands, Senior Lecturer in Comparative Literature and Culture at Royal Holloway University in London, where she works across disciplines bridging philosophy, literary studies and critical theory. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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The Sunday Debate: Has Sex Positivity Harmed Feminism?
03/07/2022 Duration: 44minIn today's world, we're often encouraged to think that sex is no longer a subject burdened with shame or repressed feelings. Rather, it is pleasurable, exciting and even empowering – as long as all parties are consenting. But do women really have the same sexual freedom as men, or are they still living in a man's world, conforming to male heterosexual desires and tastes? How do young women who’ve grown up in a sexually celebratory and supposedly shame-free society navigate sex? To discuss it, our host, the cultural historian and broadcaster Shahidha Bari, is joined by the authors of two books taking differing approaches to the debate: Christine Emba, columnist for The Washington Post and author of Rethinking Sex: A Provocation, and Dossie Easton, therapist and co-author of The Ethical Slut. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Eton, Oxford, Westminster: The Formative Pipeline of Britain's Ruling Elite, with Simon Kuper
01/07/2022 Duration: 53minAcross Britain, it’s no secret that the people who make up the country's elected government have gone through the same familiar educational pipeline. Eton, Oxford, Westminster. Born into families of privilege, it’s unsurprising that these men, and it is largely men, have risen to the top in a country obsessed with social class. But while it’s clear how they got there, we should ask how does this affect the way that they run the country today? To help answer these questions and understand the tiny world of the uber elite, Simon Kuper, FT columnist and author of Chums: How a Tiny Caste of Oxford Tories Took Over the UK, joins us on the podcast. Our host for this episode is Gabriel Pogrund, Whitehall Editor for The Sunday Times. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Escaping Xinjiang, with Nury Turkel
29/06/2022 Duration: 38minIn recent years China has been accused of committing crimes against humanity and possibly genocide against the Uyghur ethnic group in the northwestern region of Xinjiang province. Nury Turkel was born in a re-education camp in Kashgar, Xinjiang in 1970. In 1995 he had the opportunity to leave China as a student and was never to return to his home and family. Nury has since dedicated his life to fighting for the rights of Uyghurs – he is Chair of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom and Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute, specialising in national security and foreign policy. His new book is No Escape: The True Story of China's Genocide of the Uyghurs. Turkel is joined in conversation by our host for this discussion, Yasmeen Serhan, staff writer at The Atlantic, where she focuses on populism and nationalism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Why We Fight, with Christopher Blattman
27/06/2022 Duration: 59minChristopher Blattman is an economist, political scientist and Ramalee E. Pearson Professor of Global Conflict Studies at The University of Chicago. His new book is Why We Fight: The Roots of War and the Paths to Peace, which explores why societies turn to violence and how poverty and oppression often go hand in hand with conflict. Chris's work has taken him from studying poverty in Uganda to street gangs in Medellin, investigating the likes of dictators, monarchs, mobs and football hooligans along the way. Joining him to discuss the book is our host, Carl Miller, Research Director of the Centre for the Analysis of Social Media (CASM) at Demos. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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The Sunday Debate: The Northern Ireland Question: Is it Time to Abandon The Protocol?
26/06/2022 Duration: 01h04minThe Northern Ireland Protocol – agreed between the United Kingdom and the European Union in 2019 – has been a source of tension since it came into force at the start of 2021. The protocol, which creates a special trading arrangement for goods coming in and out of Northern Ireland (the only part of the UK with a land border with the EU), was supposed to protect the integrity of the EU single market, maintain the peace on the island of Ireland and provide Boris Johnson with a way to finally get Brexit done. But fast-forward to today and the protocol is as contentious as ever. Unionists in Northern Ireland say the protocol is undermining the region’s place within the UK. Brexiteers say it is hampering Britain’s ability to make trade deals with the rest of the world. And the Government has now proposed a bill to make unilateral changes to the protocol which they say will preserve the Good Friday Agreement, changes which EU leaders say they will resist with legal action. How do we make sense of this thorny iss
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Neighbouring Russia, with Erika Fatland
24/06/2022 Duration: 41minTracing Russia’s vast border, which meets those of 14 other countries, helps tells the history of Russia itself. From its imperial past to Soviet-era expansions and contractions leading up to its current war of aggression in Ukraine today, the Russian border is a landscape of uneasy uncertainty for many of the country's immediate neighbours. Erika Fatland is a Norwegian writer whose work has focused on issues that range from terrorism to travel and cultural history. Her 2020 book, The Border, followed the path of Russia's border over thousands of miles in order to understand how countries approach being a neighbour to a temperamental superpower. Following the tragic events in Ukraine, the book is even more relevant and Erika joined our producer Catharine Hughes to talk about it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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How to Be an Antiracist, with Ibram X. Kendi
22/06/2022 Duration: 48minActivist, historian and academic Ibram X. Kendi's book, How To Be and Antiracist, won the National Book Award for nonfiction as well as topping bestseller lists in 2020, a year in which the murder by police of George Floyd made the impact of Kendi's words inescapable. He came to Intelligence Squared a few months prior in August 2019 for a wide-ranging discussion on the themes of the book with BBC News journalist and visiting journalism professor at Princeton, Razia Iqbal. The two speakers will be meeting again in the coming weeks for a follow-up conversation discussing what can be done to educate future generations, which is the subject of Ibram's new book: How To Raise An Antiracist. Head to www.intelligencesquared.com for tickets to the event at London's Conway Hall on Monday 4th of July. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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The Hidden World of Bisexuality, with Julia Shaw
20/06/2022 Duration: 44minBisexuality is the world’s largest sexual minority but is potentially the least understood. In her new book, Bi: The Hidden Culture, History, and Science of Bisexuality, psychological scientist Dr Julia Shaw sets out to answer the questions and eliminate common misconceptions around bisexuality. Discussing the history of the B in LGBTQ+ and the myth of the bi gene, Julia is joined in conversation by our host Sharan Dhaliwal, author of Burning My Roti: Breaking Barriers as a Queer Indian Woman. If you'd like to explore more of the topics raised in today's discussion, check out Julia's own podcast, Bi People, a four part series made with Sofie Hagen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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The Sunday Debate: Parenting Doesn’t Matter (Or Not As Much As You Think)
19/06/2022 Duration: 01h06minWe delve back into the archive to 2018, when we held a debate getting to the heart of nature vs nurture. How much do our parents influence the people that we eventually turn out to be? We were joined by Professor of Behavioural Genetics Robert Plomin, the Developmental Clinical Psychologist Susan Pawlby, therapist, parenting counsellor and broadcaster Ann Pleshette Murphy, and Stuart Ritchie, lecturer in social genetics and developmental psychiatry and author of Science Fictions. Hosting the debate was Doctor and broadcaster, Dr Xand van Tulleken. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Bittersweet: Finding Purpose in Sorrow, with Susan Cain
17/06/2022 Duration: 01h40sSusan Cain shot to fame in 2012 with her international bestseller Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking, in which she urged society to cultivate space for the undervalued introverts among us. Now she's back with another book asking us to reassess how we think about self expression: Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole. The book argues that by embracing the bittersweet at the heart of life – the sense that joy and sorrow are always paired – we can gain a heightened appreciation of the wonder and beauty of our own personal experience and throughout wider culture too. Our host for the discussion is writer, academic and broadcaster, Shahidha Bari. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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How To Live With Each Other, with Farhan Samanani
15/06/2022 Duration: 57minIn an increasingly polarised world, it’s not often we get books saying that difference is our greatest strength. But Farhan Samanani is a Canadian social anthropologist, whose recent book, How to Live with Each Other, does just that. It looks at how communities thrive when embracing their diversity. Farhan’s work and studies have taken him around the world but it’s the local, yet no less global, streets of Kilburn, a neighbourhood in northwest London, which informs much of his work. He's joined in conversation by Dipo Faloyin, senior editor and writer at VICE, and author of the book Africa is Not a Country, which focuses on issues of diversity and identity across the African continent. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Count your Blessings: The Natural Beauty of Mathematics, with Junaid Mubeen
13/06/2022 Duration: 54minWhether rapidly advancing artificial intelligence will eventually become a friend or foe to humanity is a pressing question when it comes to technology. But one smart human says there’s an area where we still have the edge: mathematics. In his new book, Mathematical Intelligence: What we have that Machines Don’t, mathematician turned educator Junaid Mubeen argues that the playfulness and exploratory nature of the human approach to maths is a quality that the linear and binary brains of machines are nowhere close to replicating. Junaid is joined in conversation by our host for the discussion, The Sunday Times' Rosamund Urwin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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The Sunday Debate: We Were Right To Brexit
12/06/2022 Duration: 01h06minIt was always going to be a disaster. Queues of HGVs stretching miles from Dover. The Good Friday Agreement threatened by the controversial Northern Ireland Protocol and increased support for Scottish Independence. That’s the argument of the doomsayers in this debate. But others claim that while short-term damage is inevitable – there is always blowback from a jilted partner – Brexit is a long-term project, one that is tied to the fundamental principle of sovereignty. Which side is right? To debate the issue, we welcome back Conservative politician Daniel Hannan, Labour MP Stella Creasy, and are joined by Robert Tombs, the historian of France and Britain, whose most recent book is This Sovereign Isle: Britain In and Out of Europe. Plus, Dominic Grieve, former Conservative MP and former Attorney General for England and Wales. Chairing the debate is Johnny Dymond, BBC News presenter and Royal Correspondent. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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The New Food Revolution, with George Monbiot
10/06/2022 Duration: 01h04minGeorge Monbiot is a journalist, campaigner and author, who is telling the world that the time for action on the climate crisis is now. His latest book, Regenesis: Feeding the World without Devouring the Planet, looks at how we can lessen the impact of food consumption and farming on the global environment. Our host for this discussion is Alice Thomson, columnist and interviewer for The Times. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Something Extra from Intelligence Squared
09/06/2022 Duration: 14minIntelligence Squared podcast is the home of lively debate and deep-dive discussion. Now we’re adding extra depth to our audio content via Apple Podcasts with IQ2 Extra, a premium listening experience that includes ad-free content, exclusive bonus episodes and early access to new podcasts. Hit subscribe via Apple for a 7-day free trial of IQ2 Extra. Our bonus content includes Bright Sparks: quick-fire Q&As bringing you closer to some of the brightest minds on the planet. First up is Nobel Prize-winning psychologist, Daniel Kahneman, author of Thinking, Fast and Slow, whose latest book is Noise. Early access will bring you selected shows in advance and you can enjoy all of our upcoming listens ad-free. And don’t worry – our regular four episodes per week of incisive debate, immersive one-on-ones and current affairs analysis will remain completely free to everyone. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices