Intelligence Squared

Divorcées, dark humour and the underbelly of 1920s New York form the basis of author and screenwriter Ursula Parrott's forgotten classic novel, Ex-Wife. It became a bestseller on its original release nearly a century ago in 1929 and was also made into an Oscar-winning film. Now reissued by Faber, it follows Patricia, a divorcée embarking on single life in the city while partying and holding down her fashion advertising day job. Today, some readers are calling it the ultimate millennial novel – a century early. Our guest to discuss the book is Marsha Gordon, Professor of Film Studies at North Carolina State University, a former Fellow at the National Humanities Center and the recipient of a National Endowment for the Humanities Public Scholar award. She is the author of numerous books including Becoming the Ex-Wife: The Unconventional Life and Forgotten Writings of Ursula Parrott. Joining her to discuss it is Hannah Dawson, editor of The Penguin Book of Feminist Writing and Senior Lecturer in the History of Id

This is an archive discussion first aired in early 2022. Morten Christiansen is Professor of Psychology at Cornell University and Nick Chater is Professor of Behavioural Science at Warwick Business School. Together, they've written The Language Game, a new book which explores the science and psychology of language and some of its mysteries too. Hosting the discussion is journalist Christine Ro, whose work covers areas ranging from science and culture to international development. Let us know your thoughts! Take a moment to fill in our Intelligence Squared Audience Survey and be in with the chance of winning a £50 Amazon gift card. If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all our full conversations, plus all of our Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you'll also receive: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes, wherever you get your podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members excl

This is the second instalment of a two-part episode. Arsenal Football Club is special. Its multicultural fandom reflects a changing city and a unique relationship with Black British popular culture – thanks to its decades of fielding iconic Black players on the pitch and the storied and diverse histories of its terraces. Clive Chijioke Nwonka and Matthew Harle are the co-editors of a book celebrating that sporting culture, Black Arsenal: Club, Culture and Identity. For this episode, they are joined live onstage to discuss the wider themes of the book with former professional footballer for Arsenal FC, Paul Davis, Baroness Lola Young, the academic, activist, actress, author and crossbench peer, and Clive Palmer, contributor to the ArsenalVision podcast. Let us know your thoughts! Take a moment to fill in our Intelligence Squared Audience Survey and be in with the chance of winning a £50 Amazon gift card. This is the second instalment of a two-part episode. If you'd like to become a Member and get access to

This is the first instalment of a two-part episode. Arsenal Football Club is special. Its multicultural fandom reflects a changing city and a unique relationship with Black British popular culture – thanks to its decades of fielding iconic Black players on the pitch and the storied and diverse histories of its terraces. Clive Chijioke Nwonka and Matthew Harle are the co-editors of a book celebrating that sporting culture, Black Arsenal: Club, Culture and Identity. For this episode, they are joined live onstage to discuss the wider themes of the book with former professional footballer for Arsenal FC, Paul Davis, Baroness Lola Young, the academic, activist, actress, author and crossbench peer, and Clive Palmer, contributor to the ArsenalVision podcast. Let us know your thoughts! Take a moment to fill in our Intelligence Squared Audience Survey and be in with the chance of winning a £50 Amazon gift card. This is the first instalment of a two-part episode. If you'd like to become a Member and get access to al

Leading social philosopher Roman Krznaric discusses his latest book, History for Tomorrow, which looks at what lessons we can learn from the past thousand years while also exploring how these learnings can help us better tackle some of the major challenges we face today. Krznaric is a senior research fellow at Oxford University’s Centre for Eudaimonia and Human Flourishing. Eudaimonia is a Greek word, which roughly translates as happiness or wellbeing. Joining him to discuss the book is Adam McCauley, who is a writer and researcher whose work focuses on the social, cultural, and political impacts of emerging technologies. McCauley also writes a regular newsletter, The View From Here. Let us know your thoughts! Take a moment to fill in our Intelligence Squared Audience Survey and be in with the chance of winning a £50 Amazon gift card. If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all our full conversations, plus all of our Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out

The podcast welcomes back Oliver Burkeman for this episode. The writer whose popular column for The Guardian ‘This Column Will Change Your Life’ made him into one of the most astute interrogators of the wellness and self-help fields, returns with a new book, Meditations for Mortals. As well as being a guide through some smart ideas on how to make life feel more manageable, the book also proposes a four-week plan to help readers embrace their own limitations and begin using them as strengths. Joining Burkeman to talk about it all is the journalist and broadcaster Jehan Casinader. Let us know your thoughts! Take a moment to fill in our Intelligence Squared Audience Survey and be in with the chance of winning a £50 Amazon gift card. If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all our full conversations, plus all of our Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you'll also receive: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes,

This is the second instalment of a three-part episode. In the 20th century most autocrats were brutal dictators whose main goal was to control a domestic population. But in the 21st century autocracy has become much more sophisticated and ambitious in its scope. States like Russia have developed sophisticated cross-border networks of kleptocratic financial structures, innovative security services and professional propagandists. The members of these networks are connected not only within a given country, but among many countries. Propagandists from one country can promote and finance extremists and propaganda in another – pounding home the same messages about the weakness of democracy and the evil of the West. In September 2024 Anne Applebaum came to Intelligence Squared to provide a radical new framework for understanding autocracy in the 21st century. Applebaum argued that autocracies today are best viewed like an agglomeration of companies or what she calls Autocracy, Inc. Their relations are not based on v

This is the first instalment of a three-part episode. In the 20th century most autocrats were brutal dictators whose main goal was to control a domestic population. But in the 21st century autocracy has become much more sophisticated and ambitious in its scope. States like Russia have developed sophisticated cross-border networks of kleptocratic financial structures, innovative security services and professional propagandists. The members of these networks are connected not only within a given country, but among many countries. Propagandists from one country can promote and finance extremists and propaganda in another – pounding home the same messages about the weakness of democracy and the evil of the West. In September 2024 Anne Applebaum came to Intelligence Squared to provide a radical new framework for understanding autocracy in the 21st century. Applebaum argued that autocracies today are best viewed like an agglomeration of companies or what she calls Autocracy, Inc. Their relations are not based on va

What kinds of sound are our oceans making, and what do they mean? In this episode, award-winning science writer Amorina Kingdon discusses her book, Sing Like Fish: How Sound Rules Life Under Water, which is the culmination of her work exploring how marine animals use sound to survive and the ways humans are impacting critical underwater soundscapes. These explorations range from investigations of the syntax of whalesong to analysing the reverberations of the plainfin midshipman fish, whose swim-bladder drumming is loud enough to keep houseboat-dwellers awake. Joining Kingdon to discuss it all is the journalist, audio producer and book critic, Mythili Rao. We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to Indeed.com/IS for £100 sponsored credit. If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all of our longer form interviews and Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you'll also receive: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes, whereve

This is the second instalment of a two-part episode. Jordan Stephens’ life during his teenage years and his twenties was a whirlwind. As one half of the hip hop duo Rizzle Kicks, his days were full of success, fame and adulation as Rizzle Kicks’ debut sold over 1 million singles and 600,000 albums in 2012. But for Jordan, success brought pain in its wake: a hidden pattern of self-harm, hedonism, destructive ideas of masculinity, and heartbreak. Diagnosed with ADHD, he was always chasing the elusive feeling of love and continually found himself distracted and derailed by drugs, drink, sex and chaos. After his world imploded, Jordan chose to step away from his previous life completely and allowed himself to finally explore the pain he’d repressed his entire life. His new memoir Avoidance, Drugs, Heartbreak & Dogs unsparingly digs into the fear, tenderness and trauma he carried. And it examines the confusing assumptions and contradictions about what a man should be that Jordan – and increasing numbers of young m

This is the first instalment of a two-part episode. Jordan Stephens’ life during his teenage years and his twenties was a whirlwind. As one half of the hip hop duo Rizzle Kicks, his days were full of success, fame and adulation as Rizzle Kicks’ debut sold over 1 million singles and 600,000 albums in 2012. But for Jordan, success brought pain in its wake: a hidden pattern of self-harm, hedonism, destructive ideas of masculinity, and heartbreak. Diagnosed with ADHD, he was always chasing the elusive feeling of love and continually found himself distracted and derailed by drugs, drink, sex and chaos. After his world imploded, Jordan chose to step away from his previous life completely and allowed himself to finally explore the pain he’d repressed his entire life. His new memoir Avoidance, Drugs, Heartbreak & Dogs unsparingly digs into the fear, tenderness and trauma he carried. And it examines the confusing assumptions and contradictions about what a man should be that Jordan – and increasing numbers of young me

The development of life on Earth is often framed through the evolution of separate and distinct life forms but less common is the idea of the Earth itself as being one whole living organism. Writer Ferris Jabr's new book, Becoming Earth: How Our Planet Came to Life, takes an all-encompassing view of the intertwined ecosystems on our planet, their origins and where issues such as the climate crisis today might leave them in the future for a book that views the natural world in widescreen. Joining him to discuss it is the journalist, audio producer and book critic, Mythili Rao. We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to Indeed.com/IS for £100 sponsored credit. If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all of our longer form interviews and Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you'll also receive: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes, wherever you get your podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and

We welcome back Anna Bogutskaya to the podcast for this episode to discuss her book, Feeding the Monster: Why Horror Has a Hold on Us. As the title suggests, it’s a publication celebrating the goriest, scariest, and to many – most downright entertaining film genre out there. Bogutskaya is a writer, film programmer and podcaster, who regularly can be heard on The Final Girls horror podcast. Her writing has appeared in BBC Culture, Little White Lies, The Guardian, Tortoise, The Face, LA Review of Books and many more. Joining her in conversation for this episode is BBC Radio 1's film critic, Ali Plumb. We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to Indeed.com/IS for £100 sponsored credit. If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all of our longer form interviews and Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you'll also receive: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes, wherever you get your podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared pod

The bestselling war historian Rick Stroud joins the podcast to discuss some of the lesser told narratives of World War One, drawing from his recent book, I Am Not Afraid of Looking into the Rifles. The book explores some of the stories of the women who played their part during the conflict that shaped the opening of the 20th Century and for which the sacrifice on the battlefields of male soldiers is well known. Stroud's book seeks to address the lack of space given to the contribution of women in the established narratives of the World War One, many of whom established underground networks, transmitted coded information, carried out sabotage attacks and helped to repatriate Allied soldiers. Joining him to discuss it is fellow historian Helen Carr, the writer specialising in medieval history and public history. We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to Indeed.com/IS for £100 sponsored credit. If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all of our longer form interviews and Members-only content, just visit int

For this episode the writer, musician and author Molly Roden Winter discusses her bestselling book, More: A Memoir of Open Marriage. The book tells the story of Roden Winter's own journey navigating the polyamorous lifestyle while upholding many of the more traditional values associated with marriage simultaneously. Joining her to talk about it is Sarah Ditum, who listeners may remember from the podcast earlier this year discussing her own book: Toxic: Women, Fame and The Noughties. We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to Indeed.com/IS for £100 sponsored credit. If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all of our longer form interviews and Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you'll also receive: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes, wherever you get your podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intellig

Influence can be as gentle as a bit of friendly advice or as seismic as a strategy to win an election. As a behavioural scientist who has worked with the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Ministry of Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, Justin Hempson-Jones is more familiar with influence's uses – and its dangers – than most. In his recent book, Influence: Understand it, Use it, Resist it, he offers new perspectives on how individuals can use influence to achieve their goals in everyday life and also gives advice on how to detect when we're being influenced by more malign or unseen actors across society. Joining him to discuss the book is Carl Miller, the technology researcher, co-founder the Centre for the Analysis of Social Media at Demos, and author of The Death of the Gods: The New Global Power Grab. We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to Indeed.com/IS for £100 sponsored credit. If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all of our longer form interviews and Members-only content, just

The author and broadcaster Paul Morland is one of the UK’s leading thinkers on demographics – the study of population and its characteristics. Morland has been an associate research fellow at Birkbeck, University of London, and is a senior member at St Antony's College, Oxford. He last joined Intelligence Squared in 2022 and now returns to discuss his new book, No One Left. As that title suggests, Morland says the world is facing something of a crisis, with various nations facing population decline which could lead to consequences that range from labour shortages to ballooning debt. Joining him to discuss the issue is Eir Nolsøe, senior economics reporter at the Telegraph. We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to Indeed.com/IS for £100 sponsored credit. If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all of our longer form interviews and Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you'll also receive: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Square

Paulina Rowinska is a writer, mathematician and science communicator, whose new book, Mapmatics: How We Navigate the World Through Numbers, tells the stories found within crunching tricky equations. Rowinska has a PhD in Mathematics of Planet Earth from Imperial College London and across the pages of Mapmatics she explores fields ranging from map-making to forecasting elections, how we get our packages delivered on time and even how mathematics can be used to prevent crime. Joining her to discuss it is Roma Agrawal, MBE, who is a structural engineer, author and broadcaster. Agrawal has written three books, the most recent of which is Nuts & Bolts, which was shortlisted for the 2023 Royal Society Science Book Prize. Her new children’s book, Seven Small Inventions that Changed the World, is out in late August. Find out more at www.Romatheengineer.com. We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to Indeed.com/IS for £100 sponsored credit. If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all of our longer form interviews

The writer Simon Kuper returns to the podcast to discuss the follow-up to his book Chums, which highlighted the narrow and highly privileged pathway that often funnels attendees of some the UK's top education establishments into the highest seats of power in government. His new book is Good Chaps, an exploration of the idea that most politicians who have followed a privileged route into power will be naturally predisposed to following the rules and doing the right thing. Kuper is known for his writing and columns in the Financial Times, where he comments on topics ranging from politics to culture and sports. Joining him in conversation for this podcast is Josh Glancy, editor of the News Review at The Sunday Times. We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to Indeed.com/IS for £100 sponsored credit. If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all of our longer form interviews and Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you'll also receive: - Fu

Debut novelist Amy Twigg's book, Spoilt Creatures, tells a story set on a women's commune where things take a dark turn. The novel has earned Twigg praise as one of the Observer newspaper's top 10 best new novelists of 2024. Joining her to discuss the story is Anna Bogutskaya, a writer, film programmer and podcaster, who is the creator of Eerie – a horror anthology podcast. Bogutskaya is also author of the soon to be released book, Feeding the Monster: Why Horror Has a Hold on Us. We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to Indeed.com/IS for £100 sponsored credit. If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all of our longer form interviews and Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you'll also receive: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes, wherever you get your podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligen