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 Shahidha Bari. We’d love to hear your feedback and what you think we should talk about next, who we ...
Dec 11, 2020•35 min
The world had been waiting for the news and on November 9 it finally came: a vaccine produced by Pfizer and BioNTech had proved to be more than 90% effective in preventing COVID-19 in clinical trials. And then just a week later another pharmaceutical company, Moderna, announced the results of its own clinical trials. Moderna’s vaccine showed a remarkable 95% efficacy in preventing Covid-19. With further promising results from the Oxford/AstraZenica vaccine showing between 70 – 90% protection, ma...
Dec 08, 2020•49 min
In December 2020 we were joined by British Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat, who argued that we need to prevent a Beijing-dominated world, and Singaporean author Kishore Mahbubani, who contends that the West should accept that it’s only a matter of time before China usurps the US as the world’s most influential superpower. The debate was chaired by Manveen Rana, senior investigative journalist and host of the 'Stories of Our Times' podcast. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligences...
Dec 04, 2020•46 min
Lionel Barber was editor of the Financial Times for the tech boom, the global financial crisis, the continuing rise of China, Brexit, and the established media’s fight for survival in the age of disinformation. In this episode he revealed what transpired during interviews and private meetings and exchanges with Vladimir Putin, Angela Merkel and Prince Andrew. From the rise of China to conversations with billionaire bankers facing economic meltdown, Barber offered unique insight into the people w...
Dec 01, 2020•1 hr
At this point in history we are witnessing the highest levels of migration on record. About 258 million people, or one in every 30, were living outside their country of birth in 2017. But whatever an individual’s reason for travel the experience tends to vary greatly depending on the colour of the traveller’s skin. In November 2020, writer and political analyst Nanjala Nyabola came to Intelligence Squared to discuss her new book 'Travelling While Black' and offer thoughtful and original reflecti...
Nov 27, 2020•59 min
This week's episode features another debate from our friends at Intelligence Squared Germany, who in partnership with The European Council on Foreign Relations debated whether the election of Joe Biden as U.S President will really change the relationship between Europe and The United States. The debate featured Matt Karnitschnig, Chief Europe Correspondent, POLITICO going up against Sudha David-Wilp, Deputy Director, German Marshall Fund. The debate was chaired by Jana Puglierin, Senior Policy F...
Nov 24, 2020•55 min
This week Anthony Scaramucci, the former Director of Communications in President Donald Trump’s White House, and Danielle Pletka, former Vice President at the American Enterprise Institute, debate the Republican Party's response to the US election and the future of America. The podcast was hosted by Jonathan Freedland, columnist for the Guardian and regular presenter on BBC Radio 4. Find out more about Danielle Pletka's podcast here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/what-the-hell-is-going-o...
Nov 20, 2020•48 min
In this special podcast brought to you by the Home Office and Intelligence Squared, Director of Border and Immigration Policy at the Home Office Philippa Rouse, Head of Immigration Policy at the FSB Emelia Quist, and Partner at Fragomen Ian Robinson discuss the UK's new points based immigration system and what it will mean for businesses and individuals. Hosted by broadcaster Linda Yueh, the panel delves into the key changes and dates businesses need to look out for and the guidance on offer to ...
Nov 19, 2020•36 min
War - Do we care enough? In this episode, distinguished historian Margaret MacMillan explains why we should care about war and how it’s profoundly impacted our societies, political institutions, values, language and some of our greatest cultural treasures. In conversation with bestselling author and historian Peter Frankopan, MacMillan examines questions such as why warriors are typically men, what role women play, why there are wars with no clear objective or ending, and how non-state actors in...
Nov 17, 2020•54 min
Last January, before the coronavirus pandemic struck, Intelligence Squared staged a sold-out debate on whether we need a truly radical new economic system to deal with the looming climate catastrophe. While Covid-19 has dominated the headlines for most of the ensuing months, averting ecological disaster remains the single most important issue we face. We therefore restaged the debate online to give all who were unable to attend the in-person event a chance to hear the arguments, ask questions li...
Nov 13, 2020•1 hr 2 min
Martin Amis is often called the Mick Jagger of the British book world. As famous for his love affairs, his friendships and his complicated family history as for his dazzling prose, he dominated the literary scene for decades. In this exclusive Intelligence Squared event he speaks about his much anticipated autobiographical novel Inside Story. It is perhaps Amis’s most intimate book, a meditation on love, loss, ageing and death. We encounter the vivid characters who have helped define Amis – his ...
Nov 10, 2020•31 min•Season 1Ep. 486
In this week's podcast Design Museum director Tim Marlow, South London Gallery director Margot Heller, academic and critic Shahidha Bari and botanist Roy Vickery discuss the White Cube Gallery exhibition 'Danh Vo: 'Chicxulub'. Incorporating imperial narratives, plant folklore, Catholicism and Coca-Cola, this podcast in partnership with White Cube is a fascinating exploration of an exhibition steeped in history and nature. To find out more about the exhibition and see photos of the works discusse...
Nov 06, 2020•50 min
In this election special we were joined by Danielle Pletka, the Washington Post commentator and senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and Josh Glancy, the Washington Bureau Chief of The Sunday Times to analyse how the candidates have performed in the key battleground States, what we can expect to unfold in the next few weeks and what this election means for the country and the world. The podcast was hosted by Linda Yueh, economist and broadcaster. To find out more about Danielle Pl...
Nov 05, 2020•39 min
In this U.S election special we were joined by historian Sarah Churchwell and Jonathan Freedland to speak about how Biden and Trump have performed in the final weeks of the presidential race, the battleground States listeners should look out for and what's at stake for the country as a whole. 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 podcastchoices.com/adchoices...
Nov 03, 2020•38 min
In this week's episode we were joined by Danielle Pletka, Washington Post commentator and senior fellow at the American Enterprise; and Emily Tamkin, U.S editor of The New Statesman, to speak about how the candidates have performed in the final weeks of the race, the battleground States listeners should look out for and what's at stake for the country as a whole. The episode was hosted by Manveen Rana, senior investigative journalist for the Times newspaper. She is also the host of a podcast cal...
Nov 03, 2020•29 min
Rep. Ilhan Omar, the groundbreaking Somali-American community organizer from Minnesota, speaks to public intellectuals Dr Cornel West and Professor Tricia Rose. She lays out her #PeopleFirst plan to transform our society and how the progressive movement will do if Democrats win back the Senate and the White House. This special episode is a 'takeover' of the Intelligence Squared podcast by The Tight Rope. Listen to The Tight Rope on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3jKajFj Listen to The Tight Rope on Ap...
Oct 31, 2020•30 min
John Bolton knows a thing or two about Donald Trump. So many things, in fact, that he’s now being investigated by the US Justice Department for potentially spilling classified information in his new book. On Wednesday October 28 he came to Intelligence Squared Plus to share what he knows – days before what could be the most important presidential election in American history. How does Bolton rate Trump’s chances of re-election? What kind of second term president will he be if he wins? How will h...
Oct 30, 2020•1 hr
Fear is on the march. All over the world citizens have surrendered basic freedoms to the state in order to be protected from Covid-19. Good government has become not just important but a matter of life and death. But the assumption that Western governments have any advantage over the rest of the world is questionable: ask yourself, where would you feel safer today – in Los Angeles and Barcelona or in Singapore and Seoul? The pandemic has exposed the weaknesses of the West, argue bestselling auth...
Oct 27, 2020•1 hr 2 min
Les Payne, the renowned Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist, embarked in 1990 on a nearly thirty-year-long quest to interview anyone he could find who had actually known Malcolm X - including siblings, classmates, friends, cellmates, FBI moles and cops, and political leaders around the world. His goal was ambitious: to transform what would become hundreds of hours of interviews into a portrait that would separate fact from fiction. Following Payne's death, his daughter and primary re...
Oct 23, 2020•1 hr 6 min
In the years just before and after the fall of the Berlin Wall, people from across the political spectrum in Europe and America celebrated a great achievement, felt a common purpose and, very often, forged personal friendships. Yet over the following decades the euphoria evaporated, the common purpose and centre ground gradually disappeared, extremism rose once more and eventually the relationships soured too. In this week's Friday episode Anne Applebaum speaks to Jonathan Freedland about the 'T...
Oct 20, 2020•57 min
This week's podcast is from our friends at Intelligence Squared Germany who hosted a live debate in Berlin last week on whether the EU's 'Green Deal', a plan to deliver both economic growth and carbon neutrality, is really achievable. The debate was held in partnership with The European Council on Foreign Relations and featured Franziska Brantner of the German Green Party taking on renowned climate activist Dr. Tadzio Müller. It was hosted by BBC journalist Damien McGuinness. — Thank you for sup...
Oct 16, 2020•1 hr 6 min
In this week's episode Helen Pluckrose documents the evolution of the ideas that inform today's radical social justice activism, from its coarse origins in French postmodernism to its refinement within activist academic fields. Pluckrose argues this dogma is recognizable as much by its effects, such as cancel culture and social-media dogpiles, as by its tenets, which are all too often embraced as axiomatic in mainstream media: knowledge is a social construct; science and reason are tools of oppr...
Oct 13, 2020•44 min
Thomas Friedman has been called ‘the most influential columnist in America’. The Financial Times has described him as a ‘global star’ and he has won the Pulitzer Prize three times. On October 6, Friedman will be joining us online less than a month before Americans go to the polls to elect their next president. In conversation with ITV’s political editor Robert Peston, one of Britain’s leading journalists and broadcasters, Friedman will examine what is likely to be the most consequential Presiden...
Oct 09, 2020•1 hr
North Korea shocked the world in September 2017 by exploding the most powerful nuclear device tested anywhere in 25 years. Months earlier, it had conducted the first test flight of a missile capable of ranging much of the United States. Soon after, Kim Jong Un, the reclusive state’s ruler, declared that his nuclear deterrent was complete. World leaders, intelligence officials and many ordinary people around the world shuddered at the thought of a fully nuclear-armed North Korea. But how did this...
Oct 06, 2020•58 min
In this bonus episode we preview a new podcast created by Intelligence Squared called No Bullsh*t Leadership hosted by Chris Hirst, CEO of advertising group Havas Creative. Today's guest is the sporting legend and rugby coach Clive Woodward who speaks about his approach to leadership, relentless learning and creating a winning culture. SUBSCRIBE TO THE NO BULLSH*T LEADERSHIP PODCAST AND LISTEN TO THE FULL EPISODE HERE: Apple: https://apple.co/3iuENKZ Spotify: https://spoti.fi/36Adigw Clive Woodw...
Oct 05, 2020•17 min
According to Laura Bates a vast network of incels and other men who hate women are able to operate, virtually undetected online. These extremists commit deliberate terrorist acts and violence against women. Vulnerable teenage boys are groomed and radicalised. In this episode Bates, the bestselling author and founder of The Everyday Sexism Project, speaks to Sonia Sodha about going undercover to expose misogynist networks and communities. To find out more about the book click here: https://amzn.t...
Oct 02, 2020•43 min
How can we mobilise mindsets to turn anxiety about the climate crisis into action? This week Intelligence Squared Recommends an episode from the How To Lead a Sustainable Business podcast, hosted by Alannah Weston, chairman of Selfridges Group. Alannah speaks with activist Clover Hogan, the 21-year-old founder of ‘Force Of Nature’ - a youth-led organisation empowering Gen Z to step up, rather than shut down in the face of the climate crisis. Clover has passionately highlighted one of the hidden ...
Sep 30, 2020•27 min
This week we were joined by Philip Rowley Media Futurist & Futures Director at Omnicom to explore how Covid-19 will shape the next decade of culture, politics and entertainment. From remote working to video gaming Phil provides a roadmap for businesses and individuals to adapt to the next decade. The conversation was hosted by author and research director Carl Miller. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared . See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information....
Sep 29, 2020•44 min
JK Rowling, Scarlett Johansson, Kanye West. All have been ‘cancelled’ – denounced on social media for doing or saying something considered wrong or offensive, often on matters to do with race or gender. In this week's episode Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Julie Bindel debated Billy Bragg and Kehinde Andrews on whether cancel culture is a mob mentality, or a long overdue way of speaking truth to power. The debate was chaired by Jonathan Freedland. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesq...
Sep 25, 2020•1 hr 7 min
For most of its history, the People’s Republic of China limited public discussion of the war against Japan. It was an experience of victimization—and one that saw Mao Zedong and Chiang Kai-shek fighting for the same goals. But now, as China grows more powerful, the meaning of the war is changing. In this week's episode Rana Mitter argues that China’s reassessment of World War II is central to its newfound confidence abroad and to mounting nationalism at home. To find out more about Rana Mitter's...
Sep 22, 2020•51 min
