Sign up for Intelligence Squared Premium here: https://iq2premium.supercast.com/ for ad-free listening, bonus content, early access and much more. See below for details. Nicklas Brendborg is the young science writer making us rethink our understanding of the ageing process. He joins Helen Czerski, science communicator and broadcaster, to discuss his recent bestselling book: Jellyfish Age Backwards: Nature’s Secrets to Longevity. … We are incredibly grateful for your support. To become an Intelli...
Aug 26, 2022•47 min•Season 1Ep. 764
Sign up for Intelligence Squared Premium here: https://iq2premium.supercast.com/ for ad-free listening, bonus content, early access and much more. See below for details. In this archive conversation from 2020, journalist, novelist, non-fiction writer and war reporter Scott Anderson joins us to talk about his book, The Quiet Americans, which focuses on CIA spycraft, the Cold War and the West’s relationship with Russia. It's a discussion that resonates strongly today, hosted by Hugo Lindgren, writ...
Aug 25, 2022•53 min•Season 1Ep. 763
Sign up for Intelligence Squared Premium here: https://iq2premium.supercast.com/ for ad-free listening, bonus content, early access and much more. See below for details. To anyone who has been following the debates surrounding race in America, John McWhorter needs little introduction. A professor of linguistics at Columbia University and a New York Times columnist, McWhorter believes that America is being harmed by a new form of antiracism, mostly espoused by white elites, that is illiberal, ill...
Aug 22, 2022•1 hr 3 min•Season 1Ep. 762
On January 6 2021 a pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S Capitol seeking to overturn the 2020 presidential election result. Rioters overran police and broke through windows chanting ‘stop the steal’ while threatening Vice President Mike Pence with violence. The moment sent shockwaves through America as people tried to understand how this could be happening in the world’s most powerful democracy. There is now growing pressure on the Department of Justice to prosecute Trump for his role in the incident a...
Aug 21, 2022•56 min•Season 1Ep. 761
With the climate crisis mounting, cycling is often touted as being part of the solution for how we can make our cities less congested, more green and generally more pleasant places to be. The unmistakable silhouette of a Brompton bike, first created by Andrew Ritchie in the late 1970s, fits many of the credentials crucial to helping solve today's transport and mobility challenges and yet the company’s unique folding design has been a favourite for citydwellers for decades. It’s now the subject o...
Aug 19, 2022•48 min•Season 1Ep. 760
One year ago the United States decided to withdraw from Afghanistan after two decades in the country. The Taliban, a militant Islamist group that ran most of Afghanistan in the late 1990s, swept to power without much resistance from the Afghan army and captured Kabul on August 15 2021. The debacle left Western governments humiliated and ordinary Afghans afraid. What responsibility do countries like Britain and the United States have for the current crisis? To discuss these issues our host the jo...
Aug 17, 2022•1 hr 6 min•Season 1Ep. 759
For this archive episode from 2021, journalist and BBC News broadcaster Razia Iqbal is joined by the acclaimed author Salman Rushdie to discuss his cultural touchstones. The conversation focuses on topics such as his love of James Joyce, Bob Dylan and his affection for an amulet his father gave him as a young boy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Aug 15, 2022•58 min•Season 1Ep. 758
To unpack the truth behind the often confusing information about the food we eat, in this archive discussion from 2017, Intelligence Squared brought together some of the world’s leading experts on the science of human nutrition and health. Joining our host Dr Xand van Tulleken to pick apart food truths and myths were GP and broadcaster Sarah Jarvis, computational biologist Eran Segal, Professor of genetic epidemiology Tim Spector, and award-winning science and health writer Gary Taubes. Learn mo...
Aug 14, 2022•1 hr 5 min•Season 1Ep. 757
This month will mark a year since the Taliban takeover of Kabul in August 2021 and the chaotic withdrawal of western forces from Afghanistan. In this archive discussion from 2020, we discuss the nature of past Western interventions and the guerrilla warfare resistance that has followed with David Kilcullen, former soldier, diplomat, and senior counterinsurgency adviser for the US during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. He joined Carl Miller, Research Director at the Centre for the Analysis of Soci...
Aug 12, 2022•55 min•Season 1Ep. 756
In an era of fake news and 'alternative facts', the issue of truth and how it is presented to the world has never been more timely. But on a personal level, things are less clear cut. We all tell white lies and withhold info in the name of manners and politeness from time to time and some of the hardest truths can feel very difficult to tell. Micheal Leviton is a writer and musician from Brooklyn whose book, To Be Honest: A Memoir, tells his own story of growing up in a family who, according to ...
Aug 10, 2022•41 min•Season 1Ep. 755
Reni Eddo-Lodge, the journalist, podcaster and author of essential book, Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race, joins columnist, author and academic Gary Younge in conversation. As the murder of George Floyd and the emergence of the Black Lives Matter movement reverberated around the world in 2020, Eddo-Lodge's book, originally published in 2017, found new readers and topped bestseller lists in a world trying and make sense of a pivotal moment. The book is now available as an upda...
Aug 08, 2022•1 hr 3 min•Season 1Ep. 753
In this archive debate, we revisit a discussion from 2018 when an assembled panel of smart thinkers gathered to reflect on the concept of nationhood, nationality and the impact of former UK Prime Minister Theresa May’s infamous 2016 speech that proclaimed, “If you believe you are a citizen of the world, you are a citizen of nowhere.” The discussion featured guests including the commentator and author David Goodhart, award-winning novelist Elif Shafak, former diplomat David Landsman and historian...
Aug 07, 2022•1 hr 6 min•Season 1Ep. 752
Japan's recently assassinated former prime minister Shinzo Abe was a leader who leaves behind a complex legacy. Internationally, he strengthened Japan's relationship with the US in ways unseen before. Closer to home, crucial good relations with South Korea dissipated. His attitude towards Japan's difficult history was sometimes praised as a readiness for neutrality, while others criticised this as denialist revisionism. In the weeks since Abe's death, Japanese citizens have also begun to grapple...
Aug 05, 2022•38 min•Season 1Ep. 751
We welcome back Fiona Hill, the foreign affairs and national security expert, to discuss Putin, foreign policy, and what could lie ahead for the war in Ukraine. Hill has been an advisor to three US Presidents and is former Senior Director for Europe and Russia at the United States National Security Council. She is author of books including Mr. Putin: Operative in the Kremlin, and There is Nothing For You Here, which she joined us to discuss earlier in 2022. She returns to give us the latest on t...
Aug 03, 2022•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 749
For this episode focusing on how craft, creativity and our relationship with the planet can help us rethink established narratives and contribute to addressing historical injustices of the past, we visit the Radical Acts Biennial, an initiative from Harewood House. Joining our host, journalist and author of Africa is Not a Country, Dipo Faloyin, are independent curator Ligaya Salazar and Creative Director of Tiipoi, Spandana Gopal. Plus, Claire Ratinon, organic food grower and author of Unearthe...
Aug 01, 2022•1 hr 6 min•Season 1Ep. 750
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 Dominic Sandbrook to an event hosted by journalist, columnist and national security expert, Edward Lucas. ...
Jul 31, 2022•1 hr 34 min•Season 1Ep. 748
For this edition of Intelligence Squared, we join Alannah Weston, Chairman of Selfridges Group, for her podcast How to Lead a Sustainable Business, in which she speaks to thought leaders who are reinventing their sectors for a sustainable and just future. In this week’s special episode, Alannah and her guest explore the possibility of rethinking race. Emma Dabiri is an academic, broadcaster and author of two highly acclaimed books on the subject: Don’t Touch My Hair and What White People Can Do ...
Jul 29, 2022•32 min•Season 1Ep. 746
In the midst of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, award-winning journalist John Sweeney reported from Kiev, drawing on his decades of experience covering stories ranging from the Moscow apartment bombings to the atrocities committed by the Russian Army in Chechnya. His new book, Killer in the Kremlin, compiles that expertise and new analysis of the life story of Russia's leader in order to try and understand Putin's psyche and where the current war is headed. Joining John in conversation is Carl Mil...
Jul 27, 2022•56 min•Season 1Ep. 745
Robin Dunbar has been hailed as one of the most insightful and creative evolutionary thinkers of our time, famed for his work on human networks and communities (he came up with the Dunbar number, the idea that humans can have no more than 150 meaningful relationships). Now he turns his attention to religion, the subject of his recent book, How Religion Evolved: And Why It Endures. Joining Robin in conversation on the podcast is Stuart Ritchie, Psychologist at King's College London, and author of...
Jul 25, 2022•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 744
In this archive listen from 2013, we explore the global political impact of a leader whose legacy and influence is still being questioned today: Angela Merkel. As with any leader, a legacy isn't set in stone and as the dust settles on Merkel’s chancellorship, which spanned from 2005 to 2021, questions are being asked about decisions she made during her time in power. Most pertinent today, with the arrival of war in Ukraine, is Germany's accommodating trade relationship with Russia. But there wer...
Jul 24, 2022•54 min•Season 1Ep. 743
During the Second World War, Rudolph Vrba was one of the very few people to escape the horrors of the Auschwitz concentration camp. He did so along with fellow escapee, Alfred Wetzler, in April 1944. Vrba is the subject of columnist and author Jonathan Freedland's new book, The Escape Artist. He joins journalist and broadcaster Manveen Rana to discuss Vrba's incredible story. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices...
Jul 22, 2022•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 742
Trolling, conspiracy theories, racist algorithms, cyberwarfare – every day our headlines are ablaze with negative stories about the internet. The problem? The unaccountable power of the big tech companies. That’s the view of bestselling author and barrister Jamie Susskind. His new book is The Digital Republic, which sets out his vision for a different type of society in which humans can take power back and reshape the digital world into a space where we can all flourish. Joining Jamie in convers...
Jul 21, 2022•1 hr 6 min•Season 1Ep. 741
Activist, academic and author Ibram X. Kendi joins us for a discussion on his new book, How to Raise an Antiracist. It follows his Intelligence Squared talk that took place in 2019 outlining how to implement strategies for tackling racism throughout society as detailed in his National Book Award winning publication from that year, How to Be an Antiracist. The new book takes the conversation further, exploring the lessons that can be taught to younger generations as we try to build a future socie...
Jul 18, 2022•1 hr 10 min•Season 1Ep. 740
This event was recorded on the 10th of July 2018 in London SPEAKERS FOR THE MOTION : Mark Cocker - Author and naturalist and George Monbiot - Guardian columnist, environmental campaigner and author of Regenesis: Feeding the World without Devouring the Planet . AGAINST THE MOTION : Minette Batters - President of the National Farmers' Union and Rory Stewart Former Conservative government minister, whose new book is Politics On the Edge: A Memoir from Within CHAIR: Jonathan Dimbleby - Broadcaster, ...
Jul 17, 2022•1 hr 4 min•Season 1Ep. 739
What do bees sense in flowers? What do songbirds hear in each others’ tunes? And what’s that smell sending your dog running up the street? These questions and many more are the basis of science communicator Ed Yong's book, An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us. He is a staff writer at The Atlantic magazine and his coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic won the Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting. He's also the recipient of the George Polk Award for Science Report...
Jul 15, 2022•58 min•Season 1Ep. 738
How do we define value? How has this changed over time? And who decides what is deemed valuable? For centuries, society has seen value mainly through an economic lens: one takes a job because of its monetary benefits; marriage is a financially beneficial relationship that enables stability; and the true test of a business is its profit at the end of the year. But is this changing? In recent years, factors such as climate change, social justice and the pandemic have forced us to reconsider how we...
Jul 13, 2022•49 min•Season 1Ep. 737
Oxford University economist Kate Raworth has been described by the author and environmentalist George Monbiot as, "The John Maynard Keynes of the 21st century." In 2018, she came to Intelligence Squared to talk through the set of ideas that has seen her influential book, Donut Economics, find fans in audiences ranging from members of the UN General Assembly to Pope Francis and Extinction Rebellion. Hosting the discussion was Matthew Taylor, at the time of the interview Chief Executive of the RSA...
Jul 11, 2022•48 min•Season 1Ep. 736
Created 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 w...
Jul 10, 2022•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 735
What 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 i...
Jul 08, 2022•38 min•Season 1Ep. 734
In 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...
Jul 07, 2022•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 733
