Intelligence Squared
Intelligence Squared is the home of lively debate and deep-dive discussion. Follow Intelligence Squared wherever you get your podcasts and enjoy four regular episodes per week taking you to the heart of the issues that matter in the company of the world’s great minds. 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. Send us an email or voice note with your thoughts to podcasts@intelligencesquared.com or Tweet us @intelligence2.
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1326
Europe is failing its Muslims
The debate "Europe is failing its Muslims" took place on February 23rd at Cadogan Hall in London, in association with BBC World News and the British Council. Arguing in favour of the motion were Tariq Ramadan and Petra Stienen; against the mo...
46 min
1327
Robert Macfarlane on Landscape and the Human Heart
How do the landscapes we love shape the people we are? Why do we walk? For several years and more than a thousand miles, celebrated travel writer Robert Macfarlane has been following the vast network of old paths and routes that criss-cross Britain and...
31 min
1328
Norman Stone on Istanbul
In this talk from October 2011 the historian Norman Stone, who has lived in Turkey since 1997, took us on a journey through the country's turbulent history, from the arrival of the Seljuks in Anatolia in the 11th century to the modern republic app...
60 min
1329
Israel Is Destroying Itself With Its Settlement...
Patriacide. Nationcide. Whatever you want to call it, that is what Israel is doing with its settlement policy: it is killing itself. If ever greater numbers of Jewish settlers are installed on land regarded by Palestinians as the basis for a state of t...
60 min
1330
Roberto Saviano on the War Against Organised Crime
Roberto Saviano made a rare appearance in the UK in July 2015 when he came to the Intelligence Squared stage. In conversation with Intelligence Squared's very own Robert Collins, Saviano talked about his life in hiding and his beginnings as a repo...
48 min
1331
John Gray and Adam Phillips in conversation on ...
Political philosopher John Gray and psychotherapist and essayist Adam Phillips came to the Intelligence Squared stage in 2011 to discuss themes of science and immortality. Can we in the 21st century claim to be no longer gripped by the hope that someho...
60 min
1332
Digital Summit Highlights: 'London's Star Tech ...
This week's episode of the Intelligence Squared podcast features two sessions from our recent Digital Summit with Vanity Fair.
In the first session, 'Who are we on the web?' we examined how deeply the internet is affecting us as human b...
53 min
1333
Churchill was more a liability than an asset to...
Does the fact that Winston Churchill is routinely cited as Britain’s greatest hero say more about us than it does about him? Yes, he warned us of the need to face down Hitler when others were urging appeasement and yes, he gave a good speech. But what ...
55 min
1334
Digital Summit Highlights: 'The Hopes of the Pi...
This week's episode of the Intelligence Squared podcast features two sessions from our recent Digital Summit with Vanity Fair.
In the first session, 'This is For Everyone: The hopes of the pioneers', we explored the hopes and memories o...
48 min
1335
Angela Merkel is destroying Europe
The stakes couldn’t be higher, as Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras seeks a new agreement on a bailout and German chancellor Angela Merkel refuses any talks before this Sunday’s referendum. What will happen is anyone’s guess, but for anyone looking f...
47 min
1336
The West should get out of bed with the House O...
Have we no morals? We know that the Saudis created the monster that is Islamic terrorism, allegedly spending some $100 billion on exporting fanatical Wahhabism to other Muslim nations around the world. We know about the public beheadings and floggings,...
46 min
1337
The internet is a failed utopia
This week's podcast comes from the closing session of our recent Digital Summit with Vanity Fair. See intelligencesquared.com for more information about the summit.
To many the hopes we had for the internet when it first emerged have been smashed...
52 min
1338
Faramerz Dabhoiwala on the Origins of Sex
Rising star historian Faramerz Dabhoiwala came to the Intelligence Squared stage in February 2012 to describe how the permissive society arrived in Western Europe, not in the 1960s as we like to think, but between 1600 and 1800. It began in England and...
56 min
1339
David Brooks on the Road to Character
On May 26th 2015, New York Times columnist David Brooks came to the Intelligence Squared stage to share the insights of his latest book, 'The Road to Character'. Brooks argued that today’s ‘Big Me’ culture is making us increasingly self-preoc...
59 min
1340
Joseph Stiglitz on the Great Divide
Inequality is an increasing problem in the Western world, leaving everyone – the rich as well as the poor – worse off. The dream of a socially mobile society is becoming an ever more unachievable myth. That’s the view of Nobel Prize-winning economist J...
59 min
1341
Spotlight On Piketty
In this rare appearance in London, French economist Thomas Piketty appeared centre stage for Intelligence Squared, along with a panel of experts, to debate his findings of his book 'Capital in the 21st Century', an analysis of the causes and ...
57 min
1342
Post-Election Dissection
On May 12th, before the dust had settled on the General Election, Intelligence Squared hosted a post-election dissection with pundits and politicians of all persuasions. They battled it out over what the outcome means for the future of British politics...
59 min
1343
Simon Sebag Montefiore on Jerusalem
Jerusalem. How did this small, remote town became the Holy City, the desire of every empire, and the key to Middle East peace? In this dazzling talk from February 2011, Simon Sebag Montefiore revealed the ever-changing city through its many incarnation...
60 min
1344
The World Needs Religion Even if it Doesn't Nee...
God is dead and man has no need of the myths and false consolation that religion offers. That’s the battle-cry of Richard Dawkins and other tough-minded critics of religion. And yet millions cling to their faith, finding value and meaning in the concep...
59 min
1345
The Future of Parliamentary Democracy
In the wake of the MPs’ expenses scandal (May-June 2009), we brought a panel of politicians and journalists to the Intelligence Squared stage to discuss the state of democracy in Britain – is the system rotten to the core, or was the expenses scandal s...
66 min
1346
Can art be taught to the Facebook generation?
We were joined at the Saatchi Gallery in July 2009 by Turner Prize-winning artists Grayson Perry and Antony Gormley; author, philosopher and television presenter Alain de Botton; design critic, author and columnist Stephen Bayley and founder of the cha...
60 min
1347
Debate: Burgundy vs Bordeaux
35 min
1348
The Extreme Present: An Evening of Self-Help fo...
Shumon Basar, writer, thinker and cultural critic, Douglas Coupland, the renowned author of 'Generation X', and Hans Ulrich Obrist, one of the world’s best-known curators, joined forces for a special event with Intelligence Squared to explore...
59 min
1349
The Art World is a Boys' Club
Botticelli's Venus. Warhol's Marilyn. Chen Yifei’s Beauties.
Historically, the creation of art has been largely the preserve of men. And not a lot has changed. In recent years, the top 100 highest grossing living artists at auction were me...
60 min
1350
Muhammad Yunus on a new kind of capitalism
‘Making money is a happiness. And that’s a great incentive. Making other people happy is a super-happiness.’
These are the words of Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Bangladeshi economist world-famous for starting the microfinance movement...
60 min