Podcast
Intelligence Squared
Hosted by Intelligence Squared · EN
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.
And if you’d like to support our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations, as well as ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content, early access and much more, become a supporter of Intelligence Squared today. Just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more.
205episodes
Episodes
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An Evening with Maggie O’Farrell: Land (Part One)
Today00:35:10Summary readyMaggie O’Farrell is the award-winning author of nine novels, including Hamnet, a breathtaking fictional retelling of the death of Shakespeare’s only son from the bubonic plague. This much-loved novel won the Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2020, and this year the celebrated film adaptation starring Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley arrives in cinemas. In June 2026, O’Farrell returned with her highly-anticipated new novel, Land. A multigenerational saga set in 19th-century Ireland, Land centres on the man tasked with mapping the country for the Ordnance Survey. Set in the wake of the famine, and inspired by her own family history, the novel is at once intimate and epic: a portrait of a family navigating a legacy of upheaval and survival with resilience and love. She joined us live on stage at the Brighton Dome Corn Exchange for a conversation about this sweeping new novel, the art of writing historical fiction, and re-imagining the lives of ordinary people caught up in extraordinary moments in history. --- 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 exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events ... Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series … Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access. … Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more. https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Can We Make the Internet Safe for Children? With Baroness Beeban Kidron
2d ago00:53:42Summary readyFilmmaker and activist Baroness Beeban Kidron has been warning of the digital dangers facing young people for over a decade, and has played a central role in establishing standards for online safety and privacy across the world. In this episode, she talks to Carl Miller about the technologies designed to capture our attention and the algorithms that can quickly leave children exposed to harmful content. They discuss the unchecked power of Big Tech, as powerful companies avoid rules and regulations, and capture governments that are meant to protect us. But the problem is not the technology itself, but what we’ve allowed it to come. They explore what positive change could look like, and how we can collectively impose democratic pressure to ensure we make safe the technology that will be alongside us now, and in the future. Baroness Beeban Kidron is a member of the UK’s House of Lords and a former film director. Her new book, Users: How Big Tech Took Control and How to Fight Back is available in bookstores and online now. Carl Miller is an author and researcher at Demos. 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 exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events ... Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series … Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access. … Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more. https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Hotel with History | Copacabana Palace, Rio De Janeiro
3d ago00:32:33Summary readyThis is an episode of Hotels with History, produced by Intelligence Squared on behalf of Perowne International. Picture being on a sweep of white sand where Rio meets the Atlantic. Through revolutions, dictatorship, and the moving of the capital itself, Jules and Richard trace how this luminous beachfront palace endured it all. They reflect on how this iconic property reflects Brazil’s wild glamour, political upheaval, mystery and irrepressible rhythm. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Andrew Ross Sorkin and Zanny Minton Beddoes on Markets, Crashes and The Future of The Global Economy (Part Two)
4d ago00:37:16Summary readyAndrew Ross Sorkin began his career at the forefront of Wall Street news, reporting extensively for The New York Times on the financial crash of 2008 and its chaotic aftermath. His expert journalism has since established him as a leading voice on economics, finance and corporate America. As the founder of DealBook, he helps make sense of major business and policy news through nuanced conversations with the biggest newsmakers in the world, from Elon Musk and Lebron James, to Kim Kardashian and Hillary Clinton. In June 2026, Sorkin came to the Intelligence Squared in conversation with Zanny Minton Beddoes, Editor-in-Chief of The Economist, to discuss the forces and events shaping today’s world. Drawing from his new book 1929, he discussed why the Wall Street crash of the 1920s has a lot to tell us about our current economic moment with its cycles of speculation and technological change. --- If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all our full ad free 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 exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events ... Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series … Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access. … Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more. https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Andrew Ross Sorkin and Zanny Minton Beddoes on Markets, Crashes and The Future of The Global Economy (Part One)
6d ago00:33:38Summary readyAndrew Ross Sorkin began his career at the forefront of Wall Street news, reporting extensively for The New York Times on the financial crash of 2008 and its chaotic aftermath. His expert journalism has since established him as a leading voice on economics, finance and corporate America. As the founder of DealBook, he helps make sense of major business and policy news through nuanced conversations with the biggest newsmakers in the world, from Elon Musk and Lebron James, to Kim Kardashian and Hillary Clinton. In June 2026, Sorkin came to the Intelligence Squared in conversation with Zanny Minton Beddoes, Editor-in-Chief of The Economist, to discuss the forces and events shaping today’s world. Drawing from his new book 1929, he discussed why the Wall Street crash of the 1920s has a lot to tell us about our current economic moment with its cycles of speculation and technological change. This is the first instalment of a two-part episode. If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all our full ad free 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 exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events ... Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series … Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access. … Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more. https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Summary
Andrew Ross Sorkin and Zanny Minton Beddoes on Markets, Crashes and The Future of The Global Economy (Part One)
6d ago00:34:38Summary readyAndrew Ross Sorkin began his career at the forefront of Wall Street news, reporting extensively for The New York Times on the financial crash of 2008 and its chaotic aftermath. His expert journalism has since established him as a leading voice on economics, finance and corporate America. As the founder of DealBook, he helps make sense of major business and policy news through nuanced conversations with the biggest newsmakers in the world, from Elon Musk and Lebron James, to Kim Kardashian and Hillary Clinton. In June 2026, Sorkin came to the Intelligence Squared in conversation with Zanny Minton Beddoes, Editor-in-Chief of The Economist, to discuss the forces and events shaping today’s world. Drawing from his new book 1929, he discussed why the Wall Street crash of the 1920s has a lot to tell us about our current economic moment with its cycles of speculation and technological change. This is the first instalment of a two-part episode. If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all our full ad free 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 exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events ... Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series … Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access. … Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more. https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Is Our Justice System Failing Women? With Barrister Charlotte Proudman
1w ago00:40:02Summary readyRecent high-profile legal disputes with Johnny Depp and Amber Heard and Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni have renewed public debate about gender, power and credibility in the courts. But beyond the celebrity cases lies a deeper question: how fairly does the justice system treat women? In this episode, Mythili Rao speaks to barrister Charlotte Proudman about the gender bias and misogyny she argues remain embedded in our the legal system. Drawing on her work in the family courts, Proudman examines how women seeking protection from domestic abuse, forced marriage, child abduction and female genital mutilation can be failed by processes that were not designed around their experiences. Together they explore the culture of the legal profession, the treatment of survivors in the family courts and the reforms Proudman believes are needed to secure fairer outcomes. At its centre is a question about justice itself: how can equality before the law become more than an ideal? Charlotte Proudman is an award-winning barrister specialising in family law and women's rights. She is the author of He Said, She Said. Mythili Rao is a journalist, book critic and podcaster. 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 exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events ... Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series … Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access. … Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more. https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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How Should We Prepare for the Unknown? With Statistician David Spiegelhalter
1w ago00:44:49Summary readyIn a world of economic shocks, geopolitical crises and constant predictions about the future, how should we make decisions when certainty is impossible? And what can statistics teach us about living with risk, chance and the unknown? In this episode, physicist and science broadcaster Helen Czerski speaks with statistician David Spiegelhalter about his book The Art of Uncertainty. Drawing on probability, data and real-world examples, Spiegelhalter explores how we assess risk, and sheds light on what roles chance, luck and coincidence play in our lives. David Spiegelhalter is a statistician and author. He is Emeritus Professor of Statistics at the University of Cambridge and author of The Art of Uncertainty. Helen Czerski is a physicist, writer and broadcaster. 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 exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events ... Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series … Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access. … Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more. https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Was George Forster the Enlightenment’s Lost Visionary? With Andrea Wulf
2w ago00:43:09Summary readyIn this episode, historian and philosopher Sophie Scott Brown speaks with writer Andrea Wulf about her new book The Traveller: The Revolutionary Life of George Forster and his Search for Humanity. A naturalist, explorer and political radical, Forster travelled around the world with Captain Cook as a teenager before becoming one of the most original and progressive thinkers of his age. Drawing on unpublished correspondence and Forster’s journeys across Europe and the Pacific, Wulf traces how his encounters with different cultures challenged the assumptions of eighteenth-century Europe. The conversation explores his opposition to slavery, racism and empire, his belief in universal human rights, and the influence of the French Revolution on his political thought. Andrea Wulf is a historian and biographer. She is the bestselling author of The Invention of Nature and Magnificent Rebels. Her latest book is The Traveller: The Revolutionary Life of George Forster and his Search for Humanity. Sophie Scott Brown is a historian and philosopher specialising in modern intellectual history and political thought. 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 exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events ... Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series … Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access. … Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Reasons for Hope in Turbulent Times, with Rebecca Solnit
2w ago00:54:24Summary readyRebecca Solnit is an award-winning American writer and activist whose incisive work explores feminism, democracy, climate change and social justice. In this episode, she joins Mythili Rao to argue that, despite today's anxieties about democratic backsliding, technological disruption and environmental crisis, the past four decades have seen extraordinary social progress. From civil rights and environmental protection to LGBTQI+ equality and women's rights, many of the freedoms and values we now take for granted were won through collective action and sustained activism. Solnit reflects on how hard-fought gains can feel fragile when they come under attack, but reminds us that those attacks are often driven by a minority in power rather than a shift in public values. Drawing on history, she explores why progress is often slow, uneven and contested—and why participating in movements for change remains both meaningful and necessary. Rebecca Solnit is the author of more than 25 books, including Orwell’s Roses, Hope in the Dark and Men Explain Things to Me, Her latest book, The Beginning Comes After the End, is available in bookstores and online now. Mythili Rao is a journalist, book critic and podcaster. 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 exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events ... Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series … Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access. … Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more. https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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