Intelligence Squared: Lyse Doucet on Reporting from the Frontlines (Part One)

Date: October 21, 2025
Host: Lindsay Hilsum (Channel 4 News, International Editor)
Guest: Lyse Doucet (BBC, Chief International Correspondent)

Episode Overview

This episode features BBC’s Lyse Doucet in a wide-ranging, personal conversation with Channel 4’s Lindsay Hilsum, recorded live at London’s Kiln Theatre. Doucet shares insights from her four decades covering major global crises, especially her deep connection with Afghanistan — the subject of her new book, The Finest Hotel in Kabul, told through the lens of the storied InterContinental Hotel. The discussion explores Doucet’s unconventional path into journalism, the humanity behind her reporting, the fate of those living through conflict, and the challenges of telling compelling stories from the frontlines.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Lyse Doucet’s Origin Story and Early Career

Timestamps: 06:06 – 12:47

• Doucet describes coming from the east coast of Canada, as an Acadian, to BBC journalism. Her unconventional accent became both a question and a badge of honor.

  • Quote:

    “I come from the east coast of Canada, and on my father’s side, the Doucet family, they’re Acadians... So I said, we didn’t get our land back, but I got a job. And so working for the BBC is my Acadian revenge.” (06:13–07:29)

• Her initial break came volunteering in Côte d’Ivoire, where “the skies opened and angels descended from heaven and they said, give Lise Doucet a job.” (10:08)

• Both Doucet and Hilsum lacked formal journalism training; they learned on the ground, at a time when Africa and global South stories were largely sidelined by international outlets.

2. Navigating the Foreign Correspondent Pathway

Timestamps: 09:15 – 13:17

• Doucet emphasizes the importance of risk-taking and finding a “big-enough, but not too big” story:

  • Quote:

    “Take a risk, a calculated risk, not too dangerous. Don’t go to the, you know, major front lines. Find a place that is important enough that an editor will take a story, but not so important they already have a correspondent.” (09:17–09:31)

• Her first on-the-ground reporting in West Africa coincided with droughts and military coups—“there was a lot of news”—and allowed her to make mistakes and learn.

3. Why Afghanistan? The Heart’s Pull to a Place

Timestamps: 13:17 – 17:35

• Doucet describes an immediate, almost emotional bond with Afghanistan and its people:

  • Quote:

    "I was immediately taken by the Afghan women, their energy, their sense of self... I’ve always loved going to places when people have a strong sense of self, a strong identity, they don’t want to be someone else.” (13:21–13:43)

• She outlines her long, circuitous path to Afghanistan, which included kindness from strangers and a “sliding doors” moment that enabled her to come to London and then Pakistan, eventually opening the door to Kabul in 1988, “the day after my birthday.” (18:51)

4. Reporting in a World of Conflict: Challenges and Philosophy

Timestamps: 17:35 – 24:22

• Doucet reflects on covering Afghanistan at the close of the Soviet era:
  • “I arrive in Kabul and I find myself in the biggest story in the world.” (19:30)
• She and Hilsum discuss the pervasiveness of “news avoidance” given global crises, and Doucet’s mission to tell stories that connect war zones to everyday human endurance and dignity.
  • Quote:

    “We live in...a democracy. We have responsibilities as citizens. We can’t say, ‘I don’t want to follow the news.’ We have to know what’s happening elsewhere, because it’s not out there. These are stories that involve all of us.” (23:04–23:26)

5. The Prism of the InterContinental: Writing The Finest Hotel in Kabul

Timestamps: 19:56 – 33:10

• Doucet shares why she centered her book on Kabul’s InterContinental Hotel:

  • Quote:

    "In a country where for all that Afghans have lost, they have this deeply ingrained sense of hospitality, why not use the home of hospitality, the National Guest House, the first luxury hotel in Afghanistan...and through that tell the arc of 50 years of history." (27:33–29:13)

• The hotel’s history mirrors Afghanistan’s, having survived monarchy, communism, mujahideen, the Taliban, and Western intervention. Hotel staff personify resilience:

  • “In every phase, every political phase of Afghanistan, the waiters had to keep waiting, the cooks had to keep pots on the boil. They kept their sense of pride and dignity.” (31:13–31:43)

• Doucet used narrative nonfiction techniques inspired by novelists, focusing on everyday courage, humor, and dignity amidst cataclysm:

  • Quote:

    “What do they do in between? Because they also...have to get up in the morning and face the day and...live with some degree of hope. Lashings of humor, because humor is one I have found. Humor is the universal language.” (22:30–23:04)

6. Memorable Reading: The Fall of Kabul, Seen from the Hotel

Timestamps: 33:10 – 37:08

• Doucet reads a passage from her book, capturing the surreal blend of the ordinary (a wedding) and the extraordinary (Taliban’s return in August 2021), as experienced by hotel staff and guests:

  • Notable Quote/Excerpt:

    “Down the corridor the wedding was beginning...Saduzai watched with a knowing smile. It was always a relief when a wedding got going…But most guests weren’t looking back at them. They were looking at their phones…The Taliban are in Wardak. ...They’re in Kabul, in the district right next to the hotel...” (33:19–36:39)

• Despite fear and uncertainty, the routine and rituals of life—folding napkins, serving food, keeping up appearances—persist, embodying resilience.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Lyse Doucet on British skepticism about her roots:

  "Where is Lise Doucet from? ... Acadians? ... 1755, Britain's first ethnic cleansing. ... We didn’t get our land back, but I got a job. And so working for the BBC is my Acadian revenge." (06:13–07:29)

• On choosing assignments:

  “Take a risk, a calculated risk, not too dangerous.” (09:17–09:31)

• On Afghanistan’s hold:

  “I was immediately taken by the Afghan women, their energy, their sense of self...” (13:22)

• On staff pride in the face of adversity:

  "The pride and dignity is because again, you often in the kind of news stories, you don’t see that, you see people at their worst." (31:43)

• On living and reporting during crisis:

  “When death is at the door, what is the solution? What is the antidote? It's to live.” (24:14)

Timeline of Key Segments

• Lyse Doucet's entrance into journalism and background: 06:06–12:47
• Philosophy on reporting from the margins: 09:15–13:17
• Afghanistan and emotional connection: 13:17–17:35
• Reporting as an outsider, and among crises: 17:35–24:22
• InterContinental Hotel as narrative device: 27:33–33:10
• Book reading—Kabul, August 2021: 33:10–37:08

Summary & Takeaways

This episode offers an intimate, often humorous and moving portrait of how Lyse Doucet found her voice and beat as a journalist. Her journey—steered by “the kindness of strangers,” dogged determination, and an eye for under-told stories—shows the value of seeing people before geopolitics. Through the lens of Afghanistan’s InterContinental Hotel and its ordinary workers, Doucet explores history’s thrum at the edges of war and the universal need to keep living, celebrating, even as history shakes the very ground beneath.

Listeners will gain:

• Insight into the realities and philosophies driving foreign reporting
• An appreciation of Afghans’ resilience and pride
• A sense of how big events intersect with everyday ritual
• The enduring importance of human dignity and humor in the darkest times

For more from this conversation, listen to the full episode on Intelligence Squared or read Doucet’s “The Finest Hotel in Kabul” for a deeper dive into Afghanistan’s living history.