Intelligence Squared

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. One in five Americans believe that every high profile mass shooting is staged by the government. In this episode New York Times journalist Elizabeth Williamson joins author and filmmaker Jon Ronson to delve into the dark world of conspiracies and examine one of America’s most prominent and controversial theorists, Alex Jones. Elizabeth Williamson joins us from Connecticut where she is reporting on Alex Jones' second defamation trial this year, sued by the parents of the victims of the Sandy Hook school shooting after he repeatedly claimed the tragedy was a hoax.  … We are incredibly grateful for your support. To become an Intelligence Squared Premium subscriber, follow the link: https://iq2premium.supercast.com/  Here’s a reminder of the benefits you’ll receive as a subscriber: Ad-free listening, because we know some of you would prefer to

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. Ukraine’s best known novelist Andrey Kurkov joins us to speak about life, literature, and the war in Ukraine, as well as the complexities of the Ukrainian identity. Andrey Kurkov has been hailed as a latter-day Bulgakov and a Ukrainian Murakami, his works injected with an absurdist sense of the oddities of life. But with the unfolding of events in Ukraine this year, his fictional reflections on conflict in his nation have become even more pertinent. Our host for this episode is the BBC’s Chief International Correspondent, Lyse Doucet, who has been covering the conflict in Ukraine since it unfolded in February. … We are incredibly grateful for your support. To become an Intelligence Squared Premium subscriber, follow the link: https://iq2premium.supercast.com/  Here’s a reminder of the benefits you’ll receive as a subscriber: Ad-free listeni

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 episode we take a look back to an Intelligence Squared debate recorded in 2009. As the British economy has been plunged into uncertainty in the past week, many have become sceptical of new Prime Minister Liz Truss's plans for financial growth. But what did people have to say in 2009 about the balance between market and state? Chaired by the impressionist and comedian Rory Bremner, we hear from journalist Paul Mason, economist Stephen King, political scientist Ian Bremmer and the 19th prime minister of Canada Kim Campbell.  … We are incredibly grateful for your support. To become an Intelligence Squared Premium subscriber, follow the link: https://iq2premium.supercast.com/  Here’s a reminder of the benefits you’ll receive as a subscriber: Ad-free listening, because we know some of you would prefer to listen without interruption  On

Can advertising’s immense power to change behaviour be used for good? In this brand new podcast, produced by Intelligence Squared, Myra Nussbaum, President and Chief Creative Officer at Havas Chicago and Dan Lucey, Chief Creative Officer at Havas New York, talk to the people who are harnessing the power of advertising to help people and the planet. This week, Dan and Myra were joined by Sam Shepherd and Ashely Geisheker from Leo Burnett in Chicago. Last year, Sam and Ashley were part of the team behind The Lost Class, a campaign to raise awareness about the members of the high school class of 2021 who were killed by guns. The film was produced by Leo Burnett in support of Change the Ref’s campaign to introduce universal background checks for gun sales. Among many other awards, it was nominated for an Emmy. Sam Shepherd is Executive Vice President and Executive Creative Director at Leo Burnett Chicago. He has received a host of top industry honours including Titanium Cannes Lions, D&AD Black pencils and Agen

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. Humans have been on the move for most of history. Even after the great urban advancement lured people into the cities of Uruk, Babylon, Rome and Chang’an, most of humanity continued to live lightly on the move and outside the pages of history. Drawing on his new book Nomads: The Wanderers Who Shaped Our World, travel writer and historian Anthony Sattin joins us to set out an alternative account of human history, told through its outsiders. Our host for today is Rosamund Urwin, media editor of The Sunday Times. … We are incredibly grateful for your support. To become an Intelligence Squared Premium subscriber, follow the link: https://iq2premium.supercast.com/  Here’s a reminder of the benefits you’ll receive as a subscriber: Ad-free listening, because we know some of you would prefer to listen without interruption  One early episode per w

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. Academic and author Samuel Moyn joins us to discusses warfare over the course of the 20th century – from Vietnam to Iraq – and how US policy over that time has shaped the conflicts we see today. Moyn is Professor of Law and History at Yale University. His recent book, Humane: How the United States Abandoned Peace and Reinvented War, analyses how following the Second World War, the establishment of Human rights conventions and international law courts became a push to make the game of war a more ethical one. The reality, of course, is different. From Syria to Ukraine, we see forms of engagement that contradict all guidelines and these breaches make the already brutal theatre of war even more horrific. Joining Samuel in conversation to discuss the book is Carl Miller, Research Director at the Centre for the Analysis of Social Media at the think

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 debate from 2018, we invited voices to discuss one of the most contentious issues in the Middle East: the capital of Israel. The issue has resurfaced recently, with British Prime Minister Liz Truss surprising some observers at the UN general assembly by saying there could potentially be a “review of the current location” of the UK embassy, which is currently in Tel Aviv. An embassy move would follow the lead of Donald Trump, who in 2018 recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and moved the US embassy to correspond with the policy shift. Back in 2018, we debated Donald Trump's intervention and the arguments that have long-surrounded global diplomatic relations with Israel. Our speakers included barrister Natasha Hausdorff, former Prime Minister of Israel Ehud Olmert, Palestinian activist and academic Ghada Karmi and Jack Straw

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. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is now Turkey’s longest-serving president. Since coming to power as Prime Minister in 2002 he has overseen a radical transformation of this pivotal country. Once a secular democracy with aspirations to join the European Union, Turkey has become a deeply nationalist, conservative country. Erdoğan has built a militaristic foreign policy abroad, intervening in regional flashpoints from Syria to Libya while dismantling democratic controls, clamping down on dissent and centralising power in the presidency at home. In September 2022, academic and writer Gönül Tol came to Intelligence Squared to shed light on how Erdoğan established an iron grip on the country, the subject of her upcoming book: Erdoğan's War: A Strongman's Struggle at Home and in Syria. Tol is founding Director of the Middle East Institute's Turkey program and i

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. Mikhail Khodorkovsky has experienced first hand the wrath of Vladimir Putin. Once an oil tycoon and the richest man in Russia, Khodorkovsky was arrested at gunpoint before parliamentary elections in 2003, stripped of his oil wealth and jailed on politically motivated charges of fraud and tax evasion after funding opposition parties. Khodorkovsky spent nearly ten years in prison. In September 2022 he came to Intelligence Squared to share his unparalleled insight into the inner workings of Putin’s regime. Drawing from his new book, The Russia Conundrum, Khodorkovsky reveals how Russia really works and how the West can truly begin to blunt the Kremlin’s imperial ambitions. Joining Khodorkovsky in conversation is journalist, co-author of The Russia Conundrum, and former BBC Moscow correspondent Martin Sixsmith. Our host for this discussion is jou

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. Bruce Daisley is one the world’s most respected thought leaders on workplace culture and the future of work. He was Vice-President of Twitter in Europe for 12 years and has four times been voted the ‘fantasy hire’ that most business leaders would like to make. In August 2022 he came to Intelligence Squared to talk about the themes of his new book Fortitude: Unlocking the Secrets of Inner Strength. Dispelling the myth that to succeed in life we need to be tough and self-reliant, he unpicked the overused concept of resilience, explained how it really works, and put forward a new programme for building self-confidence and tenacity. Drawing on his personal experience and recent scientific research, he showed how we can draw on those around us to build confidence and find our inner strength. Our host for today's discussion is Sarah Ellis, co-found

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. Today, decolonisation is generally spoken of as the rightful return of things to the way they once were, and the removal of all traces of colonial rule. But is this necessarily the best way to move forward and give agency to African nations? Or has decolonisation become a reductionist trope – a scapegoat for modern problems? To delve into the nuances and importance of decolonisation we're joined by Olufemi Taiwo, Professor of African Political Thought at Cornell University and author of Against Decolonisation: Taking African Agency Seriously, and Dipo Faloyin, Senior Editor at VICE and author of Africa Is Not A Country: Breaking Stereotypes of Modern Africa. Our host for this Sunday Debate is Yassmin Abdel-Magied, writer, engineer and award-winning social advocate. … We are incredibly grateful for your support. To become an Intelligence Squar

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. Dior is a name that resonates with glamour, elegance and luxury around the world. The French fashion house was born in Paris in 1946 just as Europe was recovering from the losses and destruction of the Second World War. But while Christian Dior’s name has been synonymous with fashion and fragrance, it’s his sister Catherine whose story we’re learning about in this podcast. Journalist and author Justine Picardie joins us to tell the story of a woman who dedicated herself to the French resistance, was captured by the Gestapo, imprisoned in a German concentration camp, and survived to become her brother's muse. Our host is broadcaster and academic Shahidha Bari. … We are incredibly grateful for your support. To become an Intelligence Squared Premium subscriber, follow the link: https://iq2premium.supercast.com/  Here’s a reminder of the benefits

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. Environmental preservation and social justice are often presented as two separate issues; the Earth and its future are one conversation, while inequality is seen as another. However, as the climate crisis gets progressively worse, we’re seeing that marginalised communities in the global north and large swathes of the population affected by poverty in the global south are bearing the brunt of it. Environmental activist and author Leah Thomas joins us on the podcast to dissect the relationship between social justice and environmentalism, the topic of her new book: The Intersectional Environmentalist. Our host is Diyora Shadijanova, journalist and climate editor at gal-dem. … We are incredibly grateful for your support. To become an Intelligence Squared Premium subscriber, follow the link: https://iq2premium.supercast.com/  Here’s a reminder of

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. When Financial Times journalist Dan McCrum followed a tip to investigate Wirecard, a hot new European tech startup challenging Silicon Valley, everything about the business – which claimed to be an innovative digital payments processor – struck him as too good to be true. As McCrum dug deeper, he encountered a tale stranger and more dangerous than he ever imagined. His new book, Money Men: A Hot Startup, A Billion Dollar Fraud, A Fight for the Truth, tells the story. He joins Carl Miller, Research Director of the Centre for the Analysis of Social Media at Demos, to talk about it. … We are incredibly grateful for your support. To become an Intelligence Squared Premium subscriber, follow the link: https://iq2premium.supercast.com/  Here’s a reminder of the benefits you’ll receive as a subscriber: Ad-free listening, because we know some of you

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 debate from 2017 produced in collaboration with the University of Chicago, we asked: has the political establishment failed America? In 2017, the view was that whether they voted for Trump or Sanders or none of the above, millions of Americans felt the answer might be yes – and that the system benefits the elites at the expense of everyone else. While others say that despite its flaws, the political establishment has been a force for unparalleled stability, prosperity and equality – and that it is the only thing standing between America and the abyss. Is it time for the old guard to come to the rescue or to make way for a new political reality? Arguing in favour of the motion were Michael Eric Dyson of Georgetown University and William Howell of UChicago. Arguing against the motion were Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post an

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. How does more time spent online result in more havoc and social unrest in the world? In just two decades, social media and its addictive components have changed society in unfathomable ways; how we communicate with one another, how we receive our news, how our societies function and how our societies break down. In this episode Max Fisher, New York Times columnist and author of The Chaos Machine, explores how we have been rewired by algorithms which claim to know us better than we know ourselves. Host for this discussion is technology journalist Chris Stokel-Walker. … We are incredibly grateful for your support. To become an Intelligence Squared Premium subscriber, follow the link: https://iq2premium.supercast.com/  Here’s a reminder of the benefits you’ll receive as a subscriber: Ad-free listening, because we know some of you would prefer

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. Until very recently, female artists have occupied a tiny space of the art market, undervalued and ignored. There are no women in the top 0.03% of the auction market, where 41% of the profit is concentrated. Overall, 96.1% of artworks sold at auction are by male artists. The most expensive work sold by a woman artist at auction, Georgia O’Keeffe’s Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1, sold in 2014 for $44.4 million—over four hundred million dollars less than the auction record for a male artist: Leonardo Da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi, which sold in 2017 for $450.3 million, shattering the previous record of $179.4 million for a work by Picasso.  Now that’s changing. This year’s Venice Biennale was heavily skewed in favour of women for the first time ever. Historically, about 10% of artists in the main exhibition have tended to be women, rising to 30% in

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. Will MacAskill is the philosopher thinking a million years into the future who is also having a bit of a moment in the present. As Associate Professor in Philosophy and Research Fellow at the Global Priorities Institute at the University of Oxford, he is co-founder of the effective altruism movement, which uses evidence and reason as the driver to help maximise how we can better resource the world. MacAskill's writing has found fans ranging from Elon Musk to Stephen Fry and his new book is What We Owe the Future: A Million-Year View. Our host on the show is Max Roser, Director of the Oxford Martin Programme on Global Development and founder and editor of Our World in Data. … We are incredibly grateful for your support. To become an Intelligence Squared Premium subscriber, follow the link: https://iq2premium.supercast.com/  Here’s a reminder o

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. Following the death of former Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev this week, we dip into the archive for a discussion from 2019 when we invited three leading scholars to reflect on the fall of Communism under the watch of Gorbachev, a giant of 20th-century politics. Hosting the discussion is Brian Klaas, Associate Professor in Global Politics at University College London and author of Corruptible: Who Gets Power and How It Changes Us. Brian is joined by Ivan Krastev, opinion writer for the New York Times, chair of the Centre for Liberal Strategies in Sofia, and author of the acclaimed book After Europe. Timothy Garton Ash is Professor of European Studies at the University of Oxford and author of numerous books including Free Speech: Ten Principles for a Connected World. … We are incredibly grateful for your support. To become an Intelligenc

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. Journalist, author and former BBC foreign correspondent Philip Short joins us to discuss his new book, Putin: His Life and Times. It follows his biographies on other world leaders and despots including Chairman Mao and Pol Pot. Joining Philip in conversation is Mark Galeotti, an authority on Russian security affairs and international organised crime. Mark is Honorary Professor at UCL's School of Slavonic and East European Studies, and author of We Need To Talk About Putin: How the West gets him wrong. … We are incredibly grateful for your support. To become an Intelligence Squared Premium subscriber, follow the link: https://iq2premium.supercast.com/  Here’s a reminder of the benefits you’ll receive as a subscriber: Ad-free listening, because we know some of you would prefer to listen without interruption  One early episode per week Two