Intelligence Squared

Intimacy coordinators have irreversibly transformed how we portray sex on screen, and they are not without their detractors. In the wake of MeToo, Ita O’Brien’s work as a top intimacy coordinator on Normal People, Sex Education and I May Destroy revolutionised how actors, directors and audiences think about sex, consent and physical storytelling.

In this episode, journalist Olivia Petter speaks with O'Brien about how sex on screen has evolved, why these roles have become a flashpoint for wider debates about artistic freedom, and how set practices and lessons from choreography can apply to real life intimacy. 

The conversation broadens beyond the screen to ask what intimacy means in contemporary life. From the rise of AI companions and virtual relationships to the importance of touch, embodiment and human connection, O'Brien argues that understanding our physical selves is more important than ever.

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Ita O'Brien is the UK's leading intimacy coordinator. She has worked on productions including Normal People, Sex Education and I May Destroy You, and is the author of Intimacy.

Olivia Petter is a journalist, author and broadcaster whose work explores relationships, gender and contemporary culture.

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Olivia Laing is known as one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary literature. Their work is renowned for its capacity to make abstract ideas feel precise, intimate, and beautifully thought through without ever talking down to the reader. Their books include the number one Sunday Times bestseller The Garden Against Time, Funny Weather: Art in an Emergency and, most recently, The Silver Book: a bewitching love story set during the making of Fellini’s Casanova and Pasolini’s Salò.

In June 2026 Laing came to Intelligence Squared for a one-off celebration of the ten-year anniversary of their seminal work, The Lonely City. Hailed as ‘a new kind of literature’ when first published, The Lonely City is both a personal quest to master the art of being alone, and an investigation into how artists have reckoned with isolation. The book asks questions that resonate in our increasingly digital and divided world. What does it mean to be lonely? How do we connect with others? Does technology draw us closer together, or keep us apart?        

Laing was joined live at Union Chapel in London by Charlie Porter, as they reflected on the legacy of The Lonely City, the paperback publication of The Silver Book and what loneliness, intimacy, solidarity and connection mean in a world of rising fascism.

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Olivia Laing is known as one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary literature. Their work is renowned for its capacity to make abstract ideas feel precise, intimate, and beautifully thought through without ever talking down to the reader. Their books include the number one Sunday Times bestseller The Garden Against Time, Funny Weather: Art in an Emergency and, most recently, The Silver Book: a bewitching love story set during the making of Fellini’s Casanova and Pasolini’s Salò.

In June 2026 Laing came to Intelligence Squared for a one-off celebration of the ten-year anniversary of their seminal work, The Lonely City. Hailed as ‘a new kind of literature’ when first published, The Lonely City is both a personal quest to master the art of being alone, and an investigation into how artists have reckoned with isolation. The book asks questions that resonate in our increasingly digital and divided world. What does it mean to be lonely? How do we connect with others? Does technology draw us closer together, or keep us apart?        

Laing was joined live at Union Chapel in London by Charlie Porter, as they reflected on the legacy of The Lonely City, the paperback publication of The Silver Book and what loneliness, intimacy, solidarity and connection mean in a world of rising fascism.

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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.

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Is our history of World War II missing its most important chapter?

For many in the West, the story of the Second World War is told through D-Day, the Blitz and the liberation of Europe. Yet some of the war's most consequential battles were fought in Asia, where the conflict claimed millions of lives, hastened the collapse of European empires and reshaped the modern world.

Professor Hans van de Ven argues that the war in Asia was not a peripheral theatre, but central to the making of the post-war world. In this episode, he speaks to Hannah Lucinda Smith about reconstructing one of the most important yet neglected chapters of the twentieth century, challenging a Eurocentric understanding of the Second World War and showing how the conflict laid the foundations of Asia as we know it today.

How did Japan's imperial ambitions transform the continent? Why did the war accelerate the end of European colonial rule? And how did leaders including Mao Zedong, Jawaharlal Nehru and Sukarno emerge from its aftermath to forge a new Asia?

Hans van de Ven is a world-renowned historian of modern China, a Fellow of the British Academy and a Professor of Modern Chinese History at Cambridge and Peking Universities. His new book is Blood Dawn: World War II and the Making of Modern Asia.

Hannah Lucinda Smith is a journalist and foreign correspondent reporting on global politics, conflict and international affairs.

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Maggie 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. 

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Maggie 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. 

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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.

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Filmmaker 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.

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This 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.

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Andrew 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. 

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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.

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Andrew 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:

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