Intelligence Squared

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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.

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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 tank Demos.

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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, the UK's former Foreign Secretary. Chairing the debate was journalist, broadcaster and co-host of The News Agents, Emily Maitlis.

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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 is a Senior Fellow for the Frontier Europe Initiative. She's also Adjunct Professor at George Washington University. Host for this discussion is Carl Miller, Research Director at the Centre for the Analysis of Social Media at the think tank Demos.

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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 journalist and presenter of BBC Radio 4's World Tonight, Ritula Shah.

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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-founder along with Helen Tupper of Amazing If, an award-winning company with a mission to make careers better for everyone. Sarah is also co-host of the Squiggly Careers podcast and has published books including You Coach You.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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