Intelligence Squared

Susan Cain shot to fame in 2012 with her international bestseller Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking, in which she urged society to cultivate space for the undervalued introverts among us. Now she's back with another book asking us to reassess how we think about self expression: Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole. The book argues that by embracing the bittersweet at the heart of life – the sense that joy and sorrow are always paired – we can gain a heightened appreciation of the wonder and beauty of our own personal experience and throughout wider culture too. Our host for the discussion is writer, academic and broadcaster, Shahidha Bari.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In an increasingly polarised world, it’s not often we get books saying that difference is our greatest strength. But Farhan Samanani is a Canadian social anthropologist, whose recent book, How to Live with Each Other, does just that. It looks at how communities thrive when embracing their diversity. Farhan’s work and studies have taken him around the world but it’s the local, yet no less global, streets of Kilburn, a neighbourhood in northwest London, which informs much of his work. He's joined in conversation by Dipo Faloyin, senior editor and writer at VICE, and author of the book Africa is Not a Country, which focuses on issues of diversity and identity across the African continent.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Whether rapidly advancing artificial intelligence will eventually become a friend or foe to humanity is a pressing question when it comes to technology. But one smart human says there’s an area where we still have the edge: mathematics. In his new book, Mathematical Intelligence: What we have that Machines Don’t, mathematician turned educator Junaid Mubeen argues that the playfulness and exploratory nature of the human approach to maths is a quality that the linear and binary brains of machines are nowhere close to replicating. Junaid is joined in conversation by our host for the discussion, The Sunday Times' Rosamund Urwin.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It was always going to be a disaster. Queues of HGVs stretching miles from Dover. The Good Friday Agreement threatened by the controversial Northern Ireland Protocol and increased support for Scottish Independence. That’s the argument of the doomsayers in this debate. But others claim that while short-term damage is inevitable – there is always blowback from a jilted partner – Brexit is a long-term project, one that is tied to the fundamental principle of sovereignty. Which side is right? To debate the issue, we welcome back Conservative politician Daniel Hannan, Labour MP Stella Creasy, and are joined by Robert Tombs, the historian of France and Britain, whose most recent book is This Sovereign Isle: Britain In and Out of Europe. Plus, Dominic Grieve, former Conservative MP and former Attorney General for England and Wales. Chairing the debate is Johnny Dymond, BBC News presenter and Royal Correspondent. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

George Monbiot is a journalist, campaigner and author, who is telling the world that the time for action on the climate crisis is now. His latest book, Regenesis: Feeding the World without Devouring the Planet, looks at how we can lessen the impact of food consumption and farming on the global environment. Our host for this discussion is Alice Thomson, columnist and interviewer for The Times.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Intelligence Squared podcast is the home of lively debate and deep-dive discussion. Now we’re adding extra depth to our audio content via Apple Podcasts with IQ2 Extra, a premium listening experience that includes ad-free content, exclusive bonus episodes and early access to new podcasts. Hit subscribe via Apple for a 7-day free trial of IQ2 Extra. Our bonus content includes Bright Sparks: quick-fire Q&As bringing you closer to some of the brightest minds on the planet. First up is Nobel Prize-winning psychologist, Daniel Kahneman, author of Thinking, Fast and Slow, whose latest book is Noise. Early access will bring you selected shows in advance and you can enjoy all of our upcoming listens ad-free. And don’t worry – our regular four episodes per week of incisive debate, immersive one-on-ones and current affairs analysis will remain completely free to everyone.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode of Intelligence Squared's How to Lead a Sustainable Business with Alannah Weston podcast, Alannah is joined by Leslie Johnston, CEO of the Laudes Foundation, which catalyses systems change in the worlds of fashion, finance and the built environment, towards a new economy that values all people and nature.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Does the world have too many people – or not enough? That’s one of the big questions that demographer Paul Morland seeks to answer in his new book, Tomorrow’s People: The Future of Humanity in Ten Numbers. Demography is the study of groups of people and how they behave, drawing from adjacent fields such as anthropology, sociology, history and economics. For this discussion focusing on political demography, Paul is joined in conversation by our host, Eric Kaufmann, Professor of Politics at Birkbeck College in London.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A delve into the archive and back to 2019 when we debated a motion asking whether the left’s policies of high immigration and multiculturalism caused the disaffection which has given rise to populism? Or was it the right, with its tabloid scare stories about foreigners eroding national identity? We were joined by Matthew Goodwin, Professor of Politics at Kent University; politician Daniel Hannan; Elif Shafak, award-winning novelist; and John Simpson, BBC World Affairs Editor, columnist and author. The discussion was chaired by BBC journalist and broadcaster Ritula Shah.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Professor Jim Al-Khalili is the physicist who makes science look easy. He’s the author of several books, the latest of which is The Joy of Science, which offers eight core scientific principles that can be applied to everyday life. As a broadcaster Jim is perhaps best known as the voice of BBC Radio 4’s The Life Scientific and he holds the position of Distinguished Chair in physics and University Chair in public engagement at the University of Surrey. Our host for this discussion is Media Editor for The Sunday Times, Rosamund Urwin. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices