Intelligence Squared

Is it time to abandon the five-day work week? Or is the "five-days on, two days off" cadence of work and rest more important than ever? 

This event was organised in partnership with Slack, your digital HQ. Slack connects your teams, tools, customers and partners in a digital place that’s fast, flexible and inclusive for a work-from-anywhere world. From FTSE 100 companies to corner shops, millions of people around the world use Slack to connect their teams, unify their systems and drive their business forwards.

If you would like to find out more about how Slack are supporting their clients then visit https://www.slack.com/digitalhq for a host of valuable resources!

--

Speakers: Bruce Daisley, Elizabeth Uviebinené, Karl Nicholson and Nick Srnicek

Host: Anne McElvoy

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

During an era of identity politics, culture wars and increasing awareness of the structural biases that contribute to global inequality, it’s easy to become pessimistic about the possibility of making diverse democracies work. Yascha Mounk is a writer and political scientist whose recent book, The Great Experiment: Why Diverse Democracies Fall Apart and How They Can Endure, offers analysis of how our fractured societies can acknowledge the injustices of the past, while moving forward towards conciliation and cooperation. Hosting the discussion is BBC journalist and broadcaster Ritula Shah.

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

We live in a time of greater uncertainty than ever before in human history. We are poised between the twin precipices of climate change and rapidly accelerating technological development. How we manage them will determine whether our future is one where humans will thrive, falter or something in between. Welcome to the Futureverse – brought to you by Intelligence Squared and Y TREE – a space to explore the ideas that will shape our future.  

In this episode, three leading thinkers come together to debate the motion, ‘Will The World Be A Better Place in 5, 50 and 500 Years?’ The sculptor Sir Antony Gormley champions the role of art in public spaces in a future society that puts community and care at its centre. Climate change activist Clover Hogan argues that the next ten years will be crucial for determining the next 50. Tech entrepreneur and former chief business officer at Google X, Mo Gawdat considers how we can imbue AI with values aligned to those of humanity. Expertly hosted by broadcaster Jon Sopel, this is a conversation that is guaranteed to change the way you think about the future.

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

Is the West doing enough to help Ukraine? What kind of endgame should Ukraine be seeking – all-out victory over Russia or a negotiated settlement that will allow both sides to claim they have won? To help answer some of these questions, we invited three prominent Ukrainian voices to get the view from the country. Kira Rudik is the MP who went viral on Instagram when she posted a photo of herself wielding a Kalashnikov and urging her fellow citizens to take up arms against the Russian invaders; Michael Bociurkiw, geopolitical analyst and humanitarian; and Olha Poliukhovych, a cultural historian and academic based in Kyiv. This discussion is hosted by broadcaster and academic Philippa Thomas.

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

Reportedly the planet's richest person, multibillionaire Elon Musk is currently seeking to buy the World's online public square, Twitter. Should billionaires be able to buy so much influence? For this week's Sunday Debate we revisit a discussion from 2021 investigating just that, when we invited Professor Linsey McGoey of Essex University and Ryan Bourne of the Cato Institute go head to head on whether society should tolerate the existence of billionaires. The debate was chaired by Economics Editor at BBC Newsnight, Ben Chu.

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

Since the war in Ukraine began, dwindling remaining hopes of maintaining even the outward appearance of a free democratic process in Russia have been all but eliminated by the Kremlin regime. Joining us on the programme to discuss the dangerous game of voicing dissent in Russia is activist and journalist Zhanna Nemtsova, daughter of murdered Russian politician Boris Nemtsov, and Ben Noble, Associate Professor of Russian Politics at University College London and co-author of Navalny: Putin's Nemesis, Russia's Future? Hosting the discussion is Polina Ivanova, correspondent for the Financial Times covering Russia and Ukraine.

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

For the second part of our analysis of one of the most tense elections in Europe of recent years, we hear from Sophie Pedder, Paris bureau chief at The Economist and author of Revolution Française: Emmanuel Macron and the Quest to Reinvent a Nation. Sophie is joined by foreign-policy writer and Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council, Ben Judah, for a discussion about where France is headed next on both the World stage and closer to home. Hosting the discussion is Rosamund Urwin, Media Editor for the Sunday Times. 

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

Greg Hoffman spent nearly three decades building the Nike brand. In the process he helped transform a shoe company into an identity that resonates the world over. His recent book, Emotion by Design, opens up his philosophy and shares what he has learned from a life in marketing and turbo-charging brands. Hosting the discussion is economist, author and broadcaster, Linda Yueh.

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

Emmanuel Macron has become the first sitting president of France to be re-elected since 2002. But while Macron won the election, France’s far-right and its leader Marine Le Pen has now boldly established itself in the political mainstream. In his victory speech, President Macron acknowledged that, “Many of my compatriots voted for me, not to back my ideas, but to keep out those of the far right.” For this week's Sunday Debate, we discuss whether it is the formidable figure of Marine Le Pen who is redefining French politics or is it Macron, swallowing the middle ground at the expense of his more moderate peers on the left and right, who has paved the way for more populist rhetoric and extreme candidates that now occupy the centre ground? We invited two guests to discuss it. Vincent Martigny is Professor of Political science at the University of Nice, and Jean-Yves Camus is an expert in political radicalism and a Fellow at the Centre for Analysis of the Radical Right. Hosting the discussion is the cultural historian and broadcaster Shahidha Bari.

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

Morten Christiansen is Professor of Psychology at Cornell University and Nick Chater is Professor of Behavioural Science at Warwick Business School. Together, they've written The Language Game, a new book which explores the science and psychology of language and some of its mysteries too. Hosting the discussion is journalist Christine Ro, whose work covers areas ranging from science and culture to international development.

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