Intelligence Squared

2022 looks set to be another seismic year. A new Covid-19 variant threatens to prolong the pandemic. A diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics looks likely to escalate tensions with China. And time is running out to ’keep 1.5 alive’, in spite of the commitments made at COP26. Martin Wolf is chief economics commentator at the Financial Times and widely regarded as one of the world’s most influential writers on the global economy. He joins journalist Justin Webb to set out what he sees as the major trends that will shape the world in 2022. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In their recent book, Poles Apart, behavioural scientist Alex Chesterfield, public affairs specialist Laura Osborne and political advisor Ali Goldsworthy look at what factors drive society apart and what can help bring it back together. Economist and broadcaster Linda Yueh hosts a wide-ranging discussion with the authors exploring not only the cultural forces at play, but also the economic, political and social media triggers that tip people from healthy disagreement into dangerous hostility. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Damian Bradfield is a tech leader who as co-founder and Chief Creative Officer of WeTransfer steers an essential tool for creatives plus the site's burgeoning culture brand WePresent, too. He joins journalist Rosamund Urwin to discuss the company's journey and also talk through the Ideas Report: WeTransfer's annual survey of the global creative industries. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jane Austen created the definitive picture of Georgian England. No writer matches Austen’s sensitive ear for the hypocrisy and irony lurking beneath the genteel conversation. That’s the argument of the Janeites, but to the aficionados of Emily Brontë they are the misguided worshippers of a circumscribed mind. In Wuthering Heights, Brontë dispensed with Austen’s niceties and the upper-middle class drawing rooms of Bath and the home counties. Her backdrop is the savage Yorkshire moors, her subject the all-consuming passions of the heart. To help you decide who should be crowned queen of English letters we have the lined up the best advocates to make the case for each writer. In this event, chaired by author and critic Erica Wagner, we invited guests including author Kate Mosse, Professor and author John Mullan, and actors Mariah Gale, Samuel West and Dominic West, to discuss each writer's influence. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Gloria Estefan is one of the most successful female singers ever. With more than 120 million records sold worldwide, three Grammy Awards, and a career spanning four decades, she has helped make Latin-flavoured pop music an international success. Estefan is also the recipient of the Presidential Medal of Honor and has her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. From fleeing Cuba as a young child when it fell under Castro’s control, narrowly escaping death in a bus accident aged 32, to marrying her first boyfriend, who was also the founder of her first band Miami Sound Machine, she has lived a remarkable life. In this exclusive live podcast recording of the award-winning How I Found My Voice, presented by Samira Ahmed, Estefan reflected on her path to musical success and fame. We’d love to hear your feedback and what you think we should talk about next, who we should have on and what our future debates should be. Send us an email or voice note with your thoughts to [email protected] or Tweet us @intelligence2. And if you’d like to get ad-free access to all Intelligence Squared podcasts, including exclusive bonus content, early access to new episodes and much more, become a supporter of Intelligence Squared today for just £4.99, or the equivalent in your local currency . Just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Though no laughing matter, the extremes of the Donald Trump presidency made comedians' jobs a little trickier: was the reality more absurd than satire created around it? In 2020 we invited celebrated comedy writer and producer Armando Iannucci, Labour MP Jess Phillips, and satirist and impressionist Jan Ravens, to discuss the issue. The event was chaired by journalist Samira Ahmed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Michael Lewis is one of the most successful non-fiction authors alive. In a series of titles that have sold 9 million copies worldwide, he has lifted the lid on the biggest business stories of our times, enthralling readers with his knack for humanising complex subjects and giving them the page-turning urgency of the best thrillers. Liar’s Poker is the cult classic that defined Wall Street during the 1980s; Moneyball was made into a film with Brad Pitt; Boomerang was a breakneck tour of Europe’s post-crunch economy; and The Big Short was made into a major Oscar-winning film starring Christian Bale, Ryan Gosling and Steve Carell. In November 2017 Lewis came to the Intelligence Squared stage, where he was joined by economics journalist Stephanie Flanders, to discuss his work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Nearly four centuries after his death, no writer has matched William Shakespeare’s influence across drama, theatre and poetry but a few have come close. John Milton, say his fans, works on an altogether different, higher plane. In Paradise Lost – one of the most significant poems ever written in English – Milton moved beyond the literary to address political, philosophical and religious questions in a way that still resounds strongly today. To help decide who should be crowned king of English letters we brought together advocates to make the case for each writer, and they called on a cast of leading actors to illustrate their arguments with readings from the works. Chaired by author Erica Wagner, this debate features Shakespeare scholar James Shapiro, literature professor Nigel Smith and actors Harriet Walter, Pippa Nixon and Samuel West. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Samira Ahmed speaks to the chef Yotam Ottolenghi about his life and career, from discovering his love of food in Jerusalem to his professional partnership with Palestinian chef Sami Tamimi, plus how he creates his well-loved cookbooks such as Simple and Flavour. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We hear from a panel of historians, authors and broadcasters – Hallie Rubenhold, Natalie Livingstone, Dan Jones and chair Saul David – about how women's stories and female historians have been marginalised throughout history. The conversation, recorded at The Cliveden Literary Festival, also discusses how historians today can help redress the imbalance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Satya Nadella is one of the world’s most inspirational business leaders; as much a humanist as a technologist and executive. In September 2017, he came to the Intelligence Squared stage to discuss his personal journey from a childhood in India to becoming Chairman and CEO of Microsoft Corporation with journalist and author Kamal Ahmed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We compare the works of two of the greatest painters of the Dutch Golden Age: Rembrandt and Vermeer. Making the case for Rembrandt van Rijn in this debate was historian, author and broadcaster Simon Schama. For Schama, Rembrandt's works are raw humanity personified with formal beauty being the least of the painter's concerns. Novelist Tracy Chevalier, however, champions Johannes Vermeer. She claims that the artist's charm lies in the very fact that he absents himself from his paintings and as a result they are less didactic and more magical. The debate was chaired by art historian, writer and museum director, Tim Marlow. For a list of works referenced in this debate, along with links to each, please go to: https://intelligencesquared.com/events/rembrandt-vs-vermeer-titans-of-dutch-painting-simon-schama-tracy-chevalier/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Peter Frankopan is Professor of Global History at Oxford University and author of two seminal recent books on the shifting geopolitics of the world: The Silk Roads and its follow-up, The New Silk Roads. He speaks to fellow historian and writer Simon Sebag Montefiore at the Cliveden Literary Festival about how we may be currently witnessing the end of a historical era amid the emergence of a brand new one. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Samira Ahmed speaks to the author Fatima Bhutto about the power of writing fiction, growing up in one of Pakistan’s most famous political dynasties and why she blames her aunt, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, for the death of her father. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Former governor of the Bank of England Lord King, global economist Dr Dambisa Moyo and businessman Ian Livingstone join Senior Editor at the Economist Anne McElvoy to map out a road to economic recovery after the pandemic. Following UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson's warning of a new 'tidal wave' of Covid-19 cases in the coming weeks in the UK and beyond, we returned to this discussion from the Cliveden Literary Festival in October about what Operation Phoenix - rising from the ashes of the economic crisis - would actually mean. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week, we’re going back to 2017, with our debate "It's time to bring Russia in from the cold: Rapprochement is in the West's best interests". For this major event, Intelligence Squared put together a stellar line-up. Making the case for rapprochement with Russia was Vladimir Pozner, one of Russia’s best known television journalists and a former advocate for the Soviet Union, and Domitilla Sagramoso, a leading expert on security in Russia; arguing against them were Michael Hayden, former director of both the CIA and the NSA, and Radek Sikorski, who was Poland’s foreign minister from 2007 to 2014. The debate was chaired by BBC World News presenter Nik Gowing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Journalist and author Janine di Giovanni's over the past 30 years has seen her report from the frontlines of some of the most complex and turbulent stories of our times, including the siege of Sarajevo and both the Srebrenica and Rwandan genocides. Her new book, The Vanishing, focuses on the plight of Christians in the Middle East, who have suffered persecution and in countries ranging from Iraq to Egypt. She sits down with Dr Lina Khatib, Director of the Middle East and North Africa programme at Chatham House, to discuss the book's themes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The subject of genetic inheritance provokes passionate debate but behavioural geneticist Kathryn Paige Harden believes both sides are getting it wrong. It’s possible, she argues, to reclaim the science of genetics while avoiding the trap of categorising traits as superior or inferior. Drawing from her new book, The Genetic Lottery, Harden shares her research uncovered as head of the Developmental Behavior Genetics lab at University Texas with Helen Lewis, staff writer at The Atlantic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Andrew Chen is a specialist in growing tech businesses and for his new book, The Cold Start Problem, he has spoken to the founders of companies such as LinkedIn, Zoom, Uber, Dropbox, Tinder and Airbnb, to learn how startups can maximise their potential. Andrew has spent a career working with tech companies and tech investors, plus he's also a prolific writer with both a popular blog and newsletter. He joins economist and broadcaster Linda Yueh to discuss the new book and offer his insider's perspective on Silicon Valley success. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Autonomy, dignity and compassion. We wish to experience these things in our lives, so why shouldn’t we experience them in our deaths? That’s the argument made by those who support a change in the law to legalise assisted dying in the UK. People who are suffering intractably, they claim, but who are too ill to self-administer life-ending medication should have the right to be helped to end their lives. This would give choice and control to people with a terminal illness, marking a change from the current situation in which they must either take their own lives while they still have the capacity to do so, or continue to live in the knowledge that they are likely to become trapped in a state of intolerable suffering, which they cannot be helped out of. Of course we need to be aware of the so-called ‘slippery slope’ argument, which holds that a change in the law would lead to a situation where it becomes acceptable to kill people who do not wish to die. But with proper safeguards in place, claim its supporters, legalised assisted dying would be the hallmark of a civilised society. Quite the reverse, argue those who would keep the law unchanged. Assisted suicide is not the private act of an individual, they say, but one that involves relatives, friends, healthcare staff and society at large. The ‘right to die’, they insist, imposes a ‘duty to kill’ on someone else, most likely a doctor, imposing restrictions on that person’s autonomy. And then there is the risk of coercion by family members who stand to gain by a relative’s death. All too easily, the ‘right to die’ can become the ‘duty to die’, as people who are sick or disabled feel they should stop being a financial or emotional burden on those around them. Assisted dying would make death not something that we must simply accept when the time comes but a decision that each individual is responsible for – a move that would be deeply damaging to our society. Should assisted dying be viewed as a human right or as a danger to the most vulnerable people in our society? Arguing in favour of the motion were A. C. Grayling, Founder and Principal of New College of the Humanities at Northeastern University, and Professor of Philosophy; and Henry Marsh, a neurosurgeon and bestselling author, who was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer in 2021. Arguing against the motion were Anne Atkins, novelist and broadcaster; and Katherine Sleeman, Laing Galazka Chair in Palliative Care at King's College London and an honorary consultant in Palliative Medicine at King's College Hospital NHS Trust. The debate was chaired by paediatric doctor and TV presenter Guddi Singh. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It’s been almost 50 years since Nigerian writer Wole Soyinka, Africa’s first Nobel laureate for literature, last published a novel. Chronicles From the Land of the Happiest People on Earth is, his fellow writers agree, worth the wait. He joins Dr Louisa Egbunike , Associate Professor in African Literature at Durham University, to discuss its his latest work: a satire and a whodunit mystery encompassing an expansive assessment of the last 60 years of Nigerian history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Since Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his BJP party came to power in 2014, India has seen an increase in Hindu nationalism and a rise in hostility towards the Muslim minority population. Politician and writer Shashi Tharoor believes the country is at a crossroads. His recently published book, The Struggle for India’s Soul, looks at the political direction of the world’s second most populous nation, which he contends is splitting into two opposing factions: ethno-religious nationalists and liberal civic nationalists. If the ethno-religious nationalists prevail, he says, millions of non-Hindus would be stripped of their identity. Tharoor joins historian, author and broadcaster Rana Mitter to discuss the book and what lies ahead for India. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kate Bingham is the former Chair of the UK Vaccine Taskforce and she's also a shrewd business mind, having been a successful venture capitalist in sectors such as biotech for the past 30 years. She recently spoke with Jessica Pulay at the Cliveden Literary Festival to discuss how business acumen played its part in managing a team of experts from sectors such as science, medicine, industry and academia, in the race to find vaccines to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What now for the world? Governments have reached a climate deal which gets us closer to holding temperatures rises to 1.5C. But a last-ditch effort from India and China to water down pledges to phase out coal has led some to consider COP26 a failure. Yes, COP26 could have achieved more but is this agreement one that could potentially be seen as a strong foundation on which the world can build for the future? To debate the motion we heard from Bim Afolami, MP for Hitchin and Harpenden and Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Renewable and Sustainable Energy; Clover Hogan, climate activist, researcher on eco-anxiety and the founding Executive Director of Force of Nature; Caroline Lucas, former leader of the Green Party and MP for Brighton Pavilion; and Adair Turner, Chair of the Energy Transitions Commission. Chair for this week's debate was Helen Czerski, one of the UK’s most popular science presenters. — We’d love to hear your feedback and what you think we should talk about next, who we should have on and what our future debates should be. Send us an email or voice note with your thoughts to [email protected] or Tweet us @intelligence2. And if you’d like to support our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations, as well as ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content, early access and much more, become a supporter of Intelligence Squared today. Just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Huma Abedin was Hillary Clinton’s most trusted aide and adviser for many years. Her recently published book, Both/And, reveals the details of that relationship as well as reflecting on the very public breakdown of her marriage to disgraced former congressman and convicted sex offender Anthony Weiner. She speaks to journalist Razia Iqbal about her life in politics and why she believes that during this current polarising moment in which we are often told to choose between either/or, she believes we can be both/and. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We go to movies that make us cry, scream or gag we poke at sores, eat spicy foods and run marathons. Some of us even seek out discomfort and humiliation for sexual gratification. Most of these activities are painful yet many of us find pleasure within them and Professor Paul Bloom of Yale University's recent book, The Sweet Spot, seeks to suss out why. Bloom joins writer and broadcaster Linda Yueh to discuss how pain can be a compelling draw for some and so repellent for many others. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today's episode comes from the How To Lead a Sustainable Business podcast, brought to you by Selfridges Group and Intelligence Squared. In the podcast, Alannah Weston, Chairman of Selfridges Group, speaks to inspiring leaders at the forefront of sustainability and business to find out what it takes to lead change and how businesses can put sustainability at their core. In this COP26 Special, Alannah is joined by Henry Dimbleby. Henry spent time as a journalist, cook and management consultant, before co-founding the healthy fast-food restaurant chain, Leon. He created the Sustainable Restaurants Association and London Union, a network of some of London’s largest street food markets. His philanthropic work includes campaigning tirelessly for healthy meals for school children, and he set up the Hackney School of Food. Most recently Henry was appointed lead non-executive board member at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), where he has led the National Food Strategy, publishing a ground-breaking review of the UK food system in 2020. Together they reflect on the Glasgow summit and discuss the role of government in combating the climate crisis. How To Lead a Sustainable Business is brought to you by Selfridges Group and Intelligence Squared. If you enjoyed this episode please take a moment to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This episode is part of our Energised series made in partnership with Iberdrola. To hear more search Energised, wherever you get your podcasts. Transport emissions account for almost a third of global carbon dioxide emissions – and while other sectors such as the energy industry have reduced their emissions over the past three decades, transport emissions are growing. It is the EU’s second most polluting sector and the United Kingdom’s biggest single producer of carbon dioxide, with cars and vans making up the vast majority of these emissions. If we are to meet our net zero targets by 2050, as over 130 countries have committed to do, then something needs to be done about these gas-guzzling monsters. Enter electric vehicles. Right now they make up a minority of vehicles on the road but by 2030 cars and vans powered by fossil fuels will be banned, and five years after that so will hybrid vehicles. Electric cars are far more energy efficient, and are quieter and cheaper than cars that run on fossil fuels. So surely we should all encourage drivers to purchase electric vehicles and quickly render other vehicles obsolete. But hold on a second, some experts caution: electric vehicles are not a cure-all for our environmental problems, they say. Emissions from EV production are in fact on average higher than emissions produced during the traditional car manufacturing process, due to the production of the large lithium-ion batteries needed to power EVs. Furthermore, electric vehicles are only as green as the power used to charge their batteries. Renewables are a growing source of energy in the UK but we are still burning coal and gas to make most of our electricity. Should we be focusing on hydrogen fuel cells instead of electricity? Producing them causes less environmental damage than the production of lithium batteries. They provide a quicker charging time – and hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe. Or is improving cars the wrong solution to an enormous problem? Should we be encouraging people to get rid of their cars and use public transport? We were joined by Iberdrola’s Head of New Initiatives, Innovation & Sustainability Division Enrique Meroño and award-winning transport expert Christian Wolmar to debate whether electric vehicles will solve our transport and emissions problems or whether they are simply a false start in the journey towards green roads. — We’d love to hear your feedback and what you think we should talk about next, who we should have on and what our future debates should be. Send us an email or voice note with your thoughts to [email protected] or Tweet us @intelligence2. And if you’d like to support our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations, as well as ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content, early access and much more, become a supporter of Intelligence Squared today. Just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Linda Colley is the Shelby MC Davis 1958 professor of history at Princeton University and one of the most acclaimed historians of her generation. Her latest book is The Gun, the Ship, and the Pen, which tells the stories of how constitutions around the world were shaped by forces such as warfare, geopolitical upheaval and academic rigour. She speaks with fellow historian and screenwriter Alex von Tunzelmann about the book. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Black British Lives Matter is a new anthology of writing and conversations collecting the experiences of thought leaders in the UK including novelist Kit de Waal, architect Sir David Adjaye, politician Dawn Butler and many more. The book's co-editor, journalist and Chair of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Marcus Ryder MBE, discusses its themes and the importance of ensuring that diversity is championed in all walks of life with Manveen Rana. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Since the original publication of Nudge more than a decade ago, the word that served as the title of the ground-breaking book has entered the vocabulary of businesspeople, policy makers, economists, engaged citizens and consumers everywhere. It has given rise to more than 400 nudge units in governments around the world and has influenced countless groups of behavioural scientists in every part of the economy. In October 2021 Richard Thaler, one of the co-authors of the book and winner of the 2017 Nobel Prize for economics, came to Intelligence Squared to talk with journalist and author Kamal Ahmed about Nudge: The Final Edition, a cover-to-cover refresh of the original publication. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We are in a second Cold War with China. That’s the conclusion many experts have come to as they observe China’s increasingly aggressive behaviour beyond its borders – its suppression of democracy in Hong Kong, its sabre-rattling towards Taiwan, the vast espionage offensive against the West’s technology, not to mention the confrontational tone of its new ‘wolf warrior’ diplomacy. That’s the argument of the China hawks, but not everyone agrees. Some believe that coexistence with China, not confrontation, should be the West’s goal. After all, allowing tensions to escalate to an actual war is too horrific to contemplate. We should put our faith in diplomacy and work to persuade the Chinese leadership that it is in their best interests to cooperate within the existing world order, instead of trying to dominate it. So how should the West respond? Arguing for the motion were Nathan Law, Hong Kong activist and former legislator, currently in exile; and Alan Mendoza, Co-Founder and Executive Director of The Henry Jackson Society. Arguing against the motion were Shirley Yu, Professor and Director of the China-Africa Initiative at the London School of Economics; and Vince Cable, former Leader of the Liberal Democrats and author of The China Conundrum. The debate was chaired by Manveen Rana, Senior investigative journalist and host of The Times and Sunday Times flagship podcast Stories of Our Times. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In summer 2021, a global panel of legal scholars and activists drew up a new definition of ecocide: unlawful or wanton acts that could cause widespread or long-term damage to the environment. The aim is that it will one day be ratified by the International Criminal Court. As COP26 draws to a close, researcher and author Carl Miller speaks with Jojo Mehta, chair and co-founder of the Stop Ecocide Foundation and Dan Gretton, campaigner and author of I You We Them, to learn more about this emerging field and also the complex history of alleged crimes committed by corporations and governments. — We’d love to hear your feedback and what you think we should talk about next, who we should have on and what our future debates should be. Send us an email or voice note with your thoughts to [email protected] or Tweet us @intelligence2. And if you’d like to support our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations, as well as ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content, early access and much more, become a supporter of Intelligence Squared today. Just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Does power corrupt, or are corrupt people drawn to power? It’s a question that runs through the heart of the work of Brian Klaas, professor of global politics at University College London and Washington Post columnist. His latest book is 'Corruptible: Who Gets Power and How It Changes Us', which looks at the psychology behind those who seek power. Pulitzer-prize winning historian and journalist Anne Applebaum speaks with Brian about what the book reveals. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this special bonus episode, brought to you in partnership with online trading platform IG, Joshua Mahony, Senior Markets analyst at IG, speaks again to Linda Yueh about how the markets are coping as societies begin to open up and lift Covid-19 restrictions. They also discuss the energy markets and what investors need to know to develop a forward looking portfolio. To find out more about IG visit: https://www.ig.com/uk Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Labour Party has been out of power for over a decade. And after a historic electoral defeat in the 2019 general election, the party looks to be in real trouble. Sir Keir Starmer became leader in April 2020 replacing self described socialist Jeremy Corbyn and tried to steer the party towards a less radical, more outwardly patriotic brand of politics than his predecessor. But the loss of the Hartlepool by-election as well as many other local elections across the country has led some to believe that Labour's decline is terminal. And the Party has lost touch with its base outside a 'woke' London elite. But are the Labour bashers declaring victory too soon? The Conservative Party may be ahead in the polls, but they are still benefiting from excitement around Brexit and a successful vaccine campaign, things which will inevitably wane as the pandemic eases and economic realities start to bite. And let’s not forget that demographics are in Labour’s favour. Most 18 to 24-year-olds supported Labour in the last general election. Over time, this cohort of university-educated, progressively minded renters will expand. The task may not be easy, but if Labour can articulate a forward looking vision for the United Kingdom, surely it can win again? Speakers: Matthew Goodwin, Anand Menon, Ella Whelan and Jess Phillips MP. Chair: Lewis Goodall Find out about more upcoming events here: https://intelligencesquared.com/attend/ Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As the COP26 global climate summit takes place, many are asking who is really responsible for the climate emergency and who might be able to prevent it? Dr Anne Karpf is a writer and sociologist whose recent book, How Women Can Save the Planet, looks to analyse some of these questions in more granular detail. The BBC's South Asia correspondent Rajini Vaidyanathan speaks with Anne to learn more about the book. — We’d love to hear your feedback and what you think we should talk about next, who we should have on and what our future debates should be. Send us an email or voice note with your thoughts to [email protected] or Tweet us @intelligence2. And if you’d like to support our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations, as well as ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content, early access and much more, become a supporter of Intelligence Squared today. Just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

James Plunkett's new book, End State: 9 Ways Society is Broken, draws on his years working in both public policy and at the top tiers of government. A former advisor to UK prime minister Gordon Brown, his book looks at how to reboot some key ideas ranging from commerce to healthcare for a nation such as the UK in order to provide better quality of life for larger sections of society. James joins urbanist, transport and tech specialist Kat Hanna to talk about the book. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mo Gawdat was Chief Business Officer of Google X, the experimental development arm of the internet behemoth. He's since written books on how to find happiness and his new one, Scary Smart, warns of the potential dangers posed to the world by super-smart artificial intelligence. Media correspondent for the Sunday Times, Rosamund Urwin, speaks with Mo about the new book, the future of AI, and how business works at the top level of a Silicon Valley tech titan. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This debate, recorded on Thursday 28th October 2021, was part of Energised, a debate series from Intelligence Squared in partnership with Iberdrola, a leading company in the field of renewable energy. It’s make or break time for the planet. That’s the warning issued by the UN ahead of COP26 in Glasgow this November, when leaders and heads of state from all over the world will meet to agree on global action to fight climate change. The main goal will be for them to commit to reaching net-zero carbon emissions by the middle of the century with interim targets by 2030. If they don’t achieve this, many scientists warn, the effects of rising global temperatures – extreme weather, rising sea levels and warming oceans – may become irreversible. But what are the chances of success? Very little, if previous summits are anything to go by. Despite a COP having taken place every year since 1995 (with the exception of last year due to the pandemic), and all the buzz around the Kyoto Protocol of 2011 and the Paris Agreement of 2015, concentrations of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere have continued to rise steadily, even during the lockdowns of 2020. But this year there is an unprecedented urgency in the run up to the conference. Can the biggest emitters – China, the US, India, Russia and Japan – be persuaded to sign up to legally binding agreements on emissions? Will the voices of people from the Global South, where the effects of the climate crisis are already being felt, be heard? And is the UN’s top-down approach really the best way to tackle the most pressing existential threat facing the world today? We were joined by ScottishPower CEO Keith Anderson and Professor of Energy Policy and Official Fellow in Economics Dieter Helm to debate whether COP26 will make any serious contribution in the fight against climate change. The debate was chaired by Kamal Ahmed. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With the devastating effects of the climate emergency becoming more urgent by the day, the COP26 summit in Glasgow now represents a pivotal moment in global cooperation on the issue. Can anything meaningful be achieved without collaboration from the big players such as China, the US and the EU? Economist Linda Yueh is joined by journalist and environment specialist Isabel Hilton of China Dialogue plus Bloomberg News climate and energy reporter Akshat Rathi to answer this and get a primer on the big debates ahead. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What does the face of power look like? Who gets commemorated in art and why? And how do we react to statues of figures we deplore? In October 2021 Mary Beard, Britain’s best known classicist, came to Intelligence Squared to talk about the ideas in her new book Twelve Caesars: Images of Power from the Ancient World to the Modern. To follow along with the images referenced in the podcast visit: https://intelligencesquared.com/slides/ Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this week's Business Weekly, Samira Ahmed speaks to business mogul Sir Richard Branson about becoming a serial entrepreneur developing the Virgin brand, signing some of the biggest names in music and the next frontiers of space travel. How I Found My Voice is an Intelligence Squared podcast that explores how some of the world's greatest artists and thinkers became such compelling – and unique – communicators. If you enjoy this podcast please tell your friends, subscribe, and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts. https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/how-i-found-my-voice/id1455089930 Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Should there be a broad programme of reparations – not just financial compensation, but acknowledgement of the crimes committed and the lasting damage caused by slavery? Or would this just worsen social tensions by reopening old wounds? That's the theme of this week's Sunday Debate. Arguing for the motion were Kehinde Andrews, Professor of Black Studies at Birmingham City University; and Esther Stanford-Xosei, reparations activist and lawyer. Arguing against the motion were Katharine Birbalsingh, headmistress and co-founder of Michaela Community School in London; and Tony Sewell, educational consultant and CEO of the charity Generating Genius. The debate was chaired by social historian and presenter Emma Dabiri. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The history of Africans in Europe may seem recent – a result of migration in the 20th and 21st centuries – but in her new book, African Europeans, historian Olivette Otele tells a very different story – a story of African presence in Europe that stretches back centuries. Otele writes of African Europeans through the lives of individuals both ordinary and extraordinary. She has uncovered a forgotten past, one that features the Libya-born Roman Emperor Septimius Severus, a Medici duke believed to have been born to a free African woman and enslaved Africans living in Europe during the Renaissance. By exploring a history that has long been overlooked, she sheds light on questions very much alive today: What can movements like Black Lives Matter learn from the long history of Black activism in the UK and Europe? Why are Black Britons such as the Windrush generation often treated as if they aren’t full British citizens? And how can remembering the silenced narratives of our past help us understand the present and lead to a better future? On November 23 2020, Otele will came to Intelligence Squared to reveal this untold story of European and African history. She was in conversation with author and BBC Radio 4 presenter Kavita Puri. — We’d love to hear your feedback and what you think we should talk about next, who we should have on and what our future debates should be. Send us an email or voice note with your thoughts to [email protected] or Tweet us @intelligence2. And if you’d like to support our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations, as well as ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content, early access and much more, become a supporter of Intelligence Squared today. Just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

How did one family become associated with an epidemic of drug addiction that has caused the death of almost half a million people? In this episode, award-winning writer and author of Empire of Pain, Patrick Radden Keefe speaks to Hannah Kuchler, the FT’s global pharmaceutical correspondent about how he uncovered fresh material on the Sacklers and discovered a modern parable of greed, corruption and cynical philanthropy. To buy the book click here: https://www.primrosehillbooks.com/product/empire-of-pain-the-secret-history-of-the-sackler-dynasty-patrick-keefe-subscribers/ Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Chris Hirst, Global CEO of advertising group Havas Creative, cuts through the bullshit and gets to the heart of modern leadership in this straight-talking podcast brought to you by Intelligence Squared. In this episode Chris Hirst speaks to the internet pioneer and Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales who is perhaps the most famous silicon-valley entrepreneur to not become a billionaire. Wikipedia has changed how knowledge is accessed across the world, with 1.5 billion devices accessing the site every month. Jimmy Wales is also founder of the Wikimedia Foundation and co-founder of Wikia, a privately owned free web hosting service he set up in 2004. In 2019 he founded WT.Social, a microblogging site pitched as a 'non-toxic social network...where advertisers don't call the shots'. The service contains no advertisements and runs off donations. To subscribe click here: https://pod.link/1533418365 Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Is China an enemy that needs to be reined in, or a potential partner with whom the West should engage? Hear the arguments and decide for yourself. Speakers: Martin Wolf, Keyu Jin, Sir Malcolm Rifkind. Chair: Carrie Gracie Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With data on the Covid-19 pandemic changing shape with every new outbreak and new mutation, it's a complex task to make sense of where the story of the virus will head next. David Spiegelhalter is chair of the Winton Centre for Risk and Evidence Communication at Cambridge University and an expert on crunching figures in order to understand successes and failures. His new book Covid by Numbers, co-written with Anthony Masters, seeks to shine a spotlight on the UK's handling of the pandemic. In this episode he speaks with the virologist and host of The Naked Scientist podcast Dr Chris Smith. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Should capitalism be reformed or replaced? Former Greek Finance Minister and economist Yanis Varoufakis and Gillian Tett US editor at large at the Financial Times discuss and debate their visions for a post-COVID economy live in London. The moderator is Anne McElvoy senior editor at The Economist. For the Intelligence Squared discount on Gillian Tett's book click here: https://www.primrosehillbooks.com/product/anthro-vision-how-anthropology-can-explain-business-and-life-gillian-tett/ For the Intelligence Squared discount on Yanis Varoufakis's book click here: https://www.primrosehillbooks.com/product/another-now-dispatches-from-an-alternative-present-yanis-varoufakis/ Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices