Afleveringen
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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. ---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.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:- Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts- Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series…Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access.…Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more.https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesLearn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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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. ---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.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:- Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts- Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series…Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access.…Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more.https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesLearn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Zijn er afleveringen die ontbreken?
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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.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.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:- Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts- Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series…Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access.…Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more.https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesLearn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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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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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:
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Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99:
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Recent high-profile legal disputes with Johnny Depp and Amber Heard and Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni have renewed public debate about gender, power and credibility in the courts. But beyond the celebrity cases lies a deeper question: how fairly does the justice system treat women?
In this episode, Mythili Rao speaks to barrister Charlotte Proudman about the gender bias and misogyny she argues remain embedded in our the legal system. Drawing on her work in the family courts, Proudman examines how women seeking protection from domestic abuse, forced marriage, child abduction and female genital mutilation can be failed by processes that were not designed around their experiences.
Together they explore the culture of the legal profession, the treatment of survivors in the family courts and the reforms Proudman believes are needed to secure fairer outcomes. At its centre is a question about justice itself: how can equality before the law become more than an ideal?
Charlotte Proudman is an award-winning barrister specialising in family law and women's rights. She is the author of He Said, She Said.
Mythili Rao is a journalist, book critic and podcaster.
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In a world of economic shocks, geopolitical crises and constant predictions about the future, how should we make decisions when certainty is impossible? And what can statistics teach us about living with risk, chance and the unknown?
In this episode, physicist and science broadcaster Helen Czerski speaks with statistician David Spiegelhalter about his book The Art of Uncertainty. Drawing on probability, data and real-world examples, Spiegelhalter explores how we assess risk, and sheds light on what roles chance, luck and coincidence play in our lives.
David Spiegelhalter is a statistician and author. He is Emeritus Professor of Statistics at the University of Cambridge and author of The Art of Uncertainty.
Helen Czerski is a physicist, writer and broadcaster.
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In this episode, historian and philosopher Sophie Scott Brown speaks with writer Andrea Wulf about her new book The Traveller: The Revolutionary Life of George Forster and his Search for Humanity. A naturalist, explorer and political radical, Forster travelled around the world with Captain Cook as a teenager before becoming one of the most original and progressive thinkers of his age.
Drawing on unpublished correspondence and Forster’s journeys across Europe and the Pacific, Wulf traces how his encounters with different cultures challenged the assumptions of eighteenth-century Europe. The conversation explores his opposition to slavery, racism and empire, his belief in universal human rights, and the influence of the French Revolution on his political thought.
Andrea Wulf is a historian and biographer. She is the bestselling author of The Invention of Nature and Magnificent Rebels. Her latest book is The Traveller: The Revolutionary Life of George Forster and his Search for Humanity.
Sophie Scott Brown is a historian and philosopher specialising in modern intellectual history and political thought.
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Rebecca Solnit is an award-winning American writer and activist whose incisive work explores feminism, democracy, climate change and social justice.
In this episode, she joins Mythili Rao to argue that, despite today's anxieties about democratic backsliding, technological disruption and environmental crisis, the past four decades have seen extraordinary social progress. From civil rights and environmental protection to LGBTQI+ equality and women's rights, many of the freedoms and values we now take for granted were won through collective action and sustained activism.
Solnit reflects on how hard-fought gains can feel fragile when they come under attack, but reminds us that those attacks are often driven by a minority in power rather than a shift in public values. Drawing on history, she explores why progress is often slow, uneven and contested—and why participating in movements for change remains both meaningful and necessary.
Rebecca Solnit is the author of more than 25 books, including Orwell’s Roses, Hope in the Dark and Men Explain Things to Me, Her latest book, The Beginning Comes After the End, is available in bookstores and online now.
Mythili Rao is a journalist, book critic and podcaster.
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Emmanuel Macron. Demis Hassabis. Volodymyr Zelenskiy. George Soros. Mark Carney. Christine Lagarde. Ray Dalio. Leena Nair.
Few journalists have spent more time questioning the people who shape the global economy than Francine Lacqua.
As Editor-at-large at Bloomberg and host of Leaders with Francine Lacqua on Bloomberg TV, Lacqua has interviewed many of the most influential political and business leaders of our time. Across hundreds of conversations with presidents, CEOs, central bankers and founders she has built a rare understanding of how leadership operates at the highest levels of power.
In June 2026, Lacqua joined us live on stage for a special instalment of The Intelligence Squared Economic Outlook, our flagship series examining the forces shaping global markets, politics and business. In conversation with BBC broadcaster Jonny Dymond, she reflected on the leaders she has encountered throughout her career – and the defining decisions they faced during moments of economic uncertainty, geopolitical tension and technological change.
What distinguishes leaders who succeed in turbulent times? How do the best decision-makers balance political pressure, economic risk and long-term strategy? And what kinds of leaders does today’s increasingly volatile world demand?
This recording is part of The Intelligence Squared Economic Outlook series of events made in partnership with Guinness Global Investors, an independent British fund manager that helps both individuals and institutions harness the future drivers of growth to achieve their investment goals.
To find out more visit: https://www.guinnessgi.com/
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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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Emmanuel Macron. Demis Hassabis. Volodymyr Zelenskiy. George Soros. Mark Carney. Christine Lagarde. Ray Dalio. Leena Nair.
Few journalists have spent more time questioning the people who shape the global economy than Francine Lacqua.
As Editor-at-large at Bloomberg and host of Leaders with Francine Lacqua on Bloomberg TV, Lacqua has interviewed many of the most influential political and business leaders of our time. Across hundreds of conversations with presidents, CEOs, central bankers and founders she has built a rare understanding of how leadership operates at the highest levels of power.
In June 2026, Lacqua joined us live on stage for a special instalment of The Intelligence Squared Economic Outlook, our flagship series examining the forces shaping global markets, politics and business. In conversation with BBC broadcaster Jonny Dymond, she reflected on the leaders she has encountered throughout her career – and the defining decisions they faced during moments of economic uncertainty, geopolitical tension and technological change.
What distinguishes leaders who succeed in turbulent times? How do the best decision-makers balance political pressure, economic risk and long-term strategy? And what kinds of leaders does today’s increasingly volatile world demand?
This recording is part of The Intelligence Squared Economic Outlook series of events made in partnership with Guinness Global Investors, an independent British fund manager that helps both individuals and institutions harness the future drivers of growth to achieve their investment goals.
To find out more visit: https://www.guinnessgi.com/
---------
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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The English Renaissance is often remembered as an age of Shakespeare, exploration and cultural flourishing. But it was also shaped by encounters with the Americas. From tobacco in London playhouses to silver from South America and stories of lost cities of gold, the New World became an increasingly powerful presence in English life and imagination.
In this episode, historian Caroline Dodds Pennock speaks with historian Lauren Working about her new book How the Americas Transformed Renaissance England.
What did Elizabethans actually know about Mexico, the Amazon rainforest, or the Chesapeake? How did Indigenous people and knowledge enter the art, fashion, and literature of Shakespeare’s time – and at what cost?
Drawing on a wealth of overlooked sources, Working explores how the Americas became woven into the fabric of Tudor and Stuart society. In doing so, she offers a fresh perspective on England's so-called golden age, revealing the global exchanges, ambitions and inequalities that helped shape the English Renaissance.
Lauren Working is a historian specialising in the cultural and intellectual history of the early modern Atlantic world. She is a lecturer in Early modern literature at the University of York. Her new book is A Golden World: How the Americas Transformed Renaissance England.
Caroline Dodds Pennock is a historian and author whose work focuses on Indigenous American history and the histories of encounter between Europe and the Americas. She is a Professor in International History at the University of Sheffield. Her books include On Savage Shores: How Indigenous Americans Discovered Europe.
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In September 2022, a series of underwater explosions tore through the Nord Stream pipelines beneath the Baltic Sea. The destruction of this $20 billion pipeline severed a major artery of Russian gas supplies to Europe, disrupted economies and triggered a manhunt that strained relations within the NATO alliance.
In this episode, journalist Hannah Lucinda Smith speaks with Wall Street Journal Chief European Political Correspondent Bojan Pancevski about his investigation into this seismic act of sabotage.
Despite capturing the imagination of millions, the mystery of who blew up the pipeline has so far gone unsolved – was it the CIA? Was it part of the shadow war between Russia and the West? Could Putin himself have been behind it?
Drawing on years of reporting and access to intelligence officials, investigators and key players, Pancevski reconstructs the events behind one of the most consequential acts of sabotage in modern history.
Bojan Pancevski is Chief European Political Correspondent at The Wall Street Journal. He is the author of The Nord Stream Conspiracy: The Inside Story of the Explosions That Shook the World.
Hannah Lucinda Smith is a journalist and foreign correspondent reporting on global politics, conflict and international affairs.
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Long before Putin's invasion of Ukraine, conflict was simmering on Europe's borders. In overlooked territories in eastern Europe, the eastern Mediterranean and the Caucasus –from the Balkans and Cyprus to Abkhazia on the fringes of Georgia – local disputes spiral into regional crises, global alliances are forged and broken, and power is brokered while the West looks elsewhere.
In this episode, acclaimed correspondent Hannah Lucinda Smith joins Adam McCauley to discuss her new book Hinterlands: Journeys through Europe’s Unfinished Frontiers. She draws on vivid first-hand experience to paint a gripping portrait of Europe at its edges - and the struggles that will define its future.
Hannah Lucinda Smith is a journalist known for reporting across the Middle East and Europe for The Times of London, The Atlantic, WIRED, and others. She is the author of Erdogan Rising, an account of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's rise to power, and Zarifa, the memoir of Afghan human rights activist Zarifa Ghafari.
Adam McCauley is a journalist, academic, and policy analyst currently based in Ottawa, Canada.
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This is an episode of Hotels with History, produced by Intelligence Squared on behalf of Perowne International.
We’re in midtown Manhattan to kick off Series 2, at the very heart of New York society: the Waldorf Astoria. An icon born from family rivalry which evolved into the unofficial palace of the city; from Gilded Age ambition and Art Deco grandeur to revolutionary ideas about service, the Waldorf doesn’t just reflect New York’s history... it helped define it.
Check into The Waldorf Astoria here.
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As the main intelligence and security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 to 1991, the KGB instilled fear across Russia and sought to sow discord abroad.
This network of government spies was notorious for the often brutal methods it used to keep enemies, loyalists and common people under the thumb of the state. And far from fading as the USSR old guard fell from power, the operatives, methods and networks of the KGB remain at the heart of the Russian state today. Putin himself was a KGB officer for 16 years, including six years as a foreign intelligence officer stationed in Dresden, East Germany.
In May 2026, veteran security correspondent and Rest is Classified co-host Gordon Corera joined us to unveil the inner workings of the KGB and the hidden power struggles that shaped modern Russia. Corera explored the real-life stories of those on the inside; from the spies who lived and died enforcing its rule, to those who were brave enough to resist it.
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As the main intelligence and security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 to 1991, the KGB instilled fear across Russia and sought to sow discord abroad.
This network of government spies was notorious for the often brutal methods it used to keep enemies, loyalists and common people under the thumb of the state. And far from fading as the USSR old guard fell from power, the operatives, methods and networks of the KGB remain at the heart of the Russian state today. Putin himself was a KGB officer for 16 years, including six years as a foreign intelligence officer stationed in Dresden, East Germany.
In May 2026, veteran security correspondent and Rest is Classified co-host Gordon Corera joined us to unveil the inner workings of the KGB and the hidden power struggles that shaped modern Russia. Corera explored the real-life stories of those on the inside; from the spies who lived and died enforcing its rule, to those who were brave enough to resist it.
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From cannabis legalisation in the United States to the rise of psychedelics as wellness and productivity tools, the global politics of drugs is being rapidly transformed. But who really benefits from the legalisation of recreational drugs?
In this episode, journalist and author Atossa Araxia Abrahamian speaks with Kojo Koram, Professor of Law and Political Economy at Loughborough University, about his new book The Next Fix.
Drawing on reporting from Colombia, Ghana, Scotland and the United States, Koram traces the shifting relationship between criminalisation, capitalism and public health. The conversation examines the roots of drug regulation in empire, the racial inequalities embedded in prohibition, and the growing tension between movements seeking justice and corporations seeking profit from newly legal markets.
Koram also explores how substances once associated with criminality are being rebranded for elite consumption - as therapeutic treatments, Silicon Valley productivity aids and investment opportunities. At its centre is a wider question about power and inequality: who benefits when drugs move from the underground economy into the mainstream?
Kojo Koram is Professor of Law and Political Economy at Loughborough University. He is the author of The Next Fix: The Winners and Losers in the Future of Drugs.
Atossa Araxia Abrahamian is a journalist who writes about the cracks in the nation-state system. She is the author of The Hidden Globe: How Wealth Hacks the World.
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.
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
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In this episode, journalist Kamal Ahmed was joined by Jon Sopel, Dimple Ahluwalia and Matt Rowe to explore how cybersecurity has moved from a technical concern to a central force shaping economic growth, national security and public trust in an age of boundless intelligence. They examine why cyber resilience must go beyond reactive defence, and how stronger security can protect essential industries such as finance, healthcare and critical infrastructure while enabling innovation and confidence in a rapidly changing world.
This episode was recorded live in London as part of Intelligence Squared and IBM's The Age to Come series. Next live event date: 24th Sept 2026.
Find out more: www.intelligencesquared.com/the-age-to-come
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