Intelligence Squared
Intelligence Squared is the home of lively debate and deep-dive discussion. Follow Intelligence Squared wherever you get your podcasts and enjoy four regular episodes per week taking you to the heart of the issues that matter in the company of the world’s great minds. 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 podcasts@intelligencesquared.com 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.
Episodes
December 21, 2025 • 39 mins
Dr Rachel Clarke is a palliative care doctor and author, who became widely known for her writing on the challenges facing the NHS from the frontline of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Since then she has also written a book, The Story of a Heart which was awarded the 2025 Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction which tells the profoundly moving story of a heart transplant, and how one child saved the life of another.
In November 2025 Clarke came to ...
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December 20, 2025 • 37 mins
Dr Rachel Clarke is a palliative care doctor and author, who became widely known for her writing on the challenges facing the NHS from the frontline of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Since then she has also written a book, The Story of a Heart which was awarded the 2025 Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction which tells the profoundly moving story of a heart transplant, and how one child saved the life of another.
In November 2025 Clarke came to ...
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December 19, 2025 • 13 mins
This is an episode of The Specialist, your weekly dose of wonder. In The Specialist, explore the significance and journey of an extraordinary work through the eyes of those that know it best.
On today’s episode, what happens when a work of art is so enigmatic that you think about it for 60 years? Alex Bell, Chairman Emeritus of Sotheby's UK and Old Masters Worldwide, tells the story of how a mysterious Renaissance altarpiece ent...
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December 18, 2025 • 49 mins
Johannes Vermeer is one of the greatest painters in history, yet the man himself remains an enigma. But have we finally solved the mystery of one of his most famous paintings?
On this episode we’re joined by Andrew Graham-Dixon, one of Britain’s best known art historians. In his new book Vermeer: A Life Lost and Found, he sets out a radical reappraisal of Vermeer’s life, beliefs and the meaning of his paintings. He shows us an art...
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December 16, 2025 • 42 mins
In today’s episode, in partnership with WaterAid, journalist and author Coco Khan speaks to Amaka Godfrey, WaterAid’s Executive Director of International Programmes.
Amaka has spent more than 25 years working across the world in the water, sanitation and hygiene sector. She shares powerful stories of how clean water means children stay in school, healthcare is safer, and mothers can support their families or run businesses. Clean...
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December 14, 2025 • 35 mins
Mikhail Zygar is a renowned Russian dissident journalist living in exile in the USA. He was the founding editor-in-chief of independent news channel TV Rain in Russia. He publicly condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and fled into exile days later. Despite persistent death threats, he continues to write fearlessly about his homeland.
In November 2025 he joined Intelligence Squared to discuss the fall of the Soviet Unio...
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December 13, 2025 • 33 mins
Mikhail Zygar is a renowned Russian dissident journalist living in exile in the USA. He was the founding editor-in-chief of independent news channel TV Rain in Russia. He publicly condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and fled into exile days later. Despite persistent death threats, he continues to write fearlessly about his homeland.
In November 2025 he joined Intelligence Squared to discuss the fall of the Soviet Unio...
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December 12, 2025 • 88 mins
We’ve heard enough from the pessimists. Yes, these are hard times, but what investors, business owners and all of us need right now is not more despair about the economy, but a clear roadmap towards growth and prosperity. In October 2025, Jeremy Hunt came to the Intelligence Squared stage to share his vision of how we can achieve economic renewal.
Hunt’s optimism is grounded in the authority of experience. As a former Chancellor o...
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December 11, 2025 • 34 mins
Over the course of a decade in politics Rory Stewart saw how power really works and what forces drive our communities apart. He was a backbench MP, held several ministerial positions, and stood for prime minister – before being sacked from a Conservative Party that he had come to barely recognise. Now, well away from the political arena, he regularly shares his insights into current affairs and global politics as co-host of the UK’...
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December 9, 2025 • 35 mins
Over the course of a decade in politics Rory Stewart saw how power really works and what forces drive our communities apart. He was a backbench MP, held several ministerial positions, and stood for prime minister – before being sacked from a Conservative Party that he had come to barely recognise. Now, well away from the political arena, he regularly shares his insights into current affairs and global politics as co-host of the UK’...
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December 8, 2025 • 51 mins
Who does our data belong to?
In this episode, Carl Miller speaks to NYT magazine journalist and author Michael Steinberger about Alex Karp, Palantir and the rise of the surveillance state.
Founded in 2003, Palantir is widely regarded as the most interesting company in Silicon Valley – as well as its most controversial. It aided the US government in the war on terrorism and is now used by the CIA, the NHS, the US military and corp...
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December 6, 2025 • 35 mins
Sanna Marin is a trailblazer in modern politics. When she became Prime Minister of Finland in 2019, she made history: at 34 she was the youngest ever leader of her country and the youngest leader in the world at the time.
As Prime Minister she confronted significant challenges. She led Finland through the COVID-19 pandemic, helped the country navigate neighbouring Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and led Finland’s rapid j...
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December 4, 2025 • 34 mins
Sanna Marin is a trailblazer in modern politics. When she became Prime Minister of Finland in 2019, she made history: at 34 she was the youngest ever leader of her country and the youngest leader in the world at the time.
As Prime Minister she confronted significant challenges. She led Finland through the COVID-19 pandemic, helped the country navigate neighbouring Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and led Finland’s rapid j...
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December 2, 2025 • 37 mins
In 1929, the world watched in shock as the unstoppable Wall Street bull market went into a freefall, wiping out fortunes and igniting a depression that would reshape a generation.
In November 2025, Andrew Ross Sorkin, acclaimed New York Times columnist and author, came to Intelligence Squared to reveal the lessons of the 1929 financial crash and how that era of political instability and market turmoil eerily mirrors today. Drawin...
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November 30, 2025 • 38 mins
In 1929, the world watched in shock as the unstoppable Wall Street bull market went into a freefall, wiping out fortunes and igniting a depression that would reshape a generation.
In November 2025, Andrew Ross Sorkin, acclaimed New York Times columnist and author, came to Intelligence Squared to reveal the lessons of the 1929 financial crash and how that era of political instability and market turmoil eerily mirrors today. Drawin...
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November 29, 2025 • 29 mins
Today, we’ll be tackling the future of prostate cancer care. We’ll be reflecting on what prostate cancer care means in practice, how the way we think about the disease is shifting, and must continue to shift in the years ahead. Scientific advances have transformed treatment in recent years, yet the lived reality of prostate cancer still extends far beyond the clinic. The disease reshapes daily life, and may leave men and their fami...
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This is an episode of The Specialist, your weekly dose of wonder. In The Specialist, explore the significance and journey of an extraordinary work through the eyes of those that know it best.
On today’s episode, an auction built overnight - Virgil Abloh’s reimagining of the iconic Nike Air Force 1 for Louis Vuitton. The auction became a global phenomenon, with two hundred pairs sold exclusively through Sotheby’s, attracting bidd...
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November 28, 2025 • 36 mins
In this episode academic and author Martin Moore speaks to host Carl Miller about the global battle to control the news. Drawing from his new book 'Dictating Reality' co-authored with Thomas Colley, they discuss how from the United States to China and from Brazil to India, an authoritarian approach to news is spreading across the world. Moore argues that increasingly, the media is no longer a check on power or a source of objective...
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November 25, 2025 • 42 mins
What does the history of Test cricket show us about identity?
In this episode, Joey D’Urso speaks to award-winning author Tim Wigmore about how the players and the stories that have shaped Test cricket’s evolution since 1877.
With Test cricket on the cusp of its 150th anniversary, Tim Wigmore looks back at the history of the game and its legacy. Wigmore examines the pathways into elite cricket and the inequalities – economic, ra...
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For centuries, mental and physical health have been divided - disorders of the mind and body have been treated as if they were poles apart. This deep-rooted division has shaped medicine, psychiatry, and society. But what if this mind/body split is not only outdated - but dangerously misleading?
Psychiatrist and neuroscientist Professor Edward Bullmore is Regius Professor of Psychiatry at Kings College London. For this episode, he ...
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