Intelligence Squared
Intelligence Squared is a podcast that features lively debates and deep-dive discussions on important issues. It releases four episodes per week, bringing together the world's great minds to explore topics that matter. The show encourages listener feedback and offers ad-free content and exclusive bonuses to supporters.
Episodes
Should We Stop Catastrophising About AI? With Eleanor Drage and Carl Miller
We are deeply confused about artificial intelligence: what it is, who it serves and whether it is leading us towards utopia or catastrophe. But according to AI ethicist Dr Eleanor Drage, these dramatic narratives often distract us from the urgent problems already embedded in the technology.
In this episode of the Intelligence Squared podcast, Drage joins researcher and author Carl Miller to explo
The Intelligence Squared Economic Outlook, with Robert Peston (Part Two)
Robert Peston is one of Britain’s most trusted journalists. A fixture in British politics and business coverage, he came to national prominence as Business Editor and then Economics Editor at the BBC, where he revealed the crises at Northern Rock and RBS, the emergency rescue of HBOS, and the tumult around the credit crunch, bailouts, and austerity.
Today he hosts his namesake flagship
The Intelligence Squared Economic Outlook, with Robert Peston (Part One)
Robert Peston is one of Britain’s most trusted journalists. A fixture in British politics and business coverage, he came to national prominence as Business Editor and then Economics Editor at the BBC, where he revealed the crises at Northern Rock and RBS, the emergency rescue of HBOS, and the tumult around the credit crunch, bailouts, and austerity.
Today he hosts his namesake flagship
How Sex Scenes in Film Can Reshape Real Intimacy, With Intimacy Coordinator Ita O’Brien
Intimacy coordinators have irreversibly transformed how we portray sex on screen, and they are not without their detractors. In the wake of MeToo, Ita O’Brien’s work as a top intimacy coordinator on Normal People, Sex Education and I May Destroy revolutionised how actors, directors and audiences think about sex, consent and physical storytelling.
In this episode, journalist Olivia Petter speaks w
Olivia Laing on Art, Solitude, and The Lonely City at 10 (Part Two)
Olivia Laing is known as one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary literature. Their work is renowned for its capacity to make abstract ideas feel precise, intimate, and beautifully thought through without ever talking down to the reader. Their books include the number one Sunday Times bestseller The Garden Against Time, Funny Weather: Art in an Emergency and, mos
Olivia Laing on Art, Solitude, and The Lonely City at 10 (Part One)
Olivia Laing is known as one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary literature. Their work is renowned for its capacity to make abstract ideas feel precise, intimate, and beautifully thought through without ever talking down to the reader. Their books include the number one Sunday Times bestseller The Garden Against Time, Funny Weather: Art in an Emergency and, mos
How Did World War II Create Modern Asia? With Professor Hans van de Ven
Is our history of World War II missing its most important chapter?
For many in the West, the story of the Second World War is told through D-Day, the Blitz and the liberation of Europe. Yet some of the war's most consequential battles were fought in Asia, where the conflict claimed millions of lives, hastened the collapse of European empires and reshaped the modern world.
Professor Hans van de V
An Evening with Maggie O’Farrell: Land (Part Two)
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 wi
An Evening with Maggie O’Farrell: Land (Part One)
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 wi
Can We Make the Internet Safe for Children? With Baroness Beeban Kidron
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 c
Hotels with History | Copacabana Palace, Rio De Janeiro
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 gl
Andrew Ross Sorkin and Zanny Minton Beddoes on Markets, Crashes and The Future of The Global Economy (Part Two)
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
Andrew Ross Sorkin and Zanny Minton Beddoes on Markets, Crashes and The Future of The Global Economy (Part One)
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
Is Our Justice System Failing Women? With Barrister Charlotte Proudman
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
How Should We Prepare for the Unknown? With Statistician David Spiegelhalter
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 prob
Was George Forster the Enlightenment’s Lost Visionary? With Andrea Wulf
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
Reasons for Hope in Turbulent Times, with Rebecca Solnit
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 envi
The Intelligence Squared Economic Outlook: Leadership Special, with Francine Lacqua (Part Two)
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 busines
The Intelligence Squared Economic Outlook: Leadership Special, with Francine Lacqua (Part One)
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 busines
How Did the Americas Transform Renaissance England? With Lauren Working
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 Pennoc
Who Really Blew Up the Nord Stream Pipeline? With Bojan Pancevski
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
What Can Europe's Borderlands Tell Us About Its Future? With Hannah Lucinda Smith
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, ac
Hotels with History | Waldorf Astoria, New York
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 W
Life and Death in the KGB, with The Rest is Classified’s Gordon Corera (Part Two)
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
Life and Death in the KGB, with The Rest is Classified’s Gordon Corera (Part One)
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
How Will a New Era of Drugs Shape Our World? With Kojo Koram
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, abou
The Age of Intelligence: Live in Partnership with IBM
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 industrie
How Do Hormones Shape the Way We Feel, Think and Age? With Dr Saira Hameed
In this episode, science broadcaster Dr Güneş Taylor speaks with endocrinologist Dr Saira Hameed about her new book Signals: The Inside Story of Our Hormones. From exhaustion and infertility to appetite, mood and libido, Hameed explores the vast and often misunderstood hormonal system that regulates almost every aspect of human life.
Drawing on patient stories and recent medical research, Hameed
Why Does It Sometimes Pay to Be a Chicken? With Professor Michael Wooldridge
From Brexit negotiations and the Cuban Missile Crisis to elections, auctions and everyday decision-making, game theory can offer powerful insights into how we navigate a world shaped by competing interests, cooperation and strategic choices.
In this episode, Professor Michael Wooldridge joins Carl Miller to explore the surprising life lessons hidden within one of mathematics' most influential fie
How does DNA Shape Our World? With Professor Turi King
Professor Turi King, Director of the Milner Centre for Evolution at the University of Bath, is known for leading the genetic investigation identifying Richard III and advising on the Mary Jane Kelly case (the last victim of Jack the Ripper). She co-presents the BBC’s DNA Family Secrets with Stacey Dooley and is the author of a new book, The Secrets of Our DNA, which takes us through some fascinati
Do We Have The Right To Die? With Lady Hale and Rowan Williams (Part Two)
This debate was part of the ‘Think Again’ series in which two leading thinkers present alternative answers to a difficult societal question. The book and series published by The Bodley Head.
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What happens when life becomes unbearable — when suffering is unrelenting, dignity is stripped away, and the end is inevitable? Those who support legalising assisted dying argue that autonomy doesn’t st
Do We Have The Right To Die? With Lady Hale and Rowan Williams (Part One)
This debate was part of the ‘Think Again’ series in which two leading thinkers present alternative answers to a difficult societal question. The book and series published by The Bodley Head.
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What happens when life becomes unbearable — when suffering is unrelenting, dignity is stripped away, and the end is inevitable? Those who support legalising assisted dying argue that autonomy doesn’t st
An Evening with Douglas Stuart (Part Two)
Douglas Stuart is one of the most successful writers in Britain today. He is celebrated globally for his honest portrayals of human relationships and working-class life. In 2020 he won the Booker Prize for his debut novel Shuggie Bain, a searingly honest novel set in 1980s Glasgow about a boy named Shuggie trying to save his mother, Agnes, from alcoholism and poverty.
His second novel Young Mung
An Evening with Douglas Stuart (Part One)
Douglas Stuart is one of the most successful writers in Britain today. He is celebrated globally for his honest portrayals of human relationships and working-class life. In 2020 he won the Booker Prize for his debut novel Shuggie Bain, a searingly honest novel set in 1980s Glasgow about a boy named Shuggie trying to save his mother, Agnes, from alcoholism and poverty.
His second novel Young Mung
How To Win a Trade War, with Soumaya Keynes and Chad Bown
In this episode, journalist Hannah Lucinda Smith speaks with economists Soumaya Keynes and Chad Bown about our new era of global trade wars.
Drawing on their new book How to Win a Trade War, Keynes and Bown shed light on the historical roots of our modern trade infrastructure and how tariffs, export controls and supply chain battles are drastically reshaping the global economy.
The conversation
How To Kill A Language, with Sophia Smith Galer (Part Two)
What do we lose when a language dies?
Roughly 7,000 languages are spoken around the world today. Over half of them are expected to vanish in the next century – along with the wealth of information they contain, the family ties they represent, and the psychological benefits they confer.
In May 2026 journalist Sophia Smith Galer joined us live to explore how this mass extinction event is one of t
How To Kill A Language, with Sophia Smith Galer (Part One)
What do we lose when a language dies?
Roughly 7,000 languages are spoken around the world today. Over half of them are expected to vanish in the next century – along with the wealth of information they contain, the family ties they represent, and the psychological benefits they confer.
In May 2026 journalist Sophia Smith Galer joined us live to explore how this mass extinction event is one of t
The Secret Life of Our Organs and How They Keep us Healthy, with Dr Giulia Enders
How can changing the way we breathe lower stress and blood pressure? Why is touch so important for premature babies and ICU patients? And what can our organs teach us about staying healthy?
Dr Giulia Enders, author of the multimillion-selling Gut, returns with a new book, Organ Speak — an exploration of the lungs, skin, immune system, muscles and brain, and the extraordinary ways our organs work
Chasing Aliens, with Jon Ronson and Daniel Lavelle (Part Two)
Are we really alone in the universe?
The question of whether there is extraterrestrial life is one of our oldest questions. And few nations on Earth are more captivated by the prospect of life on Mars than the United States. President Barack Obama recently made headlines by stating he believes aliens are real. And around 41% of Americans believe aliens have made contact with planet Earth.
In May
Chasing Aliens, with Jon Ronson and Daniel Lavelle (Part One)
Are we really alone in the universe?
The question of whether there is extraterrestrial life is one of our oldest questions. And few nations on Earth are more captivated by the prospect of life on Mars than the United States. President Barack Obama recently made headlines by stating he believes aliens are real. And around 41% of Americans believe aliens have made contact with planet Earth.
In May
Has Far-Right Politics Entered The Mainstream in the UK? With Daniel Trilling
Has far-right thinking entered mainstream politics in the UK?
In 2025, Britain saw its largest-ever far-right rally, following a summer of flag-waving protests. Then, in May 2026, local elections reshaped England’s political landscape: Labour and the Conservatives suffered heavy losses, while Reform UK surged in popularity.
In this episode, author and journalist Daniel Trilling joins academic S
Love, Loss and Mourning Paul Auster, with Siri Hustvedt
What does it mean to mourn a shared life?
In this episode, essayist and novelist Siri Hustvedt speaks to book critic Mythili Rao about Ghost Stories. Her most personal work yet, it is a searing and intimate meditation on grief, memory and enduring love, written in the aftermath of the death of her husband, writer, poet and filmmaker Paul Auster.
Weaving together journal entries, letters, emails
What Would Happen If We Met Aliens? With Neil deGrasse Tyson
World famous astronomer Neil deGrasse Tyson joins Dr Radha Modgil to discuss his new book Take Me to Your Leader, exploring the science of alien life, humanity’s obsession with UFOs, and what first contact might actually look like. From Area 51 to Star Wars, Tyson blends humour, science and big existential questions in a conversation about whether we’re truly alone in the universe.
Learn more abou
London Falling: Patrick Radden Keefe on How Money, Power and Corruption Shape Our City, with Emily Maitlis (Part Two)
Patrick Radden Keefe is an award winning writer known for his ability to tell complex stories in ways that are compelling and revealing. Author of the bestsellers Empire of Pain—a shocking exposé of the Sackler family and their involvement in the opioid crisis—and Say Nothing, his award-winning account of The Troubles in Northern Ireland and the murder of Jean McConville by the IRA, Keefe has buil
London Falling: Patrick Radden Keefe on How Money, Power and Corruption Shape Our City, with Emily Maitlis (Part One)
Patrick Radden Keefe is an award winning writer known for his ability to tell complex stories in ways that are compelling and revealing. Author of the bestsellers Empire of Pain—a shocking exposé of the Sackler family and their involvement in the opioid crisis—and Say Nothing, his award-winning account of The Troubles in Northern Ireland and the murder of Jean McConville by the IRA, Keefe has buil
What Do We Ask Google, and What Does It Tell Us About Human Nature? With Simon Rogers
What do our Google searches reveal about who we really are?
For a new book, What We Ask Google, data analyst Simon Rogers explores the world’s biggest dataset - billions of searches carried out over two decades - to provide a revealing portrait of our collective brain.
In this episode, he speaks to Carl Miller about what the data reveals—from how we process grief and loneliness, to how we seek t
How Is Predictive AI Shaping Our World? With AI Philosopher Carissa Véliz
AI models now advise on everything from war, crop output, and marriages. Algorithms determine whether we can get a loan, a job, an apartment, or an organ transplant.
Carissa Véliz, Associate Professor at the Institute for Ethics in AI at the University of Oxford, argues that today’s computer scientists play the same role as the oracles of the ancient world and the astrologers of the Middle Ages.
Weimar and Hitler: How did fascism take hold in Germany’s historic town? With Katja Hoyer
The town of Weimar looms large in German history. This ancient town nestled in the heart of the country was home to some of Europe's greatest thinkers, Goethe and Schiller, Liszt and Nietzsche among them. It gave its name to the ambitious Weimar Republic crafted in the aftermath of the First World War. But it was also where fascism took hold. Where Bauhaus architects first experimented with new wa
An Evening with Kae Tempest (Part Two)
Kae Tempest is widely regarded as one of Britain’s greatest wordsmiths. In a career of ferocious creativity, he has received multiple prizes and critical recognition across the many forms he works in.
Beginning as a lyricist and songwriter in his teens, Tempest threw himself fully into whichever discipline he could find work in; gigging as a poet, writing for the theatre or busking with his band
An Evening with Kae Tempest (Part One)
Kae Tempest is widely regarded as one of Britain’s greatest wordsmiths. In a career of ferocious creativity, he has received multiple prizes and critical recognition across the many forms he works in.
Beginning as a lyricist and songwriter in his teens, Tempest threw himself fully into whichever discipline he could find work in; gigging as a poet, writing for the theatre or busking with his band
What Will Trigger the Next World War? With Peter Apps
How close are we to a new global conflict?
In this episode, journalist Hannah Lucinda Smith speaks with global defence commentator Peter Apps about his new book The Next World War: The New Age of Global Conflict and the Fight to Stop It. From Ukraine to Taiwan, and from cyber warfare to space, Apps argues that the foundations of a new kind of global conflict are already in place.
Drawing on repo
Lena Dunham: Famesick, with Dolly Alderton (Part Two)
According to award-winning actor, writer, director and producer Lena Dunham, we’re now too invested in having a good relationship with our ex.
Best known for creating the hit HBO show Girls, which earned her eight Emmy nominations and two Golden Globes, Lena Dunham has recently published her Sunday Times and New York Times Number One Bestseller, Famesick, which explores the decade after the show
Lena Dunham: Famesick, with Dolly Alderton (Part One)
According to award-winning actor, writer, director and producer Lena Dunham, we’re now too invested in having a good relationship with our ex.
Best known for creating the hit HBO show Girls, which earned her eight Emmy nominations and two Golden Globes, Lena Dunham has recently published her Sunday Times and New York Times Number One Bestseller, Famesick, which explores the decade after the show
The Age of Growth: Live in Partnership with IBM
In this episode, journalist Kamal Ahmed explores how innovation is the driving force behind meaningful growth, not simply through capital investment, but by rethinking and reinventing the status quo with transformative technologies. He was joined by guests Laura Gilbert, Lee Ellis & Prashant Jojodia, who together examined what sustainable, resilient growth looks like for the UK, and how empowering
Demis Hassabis and Sebastian Mallaby on The Quest for Artificial General Intelligence (Part Two)
Demis Hassabis – CEO and co-founder of Google DeepMind – is one of the world’s most visionary technologists. A child chess prodigy from North London, Hassabis was awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for using artificial intelligence to predict the complex structures of nearly all known proteins. His company DeepMind, now owned by Google, is at the forefront of the pursuit to build artificial
Demis Hassabis and Sebastian Mallaby on The Quest for Artificial General Intelligence (Part One)
Demis Hassabis – CEO and co-founder of Google DeepMind – is one of the world’s most visionary technologists. A child chess prodigy from North London, Hassabis was awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for using artificial intelligence to predict the complex structures of nearly all known proteins. His company DeepMind, now owned by Google, is at the forefront of the pursuit to build artificial
How Does Chemistry Shape our World? With Professor Dame Ijeoma Uchegbu
Chemistry is everywhere. From cosmetics and the clothes we wear to life-saving medicines and kitchen experiments, chemical processes are all around us, defining our interactions with the world we live in.
In this episode, Professor Dame Ijeoma Uchegbu joins Professor Helen Czerski to discuss how chemistry shapes our understanding of the world. Their conversation explores our complex relationship
Why Did Elite Cambridge Graduates Become Soviet Spies? Revisiting the Cambridge Five, with Antonia Senior
The Cambridge Five - Donald Maclean, Guy Burgess, Kim Philby, John Cairncross and Keeper of the Queen's Pictures Anthony Blunt - made up one of the most notorious spy rings of the 20th century. Besotted with communist ideology and radicalised while at Cambridge University in the 1930s, their clandestine supply of British and US intelligence material gave Stalin an inside track on US and British de
How Will the Climate Crisis Reshape Global Politics? With Former Diplomat and Author, Arthur Snell
Our changing climate is accelerating conflict and migration, with the potential to drive political instability from the Sahel to Saudi Arabia to Siberia. From the water-stressed mountains of the Arabian Peninsula to the wildfires raging through America’s most populated regions, the climate crisis is already affecting the lives of millions.
In a new book, Elemental, former diplomat Arthur Snell e
Is There a Crisis of Overdiagnosis in Modern Medicine? With Dr Suzanne O’Sullivan
More people are being labelled with medical conditions than ever before. Diagnoses of autism, ADHD, allergies, and long COVID have skyrocketed - but are we actually getting less healthy?
In this episode, neurologist Dr Suzanne O’Sullivan speaks to Dr Güneş Taylor about an impending crisis of overdiagnosis. Drawing on histories of real people, as well as decades of clinical practice and the lates
How Has Translation Transformed Shakespeare? With Daniel Hahn
What does it mean to translate some of the most recognisable and revered works in the English language? When the wordplay, poetry, and syntax of Shakespeare are all changed, is it still truly Shakespeare?
In this episode, host Mythili Rao speaks with translator Daniel Hahn about his new book If This Be Magic: The Unlikely Art of Shakespeare in Translation. From Hamlet in Italian to Romeo and Jul
Should You Be Talking To AI? with Jamie Bartlett
Hundreds of millions of people now talk to AI, such as ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini every day. They organise their finances and holidays, ask advice, seek therapy and find love – via machines. Almost overnight, chatbots are transforming society, politics and business. This is one of the biggest and fastest technological changes in history.
In this episode journalist and author, Jamie Bartlett, speak
Who Are Renoir’s Mystery Girls? With Catherine Ostler
Could one of Renoir’s most iconic paintings conceal one of the most astonishing true stories of scandal and tragedy in Golden Age Paris?
In 1881, Pierre-Auguste Renoir painted two young sisters from a Jewish banking dynasty at their home in Paris’s grand 8th arrondissement. Pink and Blue, a portrait of Elisabeth and Alice Cahen d’Anvers, is one of Renoir’s most celebrated works. But behind the ev
Stalin vs Trotsky: The Assassination That Changed History, with Josh Ireland
On August 20, 1940, in a quiet study in Mexico, one of the 20th century’s most consequential political exiles was assassinated with an ice pick. The killing of Leon Trotsky marked the culmination of a relentless campaign orchestrated by Joseph Stalin, stretching across continents and years of pursuit.
But how did the plot unfold — and who was the man who carried it out?
In this episode, historia
Can Discomfort Be the Key to a Better Life? With Ken Rideout
Dr Radha Modgil is joined by endurance athlete, investor and author Ken Rideout for an inspiring Intelligence Squared conversation on what it really takes to transform your life. Drawing on the ideas in his book Everything You Want Is On The Other Side of Hard, Rideout argues that growth, confidence and fulfilment are only found by deliberately choosing discomfort over ease.
Together, they explor
How and Why did Sexual Reproduction Evolve on our Planet? With Dr Lixing Sun
Before sex evolved on our planet, two billion years ago, all reproduction happened asexually. So why and how did sexual reproduction evolve?
Dr Lixing Sun is Distinguished Research Professor in behavior and evolution at Central Washington University. In a new book, On the Origin of Sex, he explores the fascinating, varied and complex ways reproduction happens across the natural world: from whipta
Hungry for Life! An Evening with Prue Leith (Part Two)
According to Great British Bake Off judge and national treasure Prue Leith the secret to a happy life lies in embracing everyday with joy while accepting our inevitable end.
Prue has had an exhilarating career. She has been a Michelin-starred restaurateur, author, broadcaster, and beloved Bake Off judge. Yet her passion for life has also been shaped by the loss of her brother and first husband. T
Hungry for Life! An Evening with Prue Leith (Part One)
According to Great British Bake Off judge and national treasure Prue Leith the secret to a happy life lies in embracing everyday with joy while accepting our inevitable end.
Prue has had an exhilarating career. She has been a Michelin-starred restaurateur, author, broadcaster, and beloved Bake Off judge. Yet her passion for life has also been shaped by the loss of her brother and first husband. T
How deeply was the British Crown involved in the transatlantic slave trade? With author of The Crown’s Silence, Brooke Newman
How deeply was the British Crown involved in the transatlantic slave trade? New research by historian Brooke Newman argues that, from the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, until well into the 19th century, the Crown and its navy helped expand, finance and protect the trade in enslaved African people.
In this episode, Newman joins historian and broadcaster Helen Carr to examine how the monarchy’s links
The Specialist | The Coin Worth More Than Its Weight in Gold, with Selby Kiffer and David Tripp
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, the extraordinary saga of the 1933 Double Eagle, America’s last gold coin; stolen, smuggled, and seized. Selby Kiffer is Sotheby's Senior International Specialist of Books and Manuscrip
Why Are Populists Winning? With Liam Byrne and Will Hutton
Populism has been winning big in recent years. It is the wave that has buoyed Donald Trump’s second term in office, Marine Le Pen’s popularity in France, and Reform UK’s recent leaps and bounds in British polling. Across the West, authoritarian populists now govern one-quarter of the world's democracies.
But what explains the surge of populism across the democratic world - and can it be reversed?
How To Overcome Trauma, With Psychotherapist Dr Gwen Adshead (Part Two)
Dr Gwen Adshead is one of Britain’s leading forensic psychiatrists. She is the author of The Sunday Times bestseller, The Devil You Know, which inspired her series of BBC Reith Lectures in 2024.
In February 2026, she came to the Kiln Theatre for a compelling conversation about trauma, resilience and the transformative power of psychiatry. Drawing on case stories and the themes of her new book, U
How To Overcome Trauma, With Psychotherapist Dr Gwen Adshead (Part One)
Dr Gwen Adshead is one of Britain’s leading forensic psychiatrists. She is the author of The Sunday Times bestseller, The Devil You Know, which inspired her series of BBC Reith Lectures in 2024.
In February 2026, she came to the Kiln Theatre for a compelling conversation about trauma, resilience and the transformative power of psychiatry. Drawing on case stories and the themes of her new book, U
How Has Living With Animals Shaped Our Brains? With Michael Bond
Humans are animals. 40,000 years ago our ancestors considered themselves inseparable from the landscape and the wild animals that lived alongside them. But over generations, we developed an idea that still shapes modern life: the belief that we are separate from, and superior to, other species.
In this episode, together with Dr Güneş Taylor, science writer Michael Bond draws on insights from ne
The Specialist | From Canvas to Canon: Joan Mitchell’s King of Spades, with Courtney Kremers
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, the female pioneer of abstract expressionism whose lyrical compositions came to reset market expectations. Courtney Kremers examines King of Spades, Joan Mitchell’s formative masterpiece,
Why Are Ancient Myths Resurfacing in Modern Britain? With Zakia Sewell
Are Pagan Traditions Shaping a New British Identity?
In this episode, Academic, broadcaster and critic Shahidha Bari speaks to journalist, DJ and author Zakia Sewell about her book Finding Albion: Myth, Folklore and the Quest for a Hidden Britain which has been longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction 2026.
In this episode, Sewell recounts her discovery of an alternative Britain, which l
Sex, Gender and Christianity: A 3,000 Year History, with Diarmaid MacCulloch and Mary Beard (Part Two)
In the twenty-first century, Christianity or historically Christian societies have witnessed one of the most extraordinary revolutions in attitudes to sex and gender in human history, bringing liberation for some and fury and fear for others. Understanding the history of Christianity and its influence on our cultural identity is essential to understanding debates around the role of women in societ
Sex, Gender and Christianity: A 3,000 Year History, with Diarmaid MacCulloch and Mary Beard (Part One)
In the twenty-first century, Christianity or historically Christian societies have witnessed one of the most extraordinary revolutions in attitudes to sex and gender in human history, bringing liberation for some and fury and fear for others. Understanding the history of Christianity and its influence on our cultural identity is essential to understanding debates around the role of women in societ
Is the Russia–Ukraine War a Failure of Strategy? With Lawrence Freedman
In an age of grinding wars, nuclear brinkmanship, and political volatility, what does strategy really mean - and how do leaders make decisions when the world feels chaotic?
In this episode, Lawrence Freedman draws on decades of scholarship and his experience as official historian of the Falklands War and adviser to the UK’s Iraq inquiry to explore how strategy evolves under pressure.
Together wi
What Is Really at Stake at the North Pole? With Neil Shea
What Do Wolves, Caribou, and Global Superpowers Have in Common?
In this episode, Professor Helen Czerski speaks to journalist and author Neil Shea about the Arctic’s changing face and the struggles that its indigenous wildlife must now endure.
In this expansive yet intimate revelation, Shea explores the Arctic during a time of crisis. With Czerski, he recounts his experiences tracking caribou i
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