Intelligence Squared
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
Mentioned books
Apr 7, 2026 • 43min
Who Are Renoir’s Mystery Girls? With Catherine Ostler
Catherine Ostler, writer and historian and author of The Renoir Girls, explores the Cahen d’Anvers sisters behind Renoir’s Pink and Blue. She traces salon life, family scandal, conversions and mobility in Belle Époque Paris. The conversation follows the paintings’ wartime journeys, differing fates of the sisters, and how art became a witness to exile, identity and loss.
35 snips
Apr 5, 2026 • 38min
Stalin vs Trotsky: The Assassination That Changed History, with Josh Ireland
Josh Ireland, historian and author of The Death of Trotsky, reconstructs the 1940 plot that ended Trotsky's life. He traces Trotsky’s exile to Mexico, Ramón Mercader’s infiltration, and the Soviet machinery behind the killing. The conversation also connects this historical assassination to modern state-directed political violence.
30 snips
Apr 4, 2026 • 37min
Can Discomfort Be the Key to a Better Life? With Ken Rideout
Ken Rideout, endurance athlete, investor and author who overcame opioid addiction to win ultra-distance races. He talks about choosing deliberate discomfort, how routine and discipline rebuilt his life, and the role of endurance sport in forging mental toughness. Short, candid stories reveal why doing hard things can reshape identity and relationships.
30 snips
Apr 2, 2026 • 39min
How and Why did Sexual Reproduction Evolve on our Planet? With Dr Lixing Sun
Dr Lixing Sun, a behavior and evolution professor and author of On the Origin of Sex, explores how sexual reproduction arose and why it persists. He discusses costs versus genetic benefits, host‑parasite arms races, wild mating strategies like parasitic anglerfish, sex versus gender distinctions, role reversals in species like clownfish, and organisms that switch between sexual and asexual modes.
10 snips
Mar 31, 2026 • 34min
Hungry for Life! An Evening with Prue Leith (Part Two)
Prue Leith, Michelin-style restaurateur, broadcaster and author, reflects on ageing, joy and grief in her new memoir. She discusses running food businesses, teaching cookery in schools, the modern food divide and worries for her grandchildren’s future. She also explains her campaigning for assisted dying and how to reframe later life with humour and resilience.
12 snips
Mar 30, 2026 • 34min
Hungry for Life! An Evening with Prue Leith (Part One)
Prue Leith, Michelin-starred restaurateur, broadcaster and author, reflects on ageing, love, grief and reinvention. She talks about what keeps her energised in later life. She explains why she wrote her memoir and how food and Paris shaped her career. She recalls finding love again at seventy and the joys and losses that come with getting older.
26 snips
Mar 29, 2026 • 48min
How deeply was the British Crown involved in the transatlantic slave trade? With author of The Crown’s Silence, Brooke Newman
Brooke Newman, associate professor and historian of the British monarchy who wrote The Crown’s Silence, explores archival evidence linking monarchs from Elizabeth I to the 19th century with the transatlantic slave trade. She discusses royal financing, naval protection, symbolic branding, archival silences, debates over apologies and reparations, and how this history reshapes Britain’s narrative.
6 snips
Mar 28, 2026 • 18min
The Specialist | The Coin Worth More Than Its Weight in Gold, with Selby Kiffer and David Tripp
David Tripp, former Sotheby's coin director and leading expert on the 1933 Double Eagle. Selby Kiffer, Sotheby's manuscripts specialist with deep Americana expertise. They trace the coin’s creation under FDR, theft and early leakage, King Farouk’s role, the Waldorf sting and Sotheby’s sale, later discoveries and long litigation. The story reads like a high-stakes treasure hunt.
48 snips
Mar 27, 2026 • 54min
Why Are Populists Winning? With Liam Byrne and Will Hutton
Liam Byrne, Labour MP and author of Why Populists Are Winning, offers sharp analysis of modern authoritarian populism and its media, funding, and psychological drivers. He maps five voter “tribes” and explains why nostalgic, urgent rhetoric resonates. Conversations cover economic causes, coastal decline, national renewal, and policy paths to rebuild civic life and counter populist momentum.
14 snips
Mar 25, 2026 • 34min
How To Overcome Trauma, With Psychotherapist Dr Gwen Adshead (Part Two)
Dr Gwen Adshead, a forensic psychiatrist and psychotherapist with three decades of clinical experience and author of Unspeakable, speaks about trauma, identity and recovery. She explores how traumatic events reshape identity. She discusses speaking and writing as tools for healing. She outlines cautious, varied therapeutic approaches and the role of language in enabling post-traumatic growth.
