Intelligence Squared

Lea Ypi grew up in Albania during the 1980s and 1990s, the last Stalinist outpost in Europe. Almost impossible to visit and nearly impossible to leave, during that era it was a place of queuing and scarcity, political executions and secret police. But to Ypi, it was home. People were equal, neighbours helped each other, and children were expected to build a better world. She joins award-winning foreign correspondent and author Luke Harding to discuss her memoir, Free, and growing up in a country on the brink of a huge transformation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

14 Jan 202259min

In today's highly polarised political landscape, Liberalism, somewhere in the middle, often comes under attack from both right and left. Joshua L Cherniss is Associate Professor of Government at Georgetown University and his new book, Liberalism in Dark Times, looks at why moderate, centre-ground voices are having to think smarter and talk louder to be heard. He joins journalist and broadcaster Georgina Godwin to discuss both the history and the potential future of Liberalism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

11 Jan 202247min

Olivia Yallop is a strategist, creative and trend analyser, whose new book Break the Internet lifts the lid on how the influencer economy works. She speaks with Carl Miller, Research Director of the Centre for the Analysis of Social Media at Demos about her approach to creating the book, which included visiting a VIP influencer party with a million-follower policy and a trip to influencer bootcamp along the way. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

10 Jan 202241min

Verdi created some of the most beloved operas of all time. Wagner’s music is in an altogether more intellectual sphere. Back in 2013, Stephen Fry hosted a debate featuring cultural critic and author Norman Lebrecht, novelist and critic Philip Hensher and conductor Paul Wynne Griffiths, plus opera singers Dušica Bijeli and John Tomlinson, to decide which of the two highly influential composers take top billing. — 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.. Just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

9 Jan 20221h 40min

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

7 Jan 202255min

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

4 Jan 202256min

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

3 Jan 202238min

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

2 Jan 20221h 35min