Can the West Hold Together? Lessons from WWII with Tim Bouverie and Michael Gove (Part Two)

Salman Rushdie, internationally bestselling author and ‘Best of the Booker’ winner, is a storyteller of the highest order, illuminating truths about our society and culture through his dazzling prose. Best known as a novelist, he is also a compelling essayist and last month he came to Intelligence Squared to talk about the ideas in his latest collection of nonfiction, Languages of Truth. In conversation with cultural critic Shahidha Bari, Rushdie shared with us his personal encounters, on the page and in person, with storytellers from Shakespeare and Cervantes to Philip Roth and Toni Morrison. We heard his thoughts on Christopher Hitchens and the American Right, Osama Bin Laden and Pakistan, and on the role of artists, intellectuals and ordinary citizens in fighting for freedom of speech and thought. To buy the book click here: https://www.primrosehillbooks.com/product/languages-of-truth-essays-2003-2020-salman-rushdie/ Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

1 Juni 202155min

Carlo Rovelli is the internationally bestselling theoretical physicist whose many fans include Benedict Cumberbatch, Antony Gormley, Neil Gaiman and Lily Cole. In May 2021 he came to Intelligence Squared to talk about the themes of his new book Helgoland, in which he takes us back to the birth of a revolutionary idea that has reshaped the whole of science and our very conception of the world. Rovelli told the story of the brilliant young Werner Heisenberg who, suffering from hay fever, retreated to the treeless island of Helgoland in the North Sea where he began to glimpse a world in which nothing exists until it interacts with something else, upending our all-too-solid conception of reality. This is the world of quantum theory. Now a century on from Heisenberg’s extraordinary insight, Rovelli has done what he dared not do before – to connect quantum theory with a panoply of philosophical ideas, including Buddhist thought, the problem of consciousness and even the discussions between Lenin and Bogdanov at the time of the Russian revolution. He explained that the way we interpret this insight has profound implications for our culture and philosophy. As he says, ‘Our ‘I’ is made of relations, as is our society, our cultural, spiritual and political life… It is time to take this theory fully on board, for its nature to be discussed beyond the restricted circles of theoretical physicists and philosophers, to deposit its distilled honey, so sweet and a little intoxicating, into the whole of contemporary culture.’ Rovelli was in conversation with Philip Pullman, author of the fantasy trilogy His Dark Materials, and named by The Times as one of the 50 greatest British writers since 1945. These two master storytellers discussed how it is only through our imaginations that we can truly understand the world we live in. To buy the book click here: https://www.primrosehillbooks.com/product/helgoland-carlo-rovelli/ Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

28 Maj 202155min

In this week's episode acclaimed singer/songwriter David Gray speaks to Rosamund Urwin about how music and the arts have fared throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. David had originally planned to spend 2020 embarking on a huge string of 'White Ladder' anniversary shows to mark 20 years since the release of his breakthrough multi-million selling album. When these arena dates - like so many other live shows - were rescheduled due to the pandemic, David chose instead to finish a record he had recorded prior to lockdown at Edwyn Collins’ Helmsdale studio on the Sutherland coast. Entitled ’Skellig’, The title comes from the story of Skellig - a formation of precipitous rocky islands off the coast of Co. Kerry, the most westerly point in Ireland. Ravaged by the Atlantic, the seemingly un-inhabitable location of Skellig Michael became an unlikely site of pilgrimage in 600AD for a group of monks, who believed that leading such a merciful existence, they would leave the distraction of the human realm to be ultimately closer to God. You can stream 'Skellig' in full from here: http://bit.ly/DavidGraySkellig Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

25 Maj 202136min

When Richard Branson founded Virgin Galactic in 2004, the goal was simple: to offer civilian space travel by the end of the decade. Seventeen years, a dozen delays and one catastrophic rocket crash later, we are on the verge of space tourism becoming a reality. New Yorker writer Nicholas Schmidle has witnessed the fall and rise of Virgin Galactic first-hand. Over the last five years, he has spent thousands of hours at Virgin’s ‘spaceport’ in the Mojave desert, befriending the pilots who are risking their lives to make space tourism a reality. The episode was hosted by Helen Czerski. To buy the book with the Intelligence Squared discount click here: https://www.primrosehillbooks.com/product/test-gods-tragedy-and-triumph-in-the-new-space-race-nicholas-schmidle/ — 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

21 Maj 202158min

Spending a mere two hours a week outside is scientifically proven to lower blood pressure, enhance the immune system and reduce anxiety. Yet, for many communities, nature and the countryside are inaccessible with many city-dwellers struggling to find greenery in their local areas. This week's episode is taken from an event we staged in partnership with Selfridges for their Project Earth series. — 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.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

20 Maj 202158min

Many of us felt it before but 2020 was the year it became undeniable: the status quo is not working. Political discontent is widespread – and for good reason. So what can we do now to change course? In this week's episode award-winning political commentator Ece Temelkuran spoke to Matthew Taylor about her new political manifesto for the post-pandemic world.  Drawing from her new book Together: 10 Choices for a Better Now, she explained why we must choose fear over comfort and political activism over social media outrage. And she will encourage us to embrace the radical idea that humanity can come together to solve its collective problems.  To find out more about the book click here: https://www.primrosehillbooks.com/product/together-10-choices-for-a-better-now-ece-temelkuran/ Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

18 Maj 202152min

Trees have memories. They have wisdom. They cooperate in communities of immense complexity, communicating underground through a huge web of fungi, at the centre of which lie the Mother Trees: the mysterious, powerful entities that nurture their kin and sustain the forest. That may sound initially like New Age mumbo-jumbo. But these are the core findings of a scientific revolution that has been taking place in our understanding of trees. In this week's episode world renowned scientist Suzanne Simard speaks to Tony Juniper about uncovering startling truths about trees. To find out more and buy the book click here: https://bit.ly/3hrSPA2 Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

14 Maj 202155min

Why was the response of the UK and US to the coronavirus pandemic so bungled? How can we be better prepared when the next disaster strikes? These are the questions that historian Niall Ferguson discussed with Rana Mitter in this week's episode. Drawing from his new book 'Doom: The Politics of Catastrophe' he explains that while blaming populists like Boris Johnson and Donald Trump for their poor leadership is trendy, the story of Covid-19 as a political failure is to miss the more profound pathologies that were at work – pathologies already visible in our responses to earlier disasters. To find out more about the book click here: https://www.primrosehillbooks.com/product/doom-the-politics-of-catastrophe-niall-ferguson/ Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

11 Maj 202159min