Intelligence Squared

China’s quest for social control is now playing out in ways that should worry us all. In this episode of the podcast, award-winning journalist Josh Chin explains how the Chinese government is weaving digital technology into every aspect of daily life from traffic patterns to food safety to emergency response. And he argues that this is a matter of global concern: Western governments encouraged their countries’ companies to sell China the technology it needed to build its surveillance state in the hope that economic and scientific engagement would lead to political reform. Not only did that plan backfire but now China is exporting its system to other countries such as India, Uganda, and Singapore. The host for this episode is Katie Stallard - Senior Editor, China and Global Affairs, at the New Statesman magazine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

1 Maj 202335min

On this episode of the Sunday Debate we’re going to explore an issue that is timely, yet draws on debates at the heart of British politics and identity for centuries; should King Charles III should be the last British monarch? And where would the UK be without its Royal Family? Speaking for the motion is Graham Smith, CEO of Republic, a British organisation campaigning for the abolition of the monarchy - and author of Abolish the Monarchy: Why we should and how we will. And speaking against the motion is Robert Hardman, journalist, author, and royal commentator - Hardman has penned numerous books on the Royal Family, his most recent being 2022’s Queen of Our Times: The Life of Elizabeth II. Moderating this debate is broadcaster and academic Philippa Thomas. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

30 Apr 202335min

Shortly after her fourteenth birthday, Hadley Freeman stopped eating. From the age of fourteen to seventeen, she lived in various psychiatric wards with a diagnosis of anorexia nervosa. And for the next decade, the condition would revisit and interrupt her life in numerous ways. In conversation with journalist Bari Weiss and drawing on her new book Good Girls, Freeman recounts her harrowing account of this complex condition. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

28 Apr 202351min

The Rohingya people of Myanmar have been persecuted for decades. The worst period of violence flared up in August 2017, when almost 700,000 Rohingya were forced to leave Myanmar after a large-scale military operation. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi was in power at the time. Today very few members of this Muslim minority remain in the country. Instead they live mostly in Bangladesh’s refugee camps, or, precariously, in Malaysia, India, Thailand, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere. What does it mean for an entire people to be living in exile? Journalist Kaamil Ahmed has spent years trying to answer that question, which forms the themes of his new book, I Feel No Peace: Rohingya Fleeing Over Seas and Rivers, while trying to reveal the extraordinary resilience that has helped these scattered communities survive. Our host for this discussion is Carl Miller, author and Research Director of the Centre for the Analysis of Social Media at Demos. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

26 Apr 202347min

On Easter weekend 1993 Nelson Mandela was engaged in slow-moving power-sharing talks with President F.W. de Klerk when a white supremacist shot Mandela’s heir-apparent, Chris Hani, in the hope of igniting an all-out civil war. On this episode of the podcast, acclaimed South African journalist Justice Malala recounts the riveting story of the pivotal nine days that followed Hani’s murder and the extraordinary effort of leadership that was needed to avert a crisis that could have developed into a full-scale war. Our host for this conversation is Alec Russell, Foreign Editor of the Financial Times. ... Special event promo - 2 for 1 tickets to Bach vs Beethoven. Claim your discount here: intelligencesquared.com/bachvbeethoven Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

24 Apr 202344min

Is the UK’s 2024 general election a foregone conclusion, with the Labour Party some 20 points ahead in the opinion polls? Can Rishi Sunak turn around the economy in time? Is there enough difference between the two main parties on the issues that voters care most about – the cost of living crisis, the NHS and immigration? As both parties tilt more to the right to win votes, is now a bad time for progressives in Britain? Matthew Goodwin, political scientist and author of new book, Values, Voice and Virtue: The New British Politics, joins journalist and former speech writer for Tony Blair, Philip Collins, to discuss the political landscape in the UK and what each party needs to do to secure victory in just over a year’s time. Our host for this discussion is journalist, academic and former BBC News broadcaster Philippa Thomas. 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 about. Send us an email or voice note with your thoughts to podcasts@intelligencesquared.com.  At Intelligence Squared we’ve got our own online streaming platform, Intelligence Squared+ and we’d love you to give it a go. It’s packed with more than 20 years’ worth of video debates and conversations on the world’s most important topics as well as exclusive podcast content. Tune in to live events, ask your questions or watch on-demand, totally ad-free with hours of discussion to dive into. Visit intelligencesquaredplus.com to start watching today. ... Special event promo - 2 for 1 tickets to Bach vs Beethoven. Claim your discount here: intelligencesquared.com/bachvbeethoven Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

23 Apr 20231h

As Earth Day approaches, we revisit a compelling conversation from 2021 asking which factors are really responsible for the climate emergency and who might be able to prevent it? Dr Anne Karpf is a writer and sociologist whose book, How Women Can Save the Planet, looks to analyse some of these questions in more granular detail. The BBC's South Asia correspondent Rajini Vaidyanathan joins Karpf to learn more. 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 about. Send us an email or voice note with your thoughts to podcasts@intelligencesquared.com.  At Intelligence Squared we’ve got our own online streaming platform, Intelligence Squared+ and we’d love you to give it a go. It’s packed with more than 20 years’ worth of video debates and conversations on the world’s most important topics as well as exclusive podcast content. Tune in to live events, ask your questions or watch on-demand, totally ad-free with hours of discussion to dive into. Visit intelligencesquaredplus.com to start watching today. ... Special event promo - 2 for 1 tickets to Bach vs Beethoven. Claim your discount here: intelligencesquared.com/bachvbeethoven Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

21 Apr 202342min

The American healthcare system is one of the most expensive and complex systems in the world, yet it remains plagued by significant inequalities. Despite spending more per capita on healthcare than any other country, millions of Americans are still uninsured or underinsured, and healthcare outcomes vary significantly by race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. In this conversation Dr Ali Hosin from the UK and Dr Ricardo Nuila from the US come together to discuss the increasing commodification of healthcare in the US, and how this may serve as a cautionary tale for systems such as the NHS in the UK. Special event promo - 2 for 1 tickets to Bach vs Beethoven. Claim your discount here: intelligencesquared.com/bachvbeethoven Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

19 Apr 202340min