How has feminist thought evolved down the ages? Beginning in the fifteenth century with Christine de Pizan, who imagined a City of Ladies that would serve as a refuge from the harassment of men, historian of ideas Hannah Dawson has magnificently drawn together six hundred years of feminist thinki...

For almost 40 years, the Parthenon Marbles, or Elgin Marbles as they are also known, have been at the centre of the great restitution debate. Taken from Greece in contested circumstances by Lord Elgin in the 19th century, the marble sculptures that were part of the Parthenon and other structures ...

Bestselling author and activist Naomi Klein goes down the rabbit hole in pursuit of her doppelganger – another well known writer with a name similar to hers but whose views couldn’t be more different from her own. She finds herself returning again and again to a place she calls Mirror World, wher...

John Gray is one of the UK’s most important and influential political thinkers. Sceptical of ideas about progress and the perfectibility of human nature, he is an arch critic of liberalism, believing that history moves in cycles rather than inexorably towards a better future.

On September 14 he...

Mustafa Suleyman is the ultimate AI insider. As co-founder of DeepMind and Inflection AI, he is one of the pioneers of the artificial intelligence revolution, potentially the single greatest accelerant of progress in history. Investors in Inflection AI include the likes of Microsoft, Nvidia and B...

In the Middle Ages, Jews were hated for their religion. In the twentieth century, they were hated because of their race. Today Jews are hated for something else: the nation state of Israel. That's the argument being made by journalist and editor of the Jewish Chronicle Jake Wallis Simons, who com...

Food has always been more than just fuel. Beyond mere nourishment, food carries deep meaning in our lives. It evokes feelings of comfort and joy and it can ignite disagreement and discord. It serves as a powerful link to culture and identity, creating a sense of belonging and community. When migr...

The tech platforms promised us a future of connection, but they were lying. They said their walled gardens would keep us safe, but they were building prison walls.

That’s the claim made by Cory Doctorow, one of the world’s leading critics of the impact of new technologies on society and culture....

Philosopher Susan Neiman and cultural critic Thomas Chatterton Williams came to Intelligence Squared for a challenging conversation on the themes of Neiman’s new book Left is Not Woke. Neiman set out what she sees as the dangerous consequences of conflating ‘wokeism’ with the Left, arguing that t...

We are often told that depression is ‘all in the mind’. So why are so many of its symptoms felt in our bodies? Why can depression have such a profound impact on physical as well as mental health – from coronary disease to stroke? On August 23 Philip Gold, a world-renowned expert on this devastati...

The Labour MP Wes Streeting reveals his childhood struggle with poverty and the inspirational figures who set him on the path to university and politics in this pre-recorded discussion with broadcaster Justin Webb.

Once on the fringes of the political spectrum extremists are now going mainstream. Accelerated by a pandemic, global conflict and rapid technological change, their ideas are becoming more widespread: QAnon proponents run for U.S. Congress, neo-fascists win elections in Europe, and hyper partisan ...

TUESDAY JULY 25 2023, 6PM BST
Politics In The Age Of Chaos With Rafael Behr and Jonathan Freedland

Politics &
Economics
Do you ever turn away from the news in despair? Do you scroll through social media and come away feeling angry, frustrated and fearful? Have you given up on the idea that a le...

What was Rome like during its zenith? Find out on July 11 when acclaimed historian and co-host of The Rest Is History podcast Tom Holland comes to Intelligence Squared to paint a vivid picture of Rome during the Pax Romana, when Rome was the world’s great superpower. Drawing on his new book Pax: ...

Can we love the art of monstrous men? Can we truly separate the art from the artist? Should we boycott their work or should we still appreciate their genius despite their actions?

To answer these questions author and critic Claire Dederer came to Intelligence Squared in July 24. In conversation...

WEDNESDAY JULY 19 2023, 1PM BST
How the Food We Eat Is Fuelling Our Mental Health Crisis With Kimberley Wilson and Christian Jarrett

Science &
Technology
Ultra-processed foods, packed with with chemicals and additives, are wreaking havoc on our physical health, fuelling the obesity crisis and c...

What are the connections between propaganda about the Russian Empire and the invasion of Ukraine?

Mikhail Zygar, a renowned Russian dissident journalist, is the founding editor-in-chief of Russian news TV channel Dozhd, who was forced to close his company and flee the country after condemning t...

If you look back over a thousand years of human history, one undeniable truth emerges: progress is not inevitable but hinges on the choices society makes regarding technology.

In the Middle Ages, agricultural advancements enriched the nobility and the Church, which used the wealth generated to...

What is it to imagine exactly? How do we go about it, and why is it so important that we imagine for ourselves? On July 3 author and Condé Nast Britain managing director Albert Read comes to Intelligence Squared to explain that the imagination is not just the preserve of artists and creatives but...

When we throw things ‘away’, what does that actually mean? Where does it go, and who deals with it when it gets there? Award-winning journalist Oliver Franklin-Wallis has spent the last number of years investigating the global waste industry. On June 27 he comes to Intelligence Squared to tell us...

Britain's empire once made it the most powerful nation on earth. But according to Sathnam Sanghera we are either silent or awkward at best when speaking about it. Sanghera himself was not taught about the empire in school and it was only in his forties that he began to research and understand the...

If you’re a woman living in a deprived area of England, you are likely to die seven years younger than if you were living in an affluent area. If you attend a private school, by the time you are 40 you can expect to earn 35% more than a former state school pupil. And if you are homeless as an adu...

What are the true origins of gendered oppression? Why does gender inequality persist despite efforts for change? What part do we all play in keeping patriarchal structures alive?

On June 20 award-winning science journalist Angela Saini comes to Intelligence Squared to address these questions ...

There are six crucial substances in human history: sand, iron, salt, oil, copper and lithium. They took us from the Dark Ages to the present day. They build our homes and offices, power our computers and phones, and create life-saving medicines. But most of us take them completely for granted.

I...