Intelligence Squared

Peter Frankopan is Professor of Global History at Oxford University and author of two seminal recent books on the shifting geopolitics of the world: The Silk Roads and its follow-up, The New Silk Roads. He speaks to fellow historian and writer Simon Sebag Montefiore at the Cliveden Literary Festival about how we may be currently witnessing the end of a historical era amid the emergence of a brand new one. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Samira Ahmed speaks to the author Fatima Bhutto about the power of writing fiction, growing up in one of Pakistan’s most famous political dynasties and why she blames her aunt, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, for the death of her father. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Former governor of the Bank of England Lord King, global economist Dr Dambisa Moyo and businessman Ian Livingstone join Senior Editor at the Economist Anne McElvoy to map out a road to economic recovery after the pandemic. Following UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson's warning of a new 'tidal wave' of Covid-19 cases in the coming weeks in the UK and beyond, we returned to this discussion from the Cliveden Literary Festival in October about what Operation Phoenix - rising from the ashes of the economic crisis - would actually mean.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, we’re going back to 2017, with our debate "It's time to bring Russia in from the cold: Rapprochement is in the West's best interests". For this major event, Intelligence Squared put together a stellar line-up. Making the case for rapprochement with Russia was Vladimir Pozner, one of Russia’s best known television journalists and a former advocate for the Soviet Union, and Domitilla Sagramoso, a leading expert on security in Russia; arguing against them were Michael Hayden, former director of both the CIA and the NSA, and Radek Sikorski, who was Poland’s foreign minister from 2007 to 2014. The debate was chaired by BBC World News presenter Nik Gowing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Journalist and author Janine di Giovanni's over the past 30 years has seen her report from the frontlines of some of the most complex and turbulent stories of our times, including the siege of Sarajevo and both the Srebrenica and Rwandan genocides. Her new book, The Vanishing, focuses on the plight of Christians in the Middle East, who have suffered persecution and in countries ranging from Iraq to Egypt. She sits down with Dr Lina Khatib, Director of the Middle East and North Africa programme at Chatham House, to discuss the book's themes.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Amazon has come a long way since online book sales. In fact, when it comes to revenue, Jeff Bezos’ creation is the world’s biggest internet-based company. But what makes the "everything store" so ubiquitous? In large part, it’s the small and medium-sized businesses that use the platform to sell their goods. This year, more than 1.9 million of these businesses participated in its marketplace, which accounted for some 60 percent of Amazon's retail sales. But was it ultimately good for them? In the midst of this historic transition in shopping, that's our debate: Is Amazon good for small business?  Debating in favor of the motion is Mark Jamison, economist at the American Enterprise Institute, with Kunal Chopra, tech executive and former Amazon GM. Arguing against the motion is Rana Foroohar, global business columnist at the Financial Times and author of “Don’t Be Evil”, with co-director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, Stacy Mitchell. Emmy award-winning journalist John Donvan moderates.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The subject of genetic inheritance provokes passionate debate but behavioural geneticist Kathryn Paige Harden believes both sides are getting it wrong. It’s possible, she argues, to reclaim the science of genetics while avoiding the trap of categorising traits as superior or inferior. Drawing from her new book, The Genetic Lottery, Harden shares her research uncovered as head of the Developmental Behavior Genetics lab at University Texas with Helen Lewis, staff writer at The Atlantic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Andrew Chen is a specialist in growing tech businesses and for his new book, The Cold Start Problem, he has spoken to the founders of companies such as LinkedIn, Zoom, Uber, Dropbox, Tinder and Airbnb, to learn how startups can maximise their potential. Andrew has spent a career working with tech companies and tech investors, plus he's also a prolific writer with both a popular blog and newsletter. He joins economist and broadcaster Linda Yueh to discuss the new book and offer his insider's perspective on Silicon Valley success.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Autonomy, dignity and compassion. We wish to experience these things in our lives, so why shouldn’t we experience them in our deaths? That’s the argument made by those who support a change in the law to legalise assisted dying in the UK. People who are suffering intractably, they claim, but who are too ill to self-administer life-ending medication should have the right to be helped to end their lives. This would give choice and control to people with a terminal illness, marking a change from the current situation in which they must either take their own lives while they still have the capacity to do so, or continue to live in the knowledge that they are likely to become trapped in a state of intolerable suffering, which they cannot be helped out of. Of course we need to be aware of the so-called ‘slippery slope’ argument, which holds that a change in the law would lead to a situation where it becomes acceptable to kill people who do not wish to die. But with proper safeguards in place, claim its supporters, legalised assisted dying would be the hallmark of a civilised society.  Quite the reverse, argue those who would keep the law unchanged. Assisted suicide is not the private act of an individual, they say, but one that involves relatives, friends, healthcare staff and society at large. The ‘right to die’, they insist, imposes a ‘duty to kill’ on someone else, most likely a doctor, imposing restrictions on that person’s autonomy. And then there is the risk of coercion by family members who stand to gain by a relative’s death. All too easily, the ‘right to die’ can become the ‘duty to die’, as people who are sick or disabled feel they should stop being a financial or emotional burden on those around them. Assisted dying would make death not something that we must simply accept when the time comes but a decision that each individual is responsible for – a move that would be deeply damaging to our society.  Should assisted dying be viewed as a human right or as a danger to the most vulnerable people in our society? Arguing in favour of the motion were A. C. Grayling, Founder and Principal of New College of the Humanities at Northeastern University, and Professor of Philosophy; and Henry Marsh, a neurosurgeon and bestselling author, who was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer in 2021. Arguing against the motion were Anne Atkins, novelist and broadcaster; and Katherine Sleeman, Laing Galazka Chair in Palliative Care at King's College London and an honorary consultant in Palliative Medicine at King's College Hospital NHS Trust. The debate was chaired by paediatric doctor and TV presenter Guddi Singh. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s been almost 50 years since Nigerian writer Wole Soyinka, Africa’s first Nobel laureate for literature, last published a novel. Chronicles From the Land of the Happiest People on Earth is, his fellow writers agree, worth the wait. He joins Dr Louisa Egbunike
, Associate Professor in African Literature at Durham University, to discuss its his latest work: a satire and a whodunit mystery encompassing an expansive assessment of the last 60 years of Nigerian history.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Since Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his BJP party came to power in 2014, India has seen an increase in Hindu nationalism and a rise in hostility towards the Muslim minority population. Politician and writer Shashi Tharoor believes the country is at a crossroads. His recently published book, The Struggle for India’s Soul, looks at the political direction of the world’s second most populous nation, which he contends is splitting into two opposing factions: ethno-religious nationalists and liberal civic nationalists. If the ethno-religious nationalists prevail, he says, millions of non-Hindus would be stripped of their identity. Tharoor joins historian, author and broadcaster Rana Mitter to discuss the book and what lies ahead for India. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kate Bingham is the former Chair of the UK Vaccine Taskforce and she's also a shrewd business mind, having been a successful venture capitalist in sectors such as biotech for the past 30 years. She recently spoke with Jessica Pulay at the Cliveden Literary Festival to discuss how business acumen played its part in managing a team of experts from sectors such as science, medicine, industry and academia, in the race to find vaccines to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What now for the world? Governments have reached a climate deal which gets us closer to holding temperatures rises to 1.5C. But a last-ditch effort from India and China to water down pledges to phase out coal has led some to consider COP26 a failure. Yes, COP26 could have achieved more but is this agreement one that could potentially be seen as a strong foundation on which the world can build for the future? To debate the motion we heard from Bim Afolami, MP for Hitchin and Harpenden and Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Renewable and Sustainable Energy; Clover Hogan, climate activist, researcher on eco-anxiety and the founding Executive Director of Force of Nature; Caroline Lucas, former leader of the Green Party and MP for Brighton Pavilion; and Adair Turner, Chair of the Energy Transitions Commission. Chair for this week's debate was Helen Czerski, one of the UK’s most popular science presenters. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Huma Abedin was Hillary Clinton’s most trusted aide and adviser for many years. Her recently published book, Both/And, reveals the details of that relationship as well as reflecting on the very public breakdown of her marriage to disgraced former congressman and convicted sex offender Anthony Weiner. She speaks to journalist Razia Iqbal about her life in politics and why she believes that during this current polarising moment in which we are often told to choose between either/or, she believes we can be both/and. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The hereditary lottery, in many democracies, has effectively been replaced by a system in which talent, grit, and ability are meant to determine success. Yet, amidst income inequality and legacy of racism, many wonder whether meritocracy works. Critics point to generational wealth and networks that lead to lucrative jobs and fancy educations. Those who defend meritocracy argue that talent ultimately wins out, and despite its flaws, meritocracy remains the most effective way of lifting disenfranchised groups.     Arguing “yes” is Daniel Markovits, professor at Yale Law School and author of "The Meritocracy Trap: How America's Foundational Myth Feeds Inequality, Dismantles the Middle Class, and Devours the Elite."   Arguing “no” is Adrian Wooldridge, political editor and "Bagehot" columnist for The Economist and author of "The Aristocracy of Talent: How Meritocracy Made the Modern World."  Emmy award-winning journalist John Donvan moderates.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices