Intelligence Squared

Latest Episodes:

Is Ukraine’s Culture Worth Fighting For? With Charlotte Higgins Aug 22, 2026

Show notes

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has placed not only lives and cities under attack, but also the country’s language, history and culture. Museums have been looted, cultural sites destroyed and a generation of writers, artists and performers drawn into the war. Yet amid this devastation, art has become a powerful form of documentation, resistance and survival.

In this episode, journalist and author Hannah Lucinda Smith speaks with Guardian chief culture writer Charlotte Higgins about her book Ukrainian Lessons: A Journey into the Art and Life of a Country at War and the reporting journeys that transformed her understanding of the relationship between culture and conflict. Charlotte reflects on arriving in Kyiv during a major missile attack, learning Ukrainian and meeting the artists determined to record their experiences in their own words.

Why do writers turn to poetry in times of war? What makes people risk their lives to protect paintings, manuscripts and museum objects? And how can art restore meaning when violence has torn it apart? Charlotte also remembers the Ukrainian novelist and war crimes investigator Victoria Amelina, who was killed in a Russian missile strike in 2023, and explores what her life and unfinished work reveal about the human cost of the war.

Charlotte Higgins is the chief culture writer at The Guardian and the author of Ukrainian Lessons: A Journey into the Art and Life of a Country at War.

Hannah Lucinda Smith is a journalist and author whose reporting has taken her across Europe and the Middle East. Her latest book is Hinterlands: A Journey Through the New Europe.

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How George Michael Changed Music Forever, with Sathnam Sanghera (Part Two) Aug 20, 2026

Show notes

George Michael wrote Careless Whisper, one of the biggest pop songs of our age, in an hour in his childhood bedroom. Alongside his childhood best friend Andrew Ridgeley he founded Wham!, a revolutionary pop group which became one of the defining bands of the 1980s, selling over 30 million records. Yet behind the genius of George Michael was the complex personal story of Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou who grew up in a conservative Greek-Cypriot immigrant family and had a life shaped by shame, addiction, homophobia, tabloid scrutiny and extraordinary creative flair.

Ten years on since his tragic death on Christmas Day in 2016, George Michael’s cultural legacy is as strong as ever, with his unforgettable hit song Last Christmas still playing on playlists and radio stations every December.

In June 2026, Sathnam Sanghera, an award-winning journalist who has long written about immigrant communities in Britain and the legacy of empire, joined us live at Union Chapel to discuss his new book, Tonight the Music Seems So Loud, and to explore the life, music and contradictions of the man behind the legend.

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How George Michael Changed Music Forever, with Sathnam Sanghera (Part One) Aug 18, 2026

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Spielberg, Coppola and Lucas: The Remaking of Modern Cinema, With Paul Fischer Aug 16, 2026

Show notes

By the early 1980s Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas were the richest, best-known filmmakers in the world, with an empire of their own. Coppola had directed The Godfather, then the highest-grossing film of all-time, until Spielberg surpassed it with Jaws — whose record Lucas broke with Star Wars, which Spielberg surpassed again with E.T.

In a new book, The Last Kings of Hollywood, Paul Fischer charts their rise from young, ambitious filmmakers in the 1960s to the dominant creative forces of 1970s and 80s American cinema.

In this episode, he joins Anna Bogutskaya to examine how these three era-defining filmmakers rivalled and supported each other, fell out and reconciled, and struggled to reinvent popular American cinema.

Paul Fischer is an author, screenwriter and filmmaker. The Last Kings of Hollywood: The Battle for the Soul of American Cinema is available online and in bookstores now.

Anna Bogutskaya is a film critic, programmer and author of Feeding The Monster.

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Colm Tóibín on Stories of Exile (Part Two) Aug 15, 2026

Show notes

Colm Tóibín is widely acclaimed for the emotional restraint and quiet power of his prose. His writing explores exile, abandonment, loss and denial, the things that go unspoken and the feelings not acted upon. His novels include Nora Webster; Brooklyn, which was turned into a film starring Saoirse Ronan; and its sequel, Long Island, both telling the story of a young Irishwoman who emigrates to the United States in the years after the Second World War.

In June 2026 he comes to Intelligence Squared to discuss the themes of his new collection of short stories, The News From Dublin. In these poignant tales, a woman in Galway learns of her son’s death in the First World War; an Irishman seeks anonymity in Barcelona; and an undocumented worker prepares to leave San Francisco after decades in America.

We were joined by Tóibín at Union Chapel in June 2026 where he discussed the themes of this new collection – exploring the ordinary lives of individuals navigating extraordinary moments in history – and refleted on the influences and experiences that have shaped his writing.

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Colm Tóibín on Stories of Exile (Part One) Aug 13, 2026

Show notes

We were joined by Tóibín at Union Chapel in June 2026 as he discussed the themes of this new collection – exploring the ordinary lives of individuals navigating extraordinary moments in history – and reflected on the influences and experiences that have shaped his writing.

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Uncovering the Epstein Story, with Emily Maitlis and Amy Wallace (Part Two) Aug 11, 2026

Show notes

The Jeffrey Epstein story has created shockwaves on both sides of the Atlantic. As new documents continue to emerge, and as journalists continue to report around those documents, we’re increasingly seeing how the powerful and well-connected can evade scrutiny. At its core, this is a story about a system of privilege that shielded Epstein – and failed the women and girls around him.

Amy Wallace and Emily Maitlis have each played a pivotal role in bringing this story to light.

Wallace, an American journalist and writer, spent years working with Epstein survivor Virginia Roberts Giuffre, helping her to tell her story in her posthumous memoir, Nobody’s Girl. Maitlis’s explosive Newsnight interview with the then Prince Andrew addressed his relationship with Epstein. This was the broadcast that sparked public outrage, and triggered a crisis from which the royal family has struggled to recover.

In July 2026 Maitlis and Wallace came together on the Intelligence Squared stage to discuss what this story reveals about the wealthy, powerful elites who protected Epstein for so long; and the brave and determined women who are seeking justice and are holding the powerful to account.

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Uncovering the Epstein Story, with Emily Maitlis and Amy Wallace (Part One) Aug 09, 2026

Show notes

Amy Wallace and Emily Maitlis have each played a pivotal role in bringing this story to light.

Wallace, an American journalist and writer, spent years working with Epstein survivor Virginia Roberts Giuffre, helping her to tell her story in her posthumous memoir, Nobody’s Girl. Maitlis’s explosive Newsnight interview with the then Prince Andrew addressed his relationship with Epstein. This was the broadcast that sparked public outrage, and triggered a crisis from which the royal family has struggled to recover.

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Is the Algorithm Destroying Taste? With Polyester Editor-In-Chief Ione Gamble Aug 08, 2026

Show notes

What we like has never been entirely our own. Taste has always been shaped by class, culture and the people around us. But in the age of algorithms and AI, our preferences are increasingly being predicted, curated and sold back to us.

In this episode, Mia Sorenti speaks with Ione Gamble, founding editor of Polyester zine, about how taste is formed, why it matters, and what happens when algorithms replace curiosity with convenience.

From Spotify recommendations and TikTok trends to influencer culture and AI-generated content, Gamble argues that digital platforms are flattening culture by rewarding familiarity over surprise. Why do our feeds increasingly feel the same? Are we choosing what we like, or simply consuming what algorithms decide to show us? And what happens to creativity when artists begin making work for recommendation engines rather than people?

Drawing on The Polyester Book of (Bad) Taste, a collection of essays by writers including Nicola Dinan and Yomi Adegoke, Gamble makes the case for reclaiming our own tastes. She argues that resisting algorithmic culture means embracing friction, seeking recommendations from real people, and allowing ourselves the freedom to discover things we never expected to love.

Ione Gamble is the founding editor-in-chief of Polyester zine. She is a writer, editor and author of Poor Little Sick Girls, and editor of the new essay collection The Polyester Book of (Bad) Taste.

Mia Sorenti is Senior Producer at Intelligence Squared.

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How Do Our Sibling Relationships Shape Us? With Catherine Carr Aug 06, 2026

Show notes

For many of us, our relationships with our siblings are the longest of our lives. They shape our earliest experiences of love, rivalry, identity and belonging. Yet despite their lasting influence, they are often overlooked in favour of relationships with parents, partners or children.

In this episode, journalist and critic Mythili Rao speaks with broadcaster Catherine Carr about the overlooked significance of sibling relationships. Together they explore how these lifelong bonds shape who we become, from birth order and family dynamics to estrangement, grief and the challenges of caring for ageing parents.

Why do we place so much weight in birth-order stereotypes? Are only children really different? And what happens when sibling relationships break down? Drawing on personal stories, psychological research and expert interviews, Carr challenges familiar assumptions and examines how changing family structures, falling birth rates and longer lives are reshaping what it means to be a sibling today.

Catherine Carr is a broadcaster and journalist. She is the author of Who's the Favourite?: The Loving, Messy Realities of Sibling Relationships.

Mythili Rao is a journalist, critic and podcaster whose work explores literature, culture and society.

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