Intelligence Squared

For more than 3,000 years, castles and fortifications have shaped the landscapes around them. They defended cities, controlled trade and provided refuge in times of war. But they were also monuments to the ambition of those who built them: vast projects that brought together military power, engineering, labour and wealth.

Were castles the original military-industrial complex? Why did even the strongest fortresses fall? And why do these obsolete weapons of war retain such a powerful hold over our imaginations?

In this episode, Mia Sorenti speaks with historian and broadcaster Dan Jones about what castles reveal about the societies that built them.

Drawing on examples from Troy and medieval Wales to Japan and the United States, Jones explains how rulers used fortifications to make their authority visible, reshape economies and claim control over a people’s history and mythology.

Dan Jones is a historian, author and broadcaster. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, a trustee of Historic Royal Palaces and the host of the This Is History podcast. His latest book is Castles: A Fortified History of the World.

Mia Sorenti is Senior Producer at Intelligence Squared.
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With the release of Aaron Sorkin's new film The Social Reckoning, Mark Zuckerberg and the dark side of Facebook are back in the spotlight.In 2019, Intelligence Squared put Zuckerberg on trial, asking whether Facebook was doing more harm than good. Was the platform connecting billions of people and transforming the world for the better? Or was it undermining democracy, spreading misinformation and fuelling political division?Seven years later, Facebook is part of Meta, artificial intelligence is transforming social media, and questions about the power and accountability of Silicon Valley's technology giants have become more urgent than ever.In this debate from the Intelligence Squared archive, Damian Collins and Nina Schick argue that Facebook is damaging society, while former Facebook executive Dex Torricke-Barton and former UK government minister Ed Vaizey defend the company.As Zuckerberg faces renewed scrutiny, we revisit a debate that asks who should be held responsible for the consequences of social media.
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Donald Trump’s growing accommodation of Vladimir Putin has raised a stark question: has the US abandoned Ukraine? Conor Boyle speaks to Michael McFaul, former US ambassador to Russia and author of Autocrats vs. Democrats, about what Trump’s approach means for Ukraine, America’s democratic identity and the future of the international order. They explore whether this rupture was years in the making, the roles of China and Elon Musk and whether a future administration could restore American leadership, or whether the country has changed for good.

McFaul's new book is Autocrats vs Democrats: China, Russia, America, and the New Global Disorder and is available now at: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Autocrats-vs-Democrats-America-Disorder/dp/0358677874
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Few figures in modern British politics have operated as close to the centre of power as Michael Gove. Over more than a decade in government, he has held some of the most senior offices of state – including Education Secretary, Justice Secretary and Secretary of State for Levelling Up, shaping policy across domestic reform, economic strategy and the future of the Union.

Now, at a moment of continued economic uncertainty at home and instability abroad, Gove joined us for the Intelligence Squared Economic Outlook. In October 2026, live st Smith Square Hall in Westminster, he reflected on the forces reshaping Britain’s economic landscape. How resilient is the UK economy after a prolonged period of inflation, fiscal pressure and sluggish growth? What should a credible long-term strategy for productivity and investment look like? And how should Britain position itself in a more fragmented global economy, defined by geopolitical tension in the Middle East, energy insecurity and shifting trade alliances?

This event was presented in partnership with Guinness Global Investors: https://https://www.guinnessgi.com/
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In England and Wales, the total fertility rate fell to 1.39 children per woman in 2025. More than half of the world’s countries and areas are now below the level at which a population replaces itself without migration. Yet those numbers cannot tell us whether people are freely choosing smaller families, struggling to find a partner, leaving parenthood too late or being priced out of the future they wanted.

In this episode, Margherita Volpato speaks to Camilla Cavendish, Baroness Cavendish of Little Venice. In her new book, Generation Maybe: Why We’re Having Fewer Children, and What It Means for Us All, she investigates why birth rates are falling across very different countries and what those falling rates reveal about the way we live.

By the end, Cavendish explains why the baby bust is not simply a story about babies, but about whether people can imagine and build a different future.

Camilla Cavendish, Baroness Cavendish of Little Venice is an award-winning journalist, Financial Times columnist, and Harvard Kennedy School research fellow.

Margherita Volpato is Senior Producer at Intelligence Squared.
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