Intelligence Squared

John Berger transformed the way generations thought about art, politics and the act of looking. Best known for Ways of Seeing, his work ranged across migration, capitalism, war and mortality, always asking how culture can help us understand the world around us.

In this episode, writer and academic Shahidha Bari speaks with Tom Overton about his new book, John Berger: From Life. Overton first got to know Berger while cataloguing his archive at the British Library, where forgotten photographs, letters and manuscripts would prompt unexpected phone calls from Berger himself: “Can I tell you a story?”

Why does Ways of Seeing still feel so radical? How did Berger’s politics shape his writing on art, migration and power? And why does his work continue to speak so directly to the present? Overton reflects on Berger’s collaborators, his political commitments and the enduring generosity of a thinker who believed art could create connection across time.

Tom Overton is a writer, editor and researcher. His new book, John Berger: From Life, draws on his personal relationship with Berger and years spent working with his archive.

Shahidha Bari is a writer, academic and broadcaster.

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Schools were promised that laptops, educational apps and artificial intelligence would make learning more personalised, engaging and effective. Cognitive neuroscientist and former teacher Dr Jared Cooney Horvath argues that the opposite may be true.

In his new book, The Digital Delusion, Horvath contends that classroom technology can fracture attention, weaken deep reading and encourage children to outsource the mental effort through which learning happens. But does the evidence prove that technology is causing the decline—or merely show that the two have occurred at the same time?

In this episode, Horvath joins Conor Boyle, Head of Programming at Intelligence Squared to examine the case against screens in schools, the growing use of AI tutors, the value of handwriting and human teaching, and wider social change.

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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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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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...

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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.

---

If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all our full ad free conversations, plus all of our Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more.

For £4.99 per month you'll also receive:

- Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes, wherever you get your podcasts

- Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series

- 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events

...

Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99:

- Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts

- Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series

…

Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access.

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