The Northern Ireland Protocol – agreed between the United Kingdom and the European Union in 2019 – has been a source of tension since it came into force at the start of 2021. The protocol, which creates a special trading arrangement for goods coming in and out of Northern Ireland (the only part of the UK with a land border with the EU), was supposed to protect the integrity of the EU single market, maintain the peace on the island of Ireland and provide Boris Johnson with a way to finally get Brexit done. But fast-forward to today and the protocol is as contentious as ever. Unionists in Northern Ireland say the protocol is undermining the region’s place within the UK. Brexiteers say it is hampering Britain’s ability to make trade deals with the rest of the world. And the Government has now proposed a bill to make unilateral changes to the protocol which they say will preserve the Good Friday Agreement, changes which EU leaders say they will resist with legal action. How do we make sense of this thorny issue? Should the protocol be kept intact to maintain trust between the UK and the EU, or should it be rewritten to preserve the UK’s political stability? Speakers:Jill Rutter - Senior research fellow of UK in a Changing EuropeClaire Hanna MP - SDLP Member of Parliament for South Belfast since 2019Darren McCaffrey - Political Editor and Breakfast Presenter at GB NewsModerator:Emma Vardy- BBC Ireland Correspondent covering both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Tracing Russia’s vast border, which meets those of 14 other countries, helps tells the history of Russia itself. From its imperial past to Soviet-era expansions and contractions leading up to its current war of aggression in Ukraine today, the Russian border is a landscape of uneasy uncertainty for many of the country's immediate neighbours. Erika Fatland is a Norwegian writer whose work has focused on issues that range from terrorism to travel and cultural history. Her 2020 book, The Border, followed the path of Russia's border over thousands of miles in order to understand how countries approach being a neighbour to a temperamental superpower. Following the tragic events in Ukraine, the book is even more relevant and Erika joined our producer Catharine Hughes to talk about it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Activist, historian and academic Ibram X. Kendi's book, How To Be and Antiracist, won the National Book Award for nonfiction as well as topping bestseller lists in 2020, a year in which the murder by police of George Floyd made the impact of Kendi's words inescapable. He came to Intelligence Squared a few months prior in August 2019 for a wide-ranging discussion on the themes of the book with BBC News journalist and visiting journalism professor at Princeton, Razia Iqbal. The two speakers will be meeting again in the coming weeks for a follow-up conversation discussing what can be done to educate future generations, which is the subject of Ibram's new book: How To Raise An Antiracist. Head to www.intelligencesquared.com for tickets to the event at London's Conway Hall on Monday 4th of July. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Bisexuality is the world’s largest sexual minority but is potentially the least understood. In her new book, Bi: The Hidden Culture, History, and Science of Bisexuality, psychological scientist Dr Julia Shaw sets out to answer the questions and eliminate common misconceptions around bisexuality. Discussing the history of the B in LGBTQ+ and the myth of the bi gene, Julia is joined in conversation by our host Sharan Dhaliwal, author of Burning My Roti: Breaking Barriers as a Queer Indian Woman. If you'd like to explore more of the topics raised in today's discussion, check out Julia's own podcast, Bi People, a four part series made with Sofie Hagen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We delve back into the archive to 2018, when we held a debate getting to the heart of nature vs nurture. How much do our parents influence the people that we eventually turn out to be? We were joined by Professor of Behavioural Genetics Robert Plomin, the Developmental Clinical Psychologist Susan Pawlby, therapist, parenting counsellor and broadcaster Ann Pleshette Murphy, and Stuart Ritchie, lecturer in social genetics and developmental psychiatry and author of Science Fictions. Hosting the debate was Doctor and broadcaster, Dr Xand van Tulleken. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Susan Cain shot to fame in 2012 with her international bestseller Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking, in which she urged society to cultivate space for the undervalued introverts among us. Now she's back with another book asking us to reassess how we think about self expression: Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole. The book argues that by embracing the bittersweet at the heart of life – the sense that joy and sorrow are always paired – we can gain a heightened appreciation of the wonder and beauty of our own personal experience and throughout wider culture too. Our host for the discussion is writer, academic and broadcaster, Shahidha Bari. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In an increasingly polarised world, it’s not often we get books saying that difference is our greatest strength. But Farhan Samanani is a Canadian social anthropologist, whose recent book, How to Live with Each Other, does just that. It looks at how communities thrive when embracing their diversity. Farhan’s work and studies have taken him around the world but it’s the local, yet no less global, streets of Kilburn, a neighbourhood in northwest London, which informs much of his work. He's joined in conversation by Dipo Faloyin, senior editor and writer at VICE, and author of the book Africa is Not a Country, which focuses on issues of diversity and identity across the African continent. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Whether rapidly advancing artificial intelligence will eventually become a friend or foe to humanity is a pressing question when it comes to technology. But one smart human says there’s an area where we still have the edge: mathematics. In his new book, Mathematical Intelligence: What we have that Machines Don’t, mathematician turned educator Junaid Mubeen argues that the playfulness and exploratory nature of the human approach to maths is a quality that the linear and binary brains of machines are nowhere close to replicating. Junaid is joined in conversation by our host for the discussion, The Sunday Times' Rosamund Urwin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It was always going to be a disaster. Queues of HGVs stretching miles from Dover. The Good Friday Agreement threatened by the controversial Northern Ireland Protocol and increased support for Scottish Independence. That’s the argument of the doomsayers in this debate. But others claim that while short-term damage is inevitable – there is always blowback from a jilted partner – Brexit is a long-term project, one that is tied to the fundamental principle of sovereignty. Which side is right? To debate the issue, we welcome back Conservative politician Daniel Hannan, Labour MP Stella Creasy, and are joined by Robert Tombs, the historian of France and Britain, whose most recent book is This Sovereign Isle: Britain In and Out of Europe. Plus, Dominic Grieve, former Conservative MP and former Attorney General for England and Wales. Chairing the debate is Johnny Dymond, BBC News presenter and Royal Correspondent.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

George Monbiot is a journalist, campaigner and author, who is telling the world that the time for action on the climate crisis is now. His latest book, Regenesis: Feeding the World without Devouring the Planet, looks at how we can lessen the impact of food consumption and farming on the global environment. Our host for this discussion is Alice Thomson, columnist and interviewer for The Times. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices