Nick Higham is a journalist and author known to TV viewers in the UK as a former correspondent for BBC News and also as regular host of its literary interview show: Meet the Author. His new book, The Mercenary River: Private Greed, Public Good, A History of London's Water, tells the story of a resource in the city many take for granted. But the flow of water, like any natural resource, has often been fiercely contested, diverted and exploited by profiteers in London over the centuries. Our host for this discussion is the author of books including As Kingfishers Catch Fire and Winchelsea, Alex Preston. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Over four million people have fled Ukraine since Russia's invasion began. The support for Ukranians has been compassionate and heartwarming but it has also raised questions about why those fleeing North Africa and the Middle East are not afforded the same degree of sympathy. Sally Hayden is an award-winning journalist and photographer, and Africa Correspondent for The Irish Times. Her new book, My Fourth Time, We Drowned: Seeking Refuge on the World’s Deadliest Migration Route, tells the stories of refugees making perilous journeys and seeks to investigate the murky politics that means not all asylum seekers are given the same opportunities. Our host for this discussion is the economist, broadcaster and writer, Linda Yueh. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

How we save the planet is clear: we need to prevent global temperatures from rising more than 1.5 degrees in order to avoid doing irreversible damage. But exactly what should we do to reduce damaging greenhouse gas emissions? In recent years, hydrogen has emerged as a promising source of clean energy. It has been called ‘freedom fuel’, the ‘Swiss army knife’ of the energy transition, and a ‘silver bullet’ for decarbonisation. But is it as simple as that? In this debate we separate fact from fiction with energy experts Barry Carruthers, hydrogen director of ScottishPower; Fiona Harvey, The Guardian’s environment correspondent; and Professor Nigel Brandon, Chair in Sustainable Development in Energy at Imperial College London. Chairing the debate is Kamal Ahmed, journalist, author and former BBC News Editorial Director. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We are in an era of crisis, collapse, and reactionary tyrants, argues Laurie Penny, but we are also witnessing a transformation: a revolutionary change in how we define gender, sex, consent and whose bodies matter. In her new book, Sexual Revolution: Modern Fascism and the Feminist Fightback, Laurie offers an urgent analysis of this moment of sexual politics we are living through. Our host for the discussion is cultural historian and broadcaster Shahidha Bari. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has laid bare the West’s reliance on Russian oil and gas. Around 40 per cent of Europe’s gas comes from Russia, while some 7 per cent of US oil is Russian. Journalists Javier Blas and Jack Farchy’s new book, The World for Sale: Money, Power and the Traders Who Barter the Earth’s Resources, tells the story of how trading commodities such as these has shaped the global financial landscape and why we find ourselves in a pivotal moment in which geopolitical and economic relationships are being tested. Investigative journalist and Manveen Rana speaks with Javier and Jack about the book and its wider themes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Bestselling investigative journalist Oliver Bullough discusses his recent book, Butler to the World, which details how Britain became a favoured destination for funnelling the finances of oligarchs and the globe's super rich. He joins fellow journalist and broadcaster Manveen Rana to talk about the book and how international finance plays into the current situation in Ukraine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this debate from the Intelligence Squared archive, we head back to 2020, when we invited journalist and broadcaster Mehdi Hasan, academic and writer Azadeh Moaveni, the Saudi political analyst Salman al-Ansari and former Conservative MEP Daniel Hannan to debate the motion: Iran is Not Our Enemy. The discussion touches on many issues that hold relevance in the current moment, ranging from the effectiveness of sanctions to the capabilities of nuclear-armed nations. The debate was chaired by the BBC's Chief International Correspondent, Lyse Doucet.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Professor Lewis Gordon is a leading philosopher and Department Head at the University of Connecticut who believes that intellectual thought matters as much as political activism in the struggle to achieve racial justice. His recent book Fear of Black Consciousness is an exploration that combines academic theory and also his ideas on pop culture to create a broad and thought-provoking study, Gordon is joined in conversation by Professor Paul Gilroy, author, one of the world’s foremost theorists of race and racism, and Founding Director of the Sarah Parker Remond Centre for the Study of Racism & Racialisation at University College London. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In his theory of evolution, Charles Darwin cast the female animal as passive, coy, monogamous and submissive: in other words, in the shape of a Victorian housewife. Meanwhile the male animal became the main event, the dominant driver in his theory of evolutionary change. But according to a revolution in zoology and evolutionary biology, this is all wrong. Lucy Cooke, zoologist, explorer, and author, joins host Helen Czerski to set the record straight and discuss her new book, Bitch: A Revolutionary Guide to Sex, Evolution and the Female Animal. Her research has taken her from Madagascar to Peru where she’s made discoveries about female moles, meerkats and killer whales, dispelling biological myths around passivity, weakness and submissiveness. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Helen Thompson is Professor of Political Economy at the University of Cambridge, a columnist for The New Statesman, and has been a regular contributor to the Talking Politics podcast. Her new book, Disorder: Hard Times in the 21st Century, looks at decades of geopolitical history that have fed into our current moment: one of war and conflict, nations competing for dwindling natural resources, and the climate emergency casting a long shadow. She joins journalist and author Andrew Mueller to discuss how we got here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices