Andrew Chen is a specialist in growing tech businesses and for his new book, The Cold Start Problem, he has spoken to the founders of companies such as LinkedIn, Zoom, Uber, Dropbox, Tinder and Airbnb, to learn how startups can maximise their potential. Andrew has spent a career working with tech companies and tech investors, plus he's also a prolific writer with both a popular blog and newsletter. He joins economist and broadcaster Linda Yueh to discuss the new book and offer his insider's perspective on Silicon Valley success.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Autonomy, dignity and compassion. We wish to experience these things in our lives, so why shouldn’t we experience them in our deaths? That’s the argument made by those who support a change in the law to legalise assisted dying in the UK. People who are suffering intractably, they claim, but who are too ill to self-administer life-ending medication should have the right to be helped to end their lives. This would give choice and control to people with a terminal illness, marking a change from the current situation in which they must either take their own lives while they still have the capacity to do so, or continue to live in the knowledge that they are likely to become trapped in a state of intolerable suffering, which they cannot be helped out of. Of course we need to be aware of the so-called ‘slippery slope’ argument, which holds that a change in the law would lead to a situation where it becomes acceptable to kill people who do not wish to die. But with proper safeguards in place, claim its supporters, legalised assisted dying would be the hallmark of a civilised society. Quite the reverse, argue those who would keep the law unchanged. Assisted suicide is not the private act of an individual, they say, but one that involves relatives, friends, healthcare staff and society at large. The ‘right to die’, they insist, imposes a ‘duty to kill’ on someone else, most likely a doctor, imposing restrictions on that person’s autonomy. And then there is the risk of coercion by family members who stand to gain by a relative’s death. All too easily, the ‘right to die’ can become the ‘duty to die’, as people who are sick or disabled feel they should stop being a financial or emotional burden on those around them. Assisted dying would make death not something that we must simply accept when the time comes but a decision that each individual is responsible for – a move that would be deeply damaging to our society. Should assisted dying be viewed as a human right or as a danger to the most vulnerable people in our society?Arguing in favour of the motion were A. C. Grayling, Founder and Principal of New College of the Humanities at Northeastern University, and Professor of Philosophy; and Henry Marsh, a neurosurgeon and bestselling author, who was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer in 2021.Arguing against the motion were Anne Atkins, novelist and broadcaster; and Katherine Sleeman, Laing Galazka Chair in Palliative Care at King's College London and an honorary consultant in Palliative Medicine at King's College Hospital NHS Trust.The debate was chaired by paediatric doctor and TV presenter Guddi Singh. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It’s been almost 50 years since Nigerian writer Wole Soyinka, Africa’s first Nobel laureate for literature, last published a novel. Chronicles From the Land of the Happiest People on Earth is, his fellow writers agree, worth the wait. He joins Dr Louisa Egbunike
, Associate Professor in African Literature at Durham University, to discuss its his latest work: a satire and a whodunit mystery encompassing an expansive assessment of the last 60 years of Nigerian history.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Since Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his BJP party came to power in 2014, India has seen an increase in Hindu nationalism and a rise in hostility towards the Muslim minority population. Politician and writer Shashi Tharoor believes the country is at a crossroads. His recently published book, The Struggle for India’s Soul, looks at the political direction of the world’s second most populous nation, which he contends is splitting into two opposing factions: ethno-religious nationalists and liberal civic nationalists. If the ethno-religious nationalists prevail, he says, millions of non-Hindus would be stripped of their identity. Tharoor joins historian, author and broadcaster Rana Mitter to discuss the book and what lies ahead for India. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kate Bingham is the former Chair of the UK Vaccine Taskforce and she's also a shrewd business mind, having been a successful venture capitalist in sectors such as biotech for the past 30 years. She recently spoke with Jessica Pulay at the Cliveden Literary Festival to discuss how business acumen played its part in managing a team of experts from sectors such as science, medicine, industry and academia, in the race to find vaccines to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What now for the world? Governments have reached a climate deal which gets us closer to holding temperatures rises to 1.5C. But a last-ditch effort from India and China to water down pledges to phase out coal has led some to consider COP26 a failure. Yes, COP26 could have achieved more but is this agreement one that could potentially be seen as a strong foundation on which the world can build for the future?To debate the motion we heard from Bim Afolami, MP for Hitchin and Harpenden and Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Renewable and Sustainable Energy; Clover Hogan, climate activist, researcher on eco-anxiety and the founding Executive Director of Force of Nature; Caroline Lucas, former leader of the Green Party and MP for Brighton Pavilion; and Adair Turner, Chair of the Energy Transitions Commission.Chair for this week's debate was Helen Czerski, one of the UK’s most popular science presenters.—We’d love to hear your feedback and what you think we should talk about next, who we should have on and what our future debates should be. Send us an email or voice note with your thoughts to podcasts@intelligencesquared.com or Tweet us @intelligence2. And if you’d like to support our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations, as well as ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content, early access and much more, become a supporter of Intelligence Squared today.Just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Huma Abedin was Hillary Clinton’s most trusted aide and adviser for many years. Her recently published book, Both/And, reveals the details of that relationship as well as reflecting on the very public breakdown of her marriage to disgraced former congressman and convicted sex offender Anthony Weiner. She speaks to journalist Razia Iqbal about her life in politics and why she believes that during this current polarising moment in which we are often told to choose between either/or, she believes we can be both/and. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We go to movies that make us cry, scream or gag we poke at sores, eat spicy foods and run marathons. Some of us even seek out discomfort and humiliation for sexual gratification. Most of these activities are painful yet many of us find pleasure within them and Professor Paul Bloom of Yale University's recent book, The Sweet Spot, seeks to suss out why. Bloom joins writer and broadcaster Linda Yueh to discuss how pain can be a compelling draw for some and so repellent for many others.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared.See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today's episode comes from the How To Lead a Sustainable Business podcast, brought to you by Selfridges Group and Intelligence Squared. In the podcast, Alannah Weston, Chairman of Selfridges Group, speaks to inspiring leaders at the forefront of sustainability and business to find out what it takes to lead change and how businesses can put sustainability at their core. In this COP26 Special, Alannah is joined by Henry Dimbleby. Henry spent time as a journalist, cook and management consultant, before co-founding the healthy fast-food restaurant chain, Leon. He created the Sustainable Restaurants Association and London Union, a network of some of London’s largest street food markets. His philanthropic work includes campaigning tirelessly for healthy meals for school children, and he set up the Hackney School of Food. Most recently Henry was appointed lead non-executive board member at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), where he has led the National Food Strategy, publishing a ground-breaking review of the UK food system in 2020. Together they reflect on the Glasgow summit and discuss the role of government in combating the climate crisis. How To Lead a Sustainable Business is brought to you by Selfridges Group and Intelligence Squared. If you enjoyed this episode please take a moment to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts.  Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This episode is part of our Energised series made in partnership with Iberdrola. To hear more search Energised, wherever you get your podcasts.Transport emissions account for almost a third of global carbon dioxide emissions – and while other sectors such as the energy industry have reduced their emissions over the past three decades, transport emissions are growing. It is the EU’s second most polluting sector and the United Kingdom’s biggest single producer of carbon dioxide, with cars and vans making up the vast majority of these emissions. If we are to meet our net zero targets by 2050, as over 130 countries have committed to do, then something needs to be done about these gas-guzzling monsters. Enter electric vehicles. Right now they make up a minority of vehicles on the road but by 2030 cars and vans powered by fossil fuels will be banned, and five years after that so will hybrid vehicles. Electric cars are far more energy efficient, and are quieter and cheaper than cars that run on fossil fuels. So surely we should all encourage drivers to purchase electric vehicles and quickly render other vehicles obsolete. But hold on a second, some experts caution: electric vehicles are not a cure-all for our environmental problems, they say. Emissions from EV production are in fact on average higher than emissions produced during the traditional car manufacturing process, due to the production of the large lithium-ion batteries needed to power EVs. Furthermore, electric vehicles are only as green as the power used to charge their batteries. Renewables are a growing source of energy in the UK but we are still burning coal and gas to make most of our electricity. Should we be focusing on hydrogen fuel cells instead of electricity? Producing them causes less environmental damage than the production of lithium batteries. They provide a quicker charging time – and hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe. Or is improving cars the wrong solution to an enormous problem? Should we be encouraging people to get rid of their cars and use public transport? We were joined by Iberdrola’s Head of New Initiatives, Innovation & Sustainability Division Enrique Meroño and award-winning transport expert Christian Wolmar to debate whether electric vehicles will solve our transport and emissions problems or whether they are simply a false start in the journey towards green roads.—We’d love to hear your feedback and what you think we should talk about next, who we should have on and what our future debates should be. Send us an email or voice note with your thoughts to podcasts@intelligencesquared.com or Tweet us @intelligence2. And if you’d like to support our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations, as well as ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content, early access and much more, become a supporter of Intelligence Squared today.Just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices