What is Intelligence Squared?
Intelligence Squared occupies a unique position in Sydney’s social and intellectual landscape. It is the only institution in town - aside from Parliament - to provide a forum for debate on the crucial issues of the day.
But unlike Parliament, its debates are consistently exciting, witty, provocative - and comfortable, held as they are at the City Recital Hall, Angel Place. Best of all, you are invited to watch the live debates and even participate.
Covered by The Sydney Morning Herald and broadcast nationally by ABC Radio and ABC Digital Television, the programs are designed to reach a wide audience and attract as speakers the top experts, specialists and passionate advocates for both sides of each issue to be debated.
Read more about Intelligence Squared Australia and the live debates series.
Live debates & ticketing:
Forthcoming debates in the current series are below. Read more about ticketing, including prices. You can also view details of past events, including links to watch recordings of these events.
Note that you can purchase season subscription tickets for the entire series of debates (nb: Season tickets are currently $125.00 per subscription. The ticketing page initially shows the full value of the tickets and the season discount is calculated once you choose the number of seats. Read more).
China is not fit to host the Olympics
20 May 2008
Prince Charles has declined to attend the Beijing games as a protest against perceived human rights abuses. Steven Spielberg heads a list of celebrities urging others to stay away. However, are China’s failings any greater than those of other nations that have hosted the Olympics?
Read more ...
By 2020 only the rich will be at home in Australia
8 July 2008
It used to be that the ‘Australian Dream’ was to own your own home – a tangible sign of achievement in an egalitarian society. However, for many people the dream has become an expensive fantasy.
Read more ...
We’d be better off without religion
19 August 2008
While the world’s religions have inspired stunning acts of creation, they also have been implicated in some of the darkest deeds in human history. If God cannot be blamed for such moments of evil, His priests and prophets at least have a case to answer. So what might they say?
Read more ...
For a sporting nation we’re not very sporting
30 September 2008
When Adam Gilchrist ‘walked’ during the semi-final of cricket’s World Cup in 2003, it was front page news across the land. Why? Because such an act of sportsmanship, by an elite Australian athlete, was deemed to be so rare.
Read more ...
America has lost its moral authority
29 October 2008
There was a time when America spoke with a semblance of moral authority – not because the world believed the rhetoric, but because Americans did. Thus, America received the benefit of the doubt – even when self-interest was evidently mixed with a just cause. However, has America lost legitimacy?
Read more ...
More events ...
