Shows
The Letterman PodcastAndrea Engelsberg Ordered Lunch From The Soup Nazi For The Letterman Writers, And It Was AwesomeEpisode 179 of The Letterman Podcast features Andrea Engelsberg — a former Late Show with David Letterman intern who had a front-row seat to the magic during one of the show’s hottest eras.In what feels like a nostalgic sugar rush, Mike and Andrea (who snack on candy throughout the episode) dive into her journey as a dual U.S./Canadian citizen who landed the coveted internship during the “last hurrah” of an era where most of the Late Night staffers who had made the jump to Late Show were still on board. Andrea soaked in every incredible moment from the insi...
2025-10-031h 23
Emanuel Macron - Audio BiographyMacron's High-Stakes Gambit: France in Turmoil | Biography FlashEmanuel Macron Biography Flash a weekly Biography.Emmanuel Macron has been at the absolute center of French and European news in the past week, as political drama has reached new heights in Paris. Just days ago, Macron appointed Sébastien Lecornu, his defense minister and a loyal ally, as the new prime minister following the dramatic resignation of François Bayrou. This marks Macron’s fourth prime ministerial appointment in just over a year, after Bayrou’s government collapsed when lawmakers voted down his budget plans in a resounding no-confidence ballot. According to NPR, Bayrou’s downfall was largely...
2025-09-1403 min
The EI PodcastHow the liberation of France shaped the modern world
Agnès Poirier, journalist and broadcaster, examines how the liberation of France in 1944 opened the way for Paris to become a laboratory of ideas. Read by Helen Lloyd.
FURTHER READING:
The liberation of France made the modern world | Agnès Poirier
Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit.
Image: Parisians gather around the Arc de Triomphe as Allied forces liberate the city. Credit: RBM Vintage Images / Alamy Stock Photo.
2025-05-0117 min
The EI PodcastChina vs the WTO: The Inside StoryEI's Alastair Benn and Paul Lay are joined by Michael Sheridan, author of two books on China and a foreign correspondent for 40 years, to discuss China’s rise, its subsequent entry into the international trading system, and its contemporary status as the problem child of our globalised world.
FURTHER READING:
China and America, the great decoupling | Michael Sheridan
Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. This episode of The EI Podcast was hosted by Paul Lay and Alastair Benn, and produced by Caitlin Brown. The so...
2025-04-241h 02
The EI PodcastMadame Bovary and the problem of desire
Marie Daouda, lecturer in French language and literature at the University of Oxford, shows how the pursuit of apparently 'real' desires comes at the expense of collective truth. The consequences can be disastrous. Read by Helen Lloyd.
FURTHER READING:
The truth shall set us free | Marie Daouda
Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit.
Image: Isabelle Huppert, Madame Bovary 1991. Credit: Collection Christophel / Alamy Stock Photo
2025-04-1718 min
The EI PodcastThe German key to European liberty
Brendan Simms, founder and Director of the Centre for Geopolitics at the University of Cambridge, illustrates why contemporary Germany struggles to muster a serious military response to the Russian challenge. Read by Helen Lloyd.
FURTHER READING:
The German key to European liberty | Brendan Simms
Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit.
Image: The Congress of Vienna (1814-1815). Napoleon watching the Tsar, the Emperor of Austria and King of Prussia dividing up Europe. Credit: Pictorial Press Ltd / Alamy
2025-04-1116 min
The EI PodcastThe making of Trump's worldviewWhat are the deep roots of Trump's worldview? Can we learn to read Trump’s behaviour? And are there opportunities to be had for those who can?
EI's Alastair Benn and Paul Lay are joined by Charlie Laderman, Senior Lecturer in International History at King's College London, to discuss how to interpret the Trump White House.
This episode was recorded on 7th April.
FURTHER READING:
How Iran’s Tanker War shaped Trump’s worldview | Charlie Laderman
Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public...
2025-04-101h 02
The EI PodcastHow Russia negotiates
Iuliia Osmolovska, head of the GLOBSEC Kyiv Office, argues that Ukrainians are better placed than their Western partners to decode the Russian negotiating style. Read by Helen Lloyd.
Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit.
Image: Street art in Tbilisi of Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin playing chess. Credit: Georg Berg / Alamy Stock Photo
2025-04-0433 min
The EI PodcastLiberty under attack
Juliet Samuel, columnist for The Times newspaper, highlights that a belief in liberty is not self-evident and its expansion is not inevitable. Read by Helen Lloyd.
FURTHER READING:
Liberty under attack from enemies within | Juliet Samuel
Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit.
Image: Second world war propaganda poster. Credit: Photo 12 / Alamy Stock Photo
2025-03-2820 min
The EI PodcastThe uses of comedyWhat makes us laugh? And why should it matter?
EI's Alastair Benn and Paul Lay are joined by the critic Mathew Lyons to discuss the uses of comedy.
FURTHER READING:
The subtle art of English comedy | Alastair Benn
Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. EI Talks... is hosted by Paul Lay and Alastair Benn, and produced by Caitlin Brown. The sound engineer is Gareth Jones.
Image: Eduard von Grützner's Falstaff, 1873. Credit: INTERFOTO / Alamy Stock Photo
2025-03-2750 min
The EI PodcastGazing back to see China’s future
Roel Sterckx, the Joseph Needham Professor of Chinese History, Science, and Civilization at Cambridge University, makes the case for studying China's centuries-long history. Read by Helen Lloyd.
FURTHER READING:
Gazing back to see China’s future | Roel Sterckx
Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit.
Image: The Great Wall of China. Credit: nagelestock.com / Alamy Stock Photo
2025-03-2117 min
The EI PodcastThe myth of Venice
Alexander Lee, author of Machiavelli: His Life and Times, argues that liberty was central to the idea of Venice. Read by Helen Lloyd.
FURTHER READING:
Liberty and the myth of Venice | Alexander Lee
Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit.
Image: Procession in Piazza San Marco by Gentile Bellini, 1496. Credit: Peter Barritt / Alamy Stock Photo
2025-03-1422 min
The EI PodcastSpartacus, history’s nowhere man
Richard Miles, historian and archaeologist, profiles Spartacus, a figure who floats between history and allegory. Read by Helen Lloyd.
FURTHER READING:
Spartacus, history’s nowhere man | Richard Miles
Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit.
Image: Promotional poster for the film, Spartacus. 1960. Credit: Allstar Picture Library Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo
2025-03-0719 min
The EI PodcastHow a Second Cold War could have been averted
Mary Elise Sarotte, Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis Distinguished Professor of Historical Studies at the Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs, reflects that the choice to enlarge NATO was a justifiable response to the geopolitics of the 1990s. The problems came later. Read by Helen Lloyd.
FURTHER READING:
How a Second Cold War could have been averted | Mary Elise Sarotte
Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit.
Image: The 'You are leaving The American Sector' sign at the Checkpoint Charlie crossing p...
2025-02-2820 min
The EI PodcastThe case for Classical musicWhat makes Classical music special among the arts? And where did it come from?
To reckon with the inexhaustible complexity of the western musical tradition, its long history and the roots of its contemporary crises, EI's Alastair Benn is joined by Richard Bratby, the chief classical music critic of The Spectator magazine, and Alexandra Wilson, musicologist and cultural historian.
Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. EI Talks... is hosted by Paul Lay and Alastair Benn, and produced by Caitlin Brown. The sound engineer is Gareth Jones.
2025-02-2756 min
The EI PodcastUkraine's rich history of resistanceRussia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 was slowed down because of determined, courageous resistance. That success also owed much to Western intelligence on the nature of the Russian attack. External support will remain crucial to the success of the Ukrainian war effort. Read by Helen Lloyd.Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit.Credit: The Motherland Monument in Kyiv. Credit: Ruslan Lytvyn / Alamy Stock Photo
2025-02-2131 min
The EI PodcastThe global threat to libertyNon-western elites are redefining freedom on their own terms, as sovereignty, state security and stability. But the world becoming a lot less free should concern us all. Read by Helen Lloyd.
Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit.
Image: Eugène Delacroix's 'Painting of Liberty Leading the People'. Credit: Exotica.im 20 / Alamy Stock Photo
2025-02-1419 min
The EI PodcastThe myth and magic of spy fictionAre we living through a golden age of espionage drama? And what do spy stories tell us about the true nature of the secret world?
EI's Alastair Benn is joined by David Omand, ex-head of GCHQ, the British government’s world-renowned cyber agency, and author of How Spies Think, Pauline Blistène, an expert on intelligence affairs and spy fiction, and Senior Editor Paul Lay to discuss the enduring popularity and legacy of the spy in fiction.
Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. EI Talks... is hos...
2025-02-1355 min
The EI PodcastHow the GDR fell in love with the WestCitizens of the GDR were exposed to an idealised version of western freedoms made up of luxury shopping, blue jeans and cowboy flicks. Read by Helen Lloyd.
Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit.
Image: Intershop in Friedrichstrasse in East Berlin. Credit: Sueddeutsche Zeitung Photo / Alamy Stock Photo
2025-02-0718 min
The EI PodcastPittacus, the good tyrantAfter unpromising beginnings and innumerable controversies, Pittacus, seventh-century ruler of Mytilene on Lesbos, should be remembered as one of the great leaders of his age. Read by Sebastian Brown.Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit.Image: An illustration of Pittacus. Credit: Historical image collection by Bildagentur-online / Alamy Stock Photo
2025-02-0611 min
The EI PodcastThe power of shareholder democracyThe limited liability company remains the best vehicle for capitalistic endeavour. Read by Helen Lloyd.
Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit.
Image: Lloyd's coffee house in the City of London. Credit: CPA Media Pte Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo
2025-01-3116 min
The EI PodcastThe dawn of the post-literate societyIs the era of mass literacy over? And what might a post-literate society look like?
EI's Alastair Benn is joined by Times columnist James Marriott and Senior Editor Paul Lay to discuss the promise and peril of a culture defined by the audiovisual.
Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. EI Talks... is hosted by Paul Lay and Alastair Benn, and produced by Caitlin Brown. The sound engineer is Gareth Jones.
Image: Painting of a woman reading by Carl Vilhelm Holsøe. Credit: Vidimages / Alamy S...
2025-01-3046 min
The EI PodcastWhat drives Vladimir Putin?Putin’s justifications for invading Ukraine uncannily reflect the motivations of one of Russian literature’s most famous antiheroes, Dostoevsky's Rodion Raskolnikov. Read by Helen Lloyd.
Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit.
Image: Vladimir Putin at an EU-Russia summit in Brussels. Credit: Peter Cavanagh / Alamy Stock Photo
2025-01-2417 min
The EI PodcastKonstantin Tsiolkovsky, rocket manThe Russian recluse, a scientific self-starter who left school at 14, developed pioneering theories of space travel that anticipated the great feats of the Space Race fifty years later. Read by Sebastian Brown.
Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit.
Image: Soviet poster featuring a portrait of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (1857-1935). Credit: Alexeyev Filippov / Alamy Stock Photo
2025-01-2313 min
The EI PodcastLiberty in the shadow of BonaparteBenjamin Constant’s considered response not only to the mass murder inflicted by the French Revolution, but to the attempt to reduce the whole French population to the condition of willing slaves under Bonaparte’s First Empire, provides a diagnosis of the character of many subsequent totalitarian regimes. Read by Helen Lloyd.
Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit.
Image: Napoleon Bonaparte and his wife Josephine were crowned Emperor and Empress of France on 2 December 1804. Credit: Heritage Image Partnership Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo
2025-01-1718 min
The EI PodcastThe case for ClassicsIs the study of Latin in peril? And what does the future hold for the ancient inheritance? EI's Alastair Benn is joined by Daisy Dunn, classicist and author, Armand D’Angour, Professor of Classics at Oxford University, and Paul Lay, EI’s Senior Editor, to discuss the value of ancient languages.
Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. EI Talks... is hosted by Paul Lay and Alastair Benn, and produced by Caitlin Brown. The sound engineer is Gareth Jones.
Image: Giovanni Paolo Panini's painting from circa 1730, The Coli...
2025-01-1642 min
The EI PodcastHow 1970s California created the modern worldWhat happened in California in the 1970s played an outsized role in creating the world we live in today – both in the United States and in large parts of the globe – for better or worse. Read by Helen Lloyd.
Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit.
Image: 1970s commercial airline advert. Credit: ClassicStock / Alamy Stock Photo
2025-01-1021 min
The EI PodcastGuittone d’Arezzo, Dante’s forgotten museAt a time of moral and political crisis, the medieval poet pioneered a daring and emotive vernacular style which inspired generations of Italian literature. Read by Sebastian Brown.
Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit.
Image: A sketch of Guittone d'Arezzo from the nineteenth century. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.
2025-01-0918 min
The EI PodcastThe writer's right to speak freelyWhile we may think we have moved beyond the censorship of the past, writers' artistic freedoms are still constrained. Read by Helen Lloyd.Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit.Image: Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence was the subject of a watershed obscenity trial. Credit: PA Images / Alamy Stock Photo.
2024-12-2017 min
The EI PodcastFredrik Logevall on the Vietnam WarEI's Angus Reilly discusses the history and legacy of the Vietnam War with Fredrik Logevall, author of Embers of War: The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America’s Vietnam.Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. EI Talks... is produced by Alastair Benn. The sound engineer is Gareth Jones.Image: Photograph of American troops running towards a chopper during the Vietnam War. Credit: World History Archive / Alamy Stock Photo
2024-12-1931 min
The EI PodcastThe price of freedomThe arc of history only bends towards justice when people of goodwill grab hold of it and wrench it in the direction of justice. Read by Helen Lloyd.Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit.Image: The Freedom is Our Religion banner in Maidan Square, Kyiv. Credit: Ali Kerem Yucel / Alamy Stock Photo
2024-12-1317 min
The EI PodcastEI Portraits — Paul Lay on Thomas Gage, a man of unintended consequencesHis intense faith led Thomas Gage to switch his religious allegiance during the tumultuous 17th century - he went on to have an enormous impact on Britain's colonial future. Read by Sebastian Brown.Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit.Image: Title Page from Thomas Gage's The English-American his travail by sea and land: or, A new survey of the West-India's (London 1648)
2024-12-1212 min
The EI PodcastEI Weekly Listen — David Butterfield on Epicurus, Lucretius, and the myth of mythlessnessMyths frame and tailor the past in a way that can ground and stabilise a community, however large or small. By situating them within the fabric of history, myths provide a sense of tradition and belonging to rally around. Read by Helen Lloyd.
Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit.
Image: A statue of Romulus and Remus on the Capitoline Hill in Rome. Credit: Russell Kord / Alamy Stock Photo
2024-12-0621 min
The EI PodcastThe problem with VAREI's Alastair Benn discusses how technology is transforming the world of sport with Daisy Christodoulou, education expert and author of I Can't Stop Thinking About VAR, an eloquent examination of the use of the video assistant referee (VAR) system in football.
Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. EI Talks... is hosted by Paul Lay and Alastair Benn. The sound engineer is Gareth Jones.
Image: Crystal Palace Fans hold up a banner to protest against VAR. Credit: Sipa US / Alamy Stock Photo
2024-12-0549 min
The EI PodcastEI Portraits — Andrew Roberts on Brendan Bracken, ‘more Churchillian than Churchill’
Andrew Roberts profiles Brendan Bracken, Winston Churchill's faithful and most trusted political adviser. Read by Sebastian Brown.Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit.Image: Winston Churchill leaving Downing Street with Brendan Bracken. Credit:: Fremantle / Alamy Stock Photo
2024-11-2911 min
The EI PodcastEI Talks... Kissinger's century with Thomas A. SchwartzEI's Angus Reilly discusses the life and legacy of Henry Kissinger with Thomas A. Schwartz, author of Henry Kissinger and American Power: A Political Biography.
Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. EI Talks... is produced by Alastair Benn. The sound engineer is Gareth Jones.
Image: President Gerald Ford and US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger conversing in the grounds of the White House in 1974. Credit: World History Archive / Alamy Stock Photo
2024-11-2828 min
The EI PodcastEI Weekly Listen — Henrik Meinander on Gustaf Mannerheim, leader of a free FinlandGustaf Mannerheim's rise from a troubled youth to Finland's great wartime leader illustrates how leadership is forged by both personal traits and the unpredictable tides of history. Read by Helen Lloyd.
Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit.
Image: Field Marshal Carl Gustaf Mannerheim, centre, discusses strategy against the Russians at his field headquarters on the Finnish-Russian border, April 1942. Credit: Associated Press / Alamy Stock Photo
2024-11-2219 min
The EI PodcastEI Talks... how to deter Russia with Kristjan Prikk and Eitvydas BajarūnasEI's Paul Lay discusses how the Baltic states have survived, and thrived, in the shadow of Russian aggression, with Kristjan Prikk, Estonia's Ambassador to the United States and Eitvydas Bajarūnas, a former Lithuanian senior diplomat, who has served as the Ambassador to Sweden, Russia and the UK.
Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. EI Talks... is hosted by Paul Lay and Alastair Benn. The sound engineer is Gareth Jones.
Image: A new Iron Curtain in Europe. Credit: aleksey Shirmanov / Alamy Stock Photo
2024-11-2126 min
The EI PodcastEI Weekly Listen — Rory Medcalf on the Australian way of war and peaceAustralia stands at the forefront of democratic resistance against China's expanding influence, reshaping its strategy and alliances to meet the challenges of a contested Indo-Pacific. Read by Helen Lloyd.
Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit.
Image: Two US Air Force B-2 Spirits fly alongside four Royal Australian Air Force EA-18G Growlers and a RAAF E-7A Wedgetail, August 2022. Credit: UPI / Alamy Stock Photo
2024-11-1527 min
The EI PodcastEI Talks... the making of the post-Wall world with Mary Elise SarotteThe fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 offered opportunities to reset relations between East and West. EI's Paul Lay discusses how these opportunities were squandered with Mary Elise Sarotte, Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis Distinguished Professor of Historical Studies at the Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs.Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. EI Talks... is hosted by Paul Lay and Alastair Benn. The sound engineer is Gareth Jones.Image: The fall of the Berlin Wall. Credit: Agencja Fotograficzna Caro / Alamy Stock Photo
2024-11-1425 min
The EI PodcastEI Weekly Listen — Andreas Rödder on Konrad Adenauer and the German realignmentKonrad Adenauer combined Realpolitik and German values and interests with international cooperation. The multilaterally integrated, co-operative nation state he championed was a fundamental innovation in European history. Read by Helen Lloyd.
Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit.
Image: German statesman Konrad Adenauer depicted on a coin. Credit: VPC Coins Collection / Alamy Stock Photo
2024-11-0817 min
The EI PodcastEI Portraits — Maria Golia on Carl Akeley, early pioneer of wildlife photography
Maria Golia profiles Carl Akeley, an inventor, sculptor, and taxidermist. His life's lessons still echo in the effort to conserve wildlife. Read by Sebastian Brown.
Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit.
Image: Wildlife photographer Carl Ethan Akeley photographed in 1926. Credit: Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery / Public Domain
2024-11-0714 min
The EI PodcastEI Talks... the lessons of the 1968 presidential election with Luke A. NichterEI’s Angus Reilly is joined by Luke A. Nichter, author of The Year that Broke Politics: Collusion and Chaos in the Presidential Election of 1968, to discuss Lyndon B. Johnson, Hubert Humphrey, Richard Nixon, and the battle for the future of America in a year that offers notable parallels to the election of 2024.
Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. EI Talks... is produced by Alastair Benn. The sound engineer is Gareth Jones.
Image: Television presenter Frank Reynolds covering the 1968 election. Credit: Everett Collection Inc / Alamy Stock Ph...
2024-11-0446 min
The EI PodcastEI Talks... why Europe needs a grand strategy with Marina E. HenkeEI's Alastair Benn is joined by Marina E. Henke, Professor of International Relations at the Hertie School, Berlin, to discuss how Europe can defend itself from the latest threats and thrive in a contested world.
Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. EI Talks... is hosted by Paul Lay and Alastair Benn. The sound engineer is Gareth Jones.
Image: Conflict in Europe. Credit: Kirill Makarov / Alamy Stock Photo
2024-10-3120 min
The EI PodcastEI Portraits — Adrian Wooldridge on Philippa Fawcett, wrangler extraordinaire
Adrian Wooldridge profiles Philippa Fawcett, the first female Senior Wrangler at Cambridge University and a trailblazer for women's achievement in a nascent meritocratic society. Read by Sebastian Brown.
Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit.
Image: 1890 engraving of Philippa Fawcett, the first female Senior Wrangler. Credit: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
2024-10-2414 min
The EI PodcastEI Talks... how to win Cold War II with Dmitri AlperovitchEI's Paul Lay is joined by Dmitri Alperovitch, leading geopolitical analyst, entrepreneur, and co-founder and chairman of Silverado Policy Accelerator, to discuss the parallels between US-Soviet rivalry and that of the US and China.
Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. EI Talks... is hosted by Paul Lay and Alastair Benn. The sound engineer is Gareth Jones.
Image: The US and Chinese flags on stacked containers. Credit: Christian Ohde / Alamy Stock Photo
2024-10-1729 min
The EI PodcastEI Talks... the attention dilemmaEI's Paul Lay and Alastair Benn discuss an attention dilemma that has haunted western thought for centuries.READING LISTOur attention dilemma is age-old | Alastair BennEpistulae Morales ad Lucilium | SenecaThe Essays of Michel de MontaigneDon Quixote | Miguel de CervantesEngelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. EI Talks... is hosted by Paul Lay and Alastair Benn. The sound engineer is Gareth Jones.Image: Detail from Echo and Narcissus by John William Waterhouse, 1903. Credit: SuperStock...
2024-10-0345 min
The EI PodcastEI Talks... the making of Xi Jinping with Michael Sheridan
Michael Sheridan, author of The Red Emperor: Xi Jinping and His New China, joins EI's Angus Reilly to discuss the personal and ideological roots of one of the world's most powerful, and inscrutable, leaders.
Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. EI Talks... is produced by Alastair Benn. The sound engineer is Gareth Jones.
Image: Xi Jinping with the Chinese flag. Credit: JHG / Alamy Stock Photo
2024-09-1943 min
The EI PodcastEI Talks... the search for a promised land with Rachel CockerellEI's Alastair Benn speaks to Rachel Cockerell, author of Melting Point: Family, Memory and the Search for a Promised Land, a history of the quest for a Jewish homeland at the turn of the 19th century and beyond, weaving memoir, documentary, and literature.
Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. EI Talks... is hosted by Paul Lay and Alastair Benn. The sound engineer is Gareth Jones.
Image: Theodor Herzl addresses the Sixth Zionist Organisation Congress in Basel, 1903. Credit: World History Archive / Alamy Stock Photo
2024-09-0538 min
The EI PodcastEI Talks... what the Romans found funny with Orlando GibbsEI's Alastair Benn sits down with Orlando Gibbs to discuss what the Romans found funny, what we might find not so funny about ancient humour, and whether there is something universal about the comedic genre.READING LISTNo Laughing Matter? What the Romans Found Funny | AntigonePlautus punching up: a different class of comedy | Engelsberg IdeasMary Beard, Laughter in Ancient Rome: On Joking, Tickling, and Cracking Up (University of California Press, 2014)Lionel Abel, Metatheatre: A New View of Dramatic Form (New York, Hill and Wang, 1963)Engelsberg Ideas is...
2024-08-2250 min
The EI PodcastEI Talks... the atomic human with Neil D. Lawrence
Neil D. Lawrence, inaugural DeepMind Professor of Machine Learning at the University of Cambridge and author of The Atomic Human: Understanding Ourselves in the Age of AI, joins the EI team to challenge received wisdom on our AI future.
Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. EI Talks... is hosted by Paul Lay and Alastair Benn. The sound engineer is Gareth Jones.
Image: An illustration of artificial intelligence. Credit: lorenzo rossi / Alamy Stock Photo
2024-08-0854 min
The EI PodcastEI Talks... Paris in the Belle Époque with Marie Kawthar Daouda
Marie Kawthar Daouda, author and a lecturer in French language and literature at the University of Oxford, joins EI's Alastair Benn to discuss how Belle Époque-era Paris continues to fascinate, with its burgeoning commercial culture, everyday beauty and glittering department stores.
Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. EI Talks... is produced by Alastair Benn. The sound engineer is Gareth Jones.
Image: Jean Béraud's painting 'Paris, rue du Havre', c. 1882. Credit: IanDagnall Computing / Alamy Stock Photo
2024-07-2524 min
Wein für Wein#142 Reinhold und Cornelia Schneider - Spätburgunder Engelsberg 2020Die Geschichte des Weinguts Schneider beginnt lange bevor das eigentliche Weingut gegründet wird: Ursprünglich ein Holzhandelsunternehmen und später eine Viehzucht, sind es Reinhold und Cornelia Schneider, die 1981 das Obst- und Weingut Schneider gründen. Heute bewirtschaften sie gemeinsam mit Sohn Alexander 8 Hektar Weinberge am "Nordpol des Kaiserstuhls". Der Fokus: Spätburgunder in höchster Qualität. Wie Reinhold und Cornelia überhaupt zum Wein gekommen sind und warum Alexander biologischen Weinbau oft für Augenauswischerei hält, hört ihr in der neuen Folge.Den Spätburgunder Engelsberg 2020 findet ihr bei Lobenbergs, preislich liegen wir hier bei 26€...
2024-03-1656 min
The EI PodcastEI Talks... Werner Herzog with Geoff Andrew and Muriel Zagha
Geoff Andrew, the BFI's programmer-at-large, and film critic Muriel Zagha sit down with EI's Deputy Editor Alastair Benn to discuss the varied, visionary and eccentric creations of the German filmmaker Werner Herzog.
Credits: The audio clips at 0:07 and 4:13 are taken from Werner Herzog: Radical Dreamer, directed by Thomas von Steinaecker. The film was released on BFI Player and BFI Blu-ray on 19 February. Courtesy of BFI Distribution.
The audio clip at 53:30 is an excerpt from The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser. It is currently on release in selected cinemas via the BFI. It aired at 27 Picturehouse sites on...
2024-03-061h 07
The EI PodcastWorldview — Ukraine, two years onTwo years on from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a solution, military or diplomatic, seems as far away as ever.
On Worldview, leading historians and commentators reflect on a conflict that has altered the state of global geopolitics.
Jade McGlynn, author of Russia’s War, calls in from Kyiv (00:56).
Shashank Joshi, defence editor of the Economist and Hew Strachan, military historian, illuminate the battlefield picture (24:18).
The possible outcomes are considered by Sergey Radchenko, expert on Russian foreign policy, and Tim Marshall, best-selling author, whose most recent book is The Future of Geography (1:00:45).
2024-02-221h 24
The EI PodcastEI Weekly Listen — David Frum on how empire-states are changing the gameFrom the Engelsberg Ideas Archive. States are back and they're out to challenge the international order.
Image: Vladimir Putin captured from screen. Credit: Anton Dos Ventos / Alamy Stock Photo
2024-02-1616 min
The EI PodcastEI Weekly Listen — Malise Ruthven on the appeal of ISISFrom the Engelsberg Ideas Archive. The organisation that emerged under the name ISIS is not simply a terrorist group. It is a hybrid organisation comprised of a proto-state, a millenarian cult capable of attracting recruits from far beyond its borders, a network of Salafi jihadist groups, an organised criminal ring and an insurgent army led by highly skilled former Baathist military and intelligence personnel. Read by Leighton Pugh.
Image: Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant fighters shown in propaganda photos released by the militants. Credit: Handout / Alamy Stock Photo
2024-02-0233 min
The EI PodcastEI Talks... AIIn the first episode of the Engelsberg Ideas editorial podcast, EI Talks..., Iain Martin, Paul Lay and Alastair Benn discuss Artificial Intelligence and how it might shape the future for better... or worse.
Image: Programmable humanoid robot NAQ. Credit: Lilyana Vynogradova / Alamy Stock Photo.
2023-05-2529 min
The EI PodcastWorldview — A Sacred Coronation for a Secular NationAdam Boulton is joined by Paul Lay, Senior Editor of Engelsberg Ideas, Agnès Poirier, journalist and author, and Royal biographer Hugo Vickers, to reflect on the deep meaning and symbolism of Britain's Coronation.
Image: King Charles III views a wooden carving at St. Laurence's Church in Ludlow, Shropshire. Credit: Michelle Jones / Alamy Stock Photo.
2023-05-0529 min
The EI PodcastWorldview — the power of central banksCentral banks have held the financial world in their grip for much of the twentieth century, but is their reign coming to an end?
In this episode of Worldview, Adam Boulton is joined by the former governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, along with journalist and author Merryn Somerset Webb, Iain Martin, Editor-in-Chief of Engelsberg Ideas, and economic historian, Samuel Gregg.
Image: Currencies from around the world. Credit: Jochen Tak / Alamy Stock Photo
2023-04-0638 min
The Aesthetic City#26 - Eric Norin: The Architecture Uprising, how to drive change towards beauty through democratic processes, social media and educationWe're excited to have Eric Norin as our guest on this episode. Eric is a classical architect from Sweden who studied at the School of Architecture in Stockholm, but fully discovered his passion for classical architecture at the Engelsberg summer school. Eric has been actively involved in the Swedish Architecture Uprising for several years, watching its growth and impact on the national conversation about architecture. We'll be discussing Eric' insights in the effect the Uprising has had, the power of democratic processes and social media in driving change, the lack of classical architecture education and the role Engelsberg played...
2023-03-141h 49
The EI PodcastEI Weekly Listen – Tom Holland on the empty metropolisEmpty city London had its harbingers in literature and history. How will it emerge from its isolation? Read by Leighton Pugh.https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/pandemics-and-the-metropolis-city-lockdown-london/Credit: 1000 Words / Shuttersotck
2021-07-2821 min
The EI PodcastDonald Sassoon on a world of nations and statesDespite globalisation, the nation state retains its privileged position in world politics. Read by Leighton Pugh.https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/a-world-of-nations-and-states-is-here-to-stay/Credit: AMA/Corbis via Getty Images
2021-07-2220 min
The EI PodcastJonathan Fenby on China's great uncouplingBeijing wants to foster a world where Chinese standards replace those of the post-1945 US-led system. Read by Leighton Pugh.https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/chinese-china-the-great-uncoupling/Credit: Feng Li/Getty Images
2021-07-0922 min
The EI PodcastEI Weekly Listen – Hew Strachan on the 1918-19 pandemicThe influenza pandemic behaved much like the Great War itself - picking out the young and fit before their time. Read by Leighton Pugh.
2021-07-0822 min
The EI PodcastHistory Lessons – Jonathan Dimbleby on Operation BarbarossaMattias Hessérus in conversation with Jonathan Dimbleby on the strategic decision that cost Hitler the war.
Credit: Art Media / Print Collector / Getty Images
2021-07-0244 min
The EI PodcastDavid Seedhouse: Covid-19 and the moral case for personal judgementThe tension between independence and compliance is everywhere in society – but in medicine, reason must come before rules. Read by Leighton Pugh.https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/covid-19-and-the-moral-case-for-personal-judgement/Credit: DeAgostini/Getty Images
2021-06-2524 min
The EI PodcastMatthew Goodwin: Meet the Zoomer generationThis period of turbulence could turn today's twenty-somethings into the leaders of a new liberal revolution. Read by Leighton Pugh.https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/meet-the-zoomer-generation/Credit: Jack Taylor/Getty Images
2021-06-1823 min
The EI PodcastTim Marshall: New Turkey's old politicsAs a result of President Erdogan's embrace of two interlinked geopolitical concepts, 'Strategic Depth' and 'Blue Homeland', Turkey faces international isolation. Read by Leighton Pugh.https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/new-turkeys-old-politics/Credit: Kerem Uzel/Bloomberg via Getty Images
2021-06-0920 min
The EI PodcastGraham Stewart on Thatcher's rescue from historical clichéTo argue that Margaret Thatcher attacked the post-war dream is to caricature, not illuminate, her importance to British history. Read by Leighton Pugh.https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/continuity-thatcher-rescuing-a-complex-leader-from-historical-cliche/Credit: John Downing/Getty Images
2021-06-0327 min
The EI PodcastMark Honigsbaum: Challenging the 'Great Reset' theory of pandemicsThucydides saw plague as an opportunity to improve the health of society. But history shows that pandemics have a way of disrupting medical and social progress. Read by Leighton Pugh.https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/challenging-the-great-reset-theory-of-pandemicsCredit: Bettmann
2021-05-2823 min
The EI PodcastHistory Lessons – Niall Ferguson on the politics of catastropheMattias Hessérus is in conversation with Niall Ferguson on how pandemics, and other disasters, shape human history.
Credit: Getty Images
2021-05-2442 min
The EI PodcastClive Aslet: The changing fate of the English country houseAmid the tumult of the 1970s, it appeared the traditional country house had gone into irreversible decline - but it was too early to write it off. Read by Leighton Pugh.https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/upstairs-downstairs-demolished-the-changing-fate-of-the-english-country-house/Credit: The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images
2021-05-2019 min
The EI PodcastWorldview – Can meritocracy be rescued and repaired?Iain Martin is joined by Adrian Wooldridge and Daniel Markovits to discuss the crisis of opportunity and self-reinforcing elites.
2021-05-1448 min
The EI PodcastHelen Thompson: Geopolitics of a pandemicThe Covid-19 crisis has accentuated all the geopolitical fault lines of the past decade. Read by Leighton Pugh.https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/geopolitics-pandemic-geopolitical-conflict/Credit: Adobe Stock
2021-05-0621 min
The EI PodcastHistory Lessons – Catherine Ostler on Elizabeth ChudleighMattias Hessérus is in conversation with Catherine Ostler on the 18th-century Duchess who scandalised a nation.
Credit: Hulton Archive / Getty Images
2021-04-301h 04
The EI PodcastPhilip Bobbitt: A government of lawsThe constitutional order is changing as citizens become alienated and demand more say. Americans must take care that their habits of law are not swept away. Read by Leighton Pugh.https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/a-government-of-laws/Credit: REUTERS / Alamy Stock Photo
2021-04-2914 min
The EI PodcastVanessa Harding: Remembering London's last Great PlagueLondon's response to its last plague epidemic involved close collaboration between crown, City and parish. Read by Leighton Pugh.https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/living-with-the-great-plague-of-1665/Credit: Culture Club / Getty Images
2021-04-2221 min
The EI PodcastJohan Hakelius: John Hughes and the making and unmaking of the American DreamThe films of John Hughes updated the American Dream for a new generation, and his complex legacy helps us understand what went so wrong. Read by Leighton Pugh.https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/john-hughes-and-the-making-and-unmaking-of-the-american-dream/Credit: CBS via Getty Images
2021-04-1314 min
The EI PodcastIskander Rehman: Why applied history mattersForget the seduction of grand theories and presentist moral judgments. To learn the lessons of the past, the great foreign policy analysts of our age must rediscover the art of historical discernment. Read by Leighton Pugh.https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/the-case-for-applied-history/Credit: BLM Collection / Alamy Stock Photo
2021-04-0847 min
The EI PodcastHistory Lessons – Margaret MacMillan on warMattias Hessérus is in conversation with Margaret MacMillan on how conflict has shaped human society, politics and psychology.
2021-03-3139 min
The EI PodcastGillian Clark: Survival lessons from Ancient RomeThe Romans have so much to teach us about what it means to live in a society in crisis. Read by Leighton Pugh.https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/survival-lessons-from-ancient-rome/Credit: Thomas Cole / Public domain
2021-03-2623 min
The EI PodcastPeter Frankopan: This crisis has the capacity to be apocalypticCovid-19 heralds the end of our interconnected world. We'll need wise leaders to navigate what comes next. Read by Leighton Pugh.https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/this-crisis-has-the-capacity-to-be-apocalyptic/Credit: Getty Images
2021-03-1920 minThe EI PodcastWorldview - China in the 90s: why did it rise?Niall Ferguson, Helen Thompson and Rana Mitter join Iain Martin to explore what happened to China in the nineties, and what created the conditions for China's spectacular rise in the new millennium.
2021-02-2647 min
The EI PodcastMaxwell's fall – John Preston on the mysterious demise of a disgraced tycoonMattias Hessérus is in conversation with John Preston, author of 'The Dig', on his new biography of British media baron Robert Maxwell.
2021-02-2238 min
The EI PodcastCan America lead again?Iain Martin with guests Sir Nigel Sheinwald, Professor Joseph Nye, Karin von Hippel and Tom McTague on the foreign policy change facing the Biden administration
2021-01-2252 min
The EI PodcastGCHQ – John Ferris on the official historyMattias Hessérus is in conversation with John Ferris, the historian 'behind the enigma' of Britain's signals intelligence agency.
2020-12-1938 minThe EI PodcastMI9 – Helen Fry on wartime escapeMattias Hessérus is in conversation with Helen Fry on the ingenious exploits of MI9 – the secret service for escape and evasion.
2020-12-1535 minThe EI PodcastDavid Omand on what it takes to think like a secret agentMattias Hessérus is in conversation with David Omand, former director of GCHQ, on how we can all learn to think like a spy.
2020-12-1444 min
Schwarzwald-PodcastBühlertal: Im Tal der 1000 LichterDie Wein-, Wander- und Adventsregion Bühlertal
Die Wein- und Wanderregion Bühertal liegt zwischen der Badischen Weinstraße und der Schwarzwaldhochstraße. Die Gemeinde ist vor allem dafür bekannt, Aktivurlaubern eine Fülle an Möglichkeiten zu bieten. Doch in der Adventszeit erwartet die Besucher mit dem Tal der 1.000 Lichter ein ganz besonderes Ereignis.
Seit 2015 leuchten jedes Jahr ab dem 1. Advents-Wochenende tausend Sterne entlang der Hauptstraße, dem Bach "Bühlot" sowie in vielen Geschäften und Häusern der Bürger. Der Startpunkt dieses Sternenweges ist der Brunnenplatz in Bühlertal. Bis zum 6. Januar lädt dieser h...
2020-12-1219 minThe EI PodcastFredrik Logevall on JFKOver 40,000 books have been written on JFK since his assassination, yet none have succeeded in getting behind the myth of Camelot. Join Mattias Hessérus in discussion with Fredrik Logevall on the making of the man who enchanted America.
2020-12-0448 minThe EI PodcastCovid and reform: can the West fix its governing systems?Iain Martin with guests Adrian Wooldridge and Vernon Bogdanor discusses the covid crisis and the long-term impact that it might have on the development of the West.
2020-11-1345 min
The EI PodcastAlexander Lee on MachiavelliIn this episode of History Lessons, Mattias Hesserus is joined by Alexander Lee to discuss Machiavelli’s life and works. Was he always an adept politician? Was he as immoral as is often claimed?
2020-09-2849 min
The EI PodcastAsian Philosophies of Rebirth with Jessica FrazierIn this episode of History Lessons, Mattias Hesserus and Jessica Frazier are in conversation about the differences between Eastern and Western philosophies of crisis. Is the desire for a return to ’normal’ inherently western? What can we learn from narratives of rebirth? And, was the global lockdown a mass-participation yogic experiment?
2020-09-1137 minThe EI PodcastCan the West be revived?How did the West land in, what we might politely call, a 'sub-optimal' condition? And is a revival of the West feasible? To discuss these questions Iain Martin is joined by Peter Frankopan and David Frum.
This is an Engeslberg Ideas podcast.
2020-07-2349 min
The EI PodcastLeadership in a Crisis with Andrew RobertsOn this episode of History Lessons, Mattias Hessérus is joined by the historian and author Andrew Roberts to look through the careers of great figures like Napoleon Bonaparte, Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher (as well as some of history's great villains, Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin) and see how they handled the pressure of a crisis.
History Lessons is an Engelsberg Ideas podcast.
Hosted by Mattias Hessérus.
With Andrew Roberts.
Produced by Nick Hilton for Podot.
2020-07-1026 minThe EI PodcastThe History of Quarantine with Lincoln PaineOn this episode of History Lessons, Mattias Hessérus speaks to the maritime historian Lincoln Paine, author of The Sea and Civilization, about the history of quarantine, how pandemics have affected trade and travel in the past, and whether globalisation can survive the current moment.
Hosted by Mattias Hessérus.
With Lincoln Paine.
Produced by Nick Hilton for Podot.
2020-07-0125 min
The EI PodcastArt, History and Pandemics with Tom HollandOn this, the first episode of History Lessons, Mattias Hessérus speaks to the historian Tom Holland about the relationship between reality and art in the age of a pandemic.
Hosted by Mattias Hessérus.
With Tom Holland.
Produced by Nick Hilton for Podot.
2020-06-1734 min