Elisabeth Kendall on Jihadist poetry as propaganda
Al-Qaeda's success in Yemen can in part be explained by the group's adept use of poetry as propaganda. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: An al-Qaeda logo is seen on a street sign in the town of Jaar in southern Abyan province, Yemen. Credit: Associated Press / Alamy Stock Photo
21m Feb 09, 2024
21m
The Edwardians: the calm before the storm
Alwyn Turner, author of Little Englanders: Britain in the Edwardian Era, speaks to Paul Lay about the early 20th century, an age of anxiety. Image: Street musicians in London in the Edwardian era. Credit: KGPA Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo
52m Feb 09, 2024
52m
Malise Ruthven on the appeal of ISIS
From 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 intelli...
34m Feb 02, 2024
34m
Can Israel win the peace?
Ahron Bregman, author of Cursed Victory: A History of Israel and the Occupied Territories, outlines his vision for a lasting peace between Israel, Palestinians and the Arabs. Image: An Israeli flag is seen through a dust cloud near the border with the Gaza strip. Credit: Eddie Gerald / Alamy Stock Photo
41m Feb 02, 2024
41m
Andrew Preston on the invention of American national security
By the time Kennedy and Johnson held the presidency in the 1960s, the definition of US national security had been stretched and expanded in previously unimaginable ways. It was not unusual for Americans to perceive their security frontiers as global – indeed, it was considered natural. But it hadn’t always been thus. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: Poster showing the American flag waving among c...
25m Jan 26, 2024
25m
The Soviet Union's bid for Africa
Daniela Richterova, Senior Lecturer in Intelligence Studies at the Department for War Studies, King's College London, reflects on the efforts the Soviet Union made to court African states and liberation movements during the Cold War and draws parallels with China and Russia's new scramble for Africa. Image: A monument to Arab-Soviet Friendship at the Aswan dam, Egypt. Credit: Matyas Rehak / Al...
37m Jan 26, 2024
37m
Charly Salonius-Pasternak on how Nordic and Baltic countries are preparing for war
Thinking about 'war in our time' and our region is no longer an activity restricted to historians or military planners. Politicians and citizens in the countries bordering the Baltic Sea have been forced to accept that it has become necessary to prepare for an unwelcome guest: war. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: A naval operation staged as part of the Freezing Winds military exercise, led by th...
23m Jan 19, 2024
23m
The life and work of Mayazaki Hayao
Alastair Benn is joined by Christopher Harding, cultural historian of Japan and author of The Light of Asia: A History of Western Fascination with the East, to discuss the life and work of celebrated animator Mayazaki Hayao, co-founder of Studio Ghibli, and his latest (and last?) film, The Boy and the Heron, a semi-autobiographical exploration of wartime bereavement, courage and ultimate redemp...
38m Jan 19, 2024
38m
Kimberly Kagan on the United States and the new way of war
The United States, still the dominant military power in the world, is immersed in a new era of warfare that it has not yet recognised as endemic and enduring. America is losing its wars to less powerful but more adaptable adversaries, while preparing inadequately for future inter-state conflicts. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: Posters of slain Iranian Revolutionary Guard General Qassem Soleiman...
20m Jan 12, 2024
20m
A month that shook the world
In December 1941, the Japanese military attacked Pearl Harbor, making the Second World War a truly global conflict. Paul Lay is joined by Charlie Laderman to discuss a month that shook the world. Image: Three US battleships stricken during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, 7 December 1941. Credit: GRANGER - Historical Picture Archive / Alamy Stock Photo
41m Jan 12, 2024
41m
Pascal Vennesson on the rise of transnational war-making
Political success for the global insurgents can arise not only from a military victory on the ground, but from a military stalemate and even a military defeat. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: Mock Houthi-made drones and missiles are set up in a city square in Yemen. Credit: Zuma Press / Alamy Stock Photo
33m Jan 05, 2024
33m
Rolf Ekéus on how to end wars
There is only one way out of total destruction and collapse, which is creative diplomacy. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: Dutch envoy Cornelis Calkoen received by the Ottoman grand vizier. Credit: World History Archive / Alamy Stock Photo
20m Dec 22, 2023
20m
Philip Bobbitt on the new global disorder
We cannot understand what is going wrong in the international order without first understanding what is going wrong in the constitutional order of states. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: The Statue of Liberty seen through a broken window on Ellis Island. Credit: Associated Press / Alamy Stock Photo
20m Dec 15, 2023
20m
Setting 2023 in perspective
What is the deep meaning of 2023? Alastair Benn is joined by Paul Lay and Iain Martin to set a dramatic year in perspective. Image: A woman lights a candle to express solidarity with Israel. Credit: ZUMA Press, Inc. / Alamy Stock Photo
55m Dec 15, 2023
55m
Yu Jie on the deep historical roots of China's global ambition
China projects its power and secures its national interests in three ways: exercising might, spending money and expressing its own mindset. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: CCP propaganda printed in rice fields. Credit: Fabio Nodari / Alamy Stock Photo
25m Dec 08, 2023
25m
A new world of intelligence
Paul Lay and Alastair Benn are joined by Matthew Hefler, post-doctoral fellow at the Ax:son Johnson Institute for Statecraft and Diplomacy, to discuss the changing role of intelligence services in an era of intense geopolitical competition. Image: The MI6 building in Vauxhall, London. Credit: Alex Segre / Alamy Stock Photo
25m Dec 07, 2023
25m
Andrew Monaghan on how the past shapes Russian grand strategy
Putin uses history not only to fit a narrative that Russia is strong when it stands together, but also to seek legitimacy. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: Russian Second World War propaganda poster. Credit: Shawshots / Alamy Stock Photo
23m Dec 01, 2023
23m
The challenges of counter-insurgency
What went wrong for the western alliance in Afghanistan? Paul Lay and Alastair Benn are joined by John Ferris, author of Behind the Enigma: The Authorised History of GCHQ, Britain's Secret Cyber-Intelligence Agency, to discuss whether liberal states can still carry out effective counter-insurgency operations. Image: U.S. Marines search a compound in Afghanistan. Credit: Stocktrek Images, Inc. ...
20m Nov 30, 2023
20m
Pär Stenbäck on religion and politics in the Middle East
Religion is often ignored as a political factor; in the Middle East, this is not possible. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: Supporters of the pro-Iranian Lebanese Hezbollah group wave the party flags in front of a poster of late Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini during a ceremony in Beirut. Credit: dpa picture alliance / Alamy Stock Photo
19m Nov 24, 2023
19m
The promise and perils of declassifying intelligence
Paul Lay and Alastair Benn are joined by Calder Walton, author of Spies: The epic intelligence war between East and West, to discuss how governments can use covertly acquired intelligence as a powerful tool to influence debate — and how easily it can all go wrong. Image: US Ambassador to the United Nations, Adlai Stevenson, second from right, confronts Soviet delegate Valerian Zorin, first on ...
21m Nov 24, 2023
21m
Wolfgang Palaver on the complex relationship between violence and religion
Wherever we insist on truth in order to win over our adversaries, we awaken a spirit of violence that endangers our living-together in the world. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: The Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre by Francois Dubois. Credit: Niday Picture Library / Alamy Stock Photo
48m Nov 17, 2023
48m
Recovering the women of Augustine's Confessions
Paul Lay and Alastair Benn are joined by Kate Cooper, author of Queens of a Fallen World, to discuss the women who shaped the life of Augustine of Hippo. Image: A 17th century painting of Saint Augustine and Saint Monica. Credit: The Picture Art Collection / Alamy Stock Photo
56m Nov 15, 2023
56m
Gary Lachman on the sources of mystical experience
Mystical experience is the missing link in modern accounts of how human beings came to be conscious. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: Trasverberazione di Santa Teresa d’Avila (1640). Credit: jozef sedmak / Alamy Stock Photo
42m Nov 10, 2023
42m
The Beatles’ cultural legacy
Paul Lay, Alastair Benn and Iain Martin discuss the cultural legacy of the Fab Four and why the Beatles story continues to fascinate sixty years on. Image: The Beatles showing their MBE Insignias after receiving them from the Queen. Credit: PA Images / Alamy Stock Photo
44m Nov 10, 2023
44m
Benedetta Berti on the legacy of the Arab Awakening of 2010
The Middle East and North Africa's transition from authoritarianism to democracy has been slow and painful, with both hopeful gains as well as worrisome setbacks. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: Crowds cheer joyfully in central Cairo, Egypt. Credit: Jake Lyell / Alamy Stock Photo
29m Nov 03, 2023
29m
Tecumseh and the Shawnee Confederacy
Paul Lay is joined by Kori Schake to examine the rise and fall of the inspirational Shawnee leader Tecumseh who used strategy to defy America's westward expansion. Image: Shawnee chief Tecumseh confronting William Henry Harrison in Indiana. Credit: North Wind Picture Archives / Alamy Stock Photo
35m Nov 02, 2023
35m
Armin W. Geertz on the pre-historical roots of religious belief
The history and evolution of (proto) religious behaviour is ancient. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: Print of early humans making fire. Credit: Science History Images / Alamy Stock Photo
46m Oct 27, 2023
46m
A deep history of Gaza
Paul Lay and Alastair Benn are joined by James Barr, historian of the Middle East, to discuss Gaza's long and complex history and how it continues to be felt in the present day. Image: A print of Gaza around 1880. Credit: Holy Land Art / Alamy Stock Photo
47m Oct 27, 2023
47m
David Goodhart on bridging the value divide
Finding a new settlement between the Anywheres and the Somewheres is now the central task of modern politics. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: Poverty in London, 1919. Credit: Classic Picture Library / Alamy Stock Photo
22m Oct 20, 2023
22m
A new translation of the Iliad
A new translation of the Iliad is an opportunity to reassess the first great work of European literature. Image: Achilles and Memnon fighting in Greek pottery dating to 300 BC. Credit: Peter Horree / Alamy Stock Photo
41m Oct 20, 2023
41m
Jonathan Fenby on the challenge for a totalitarian China
The need to buttress control is the bottom line for Xi. Image: Portrait of Mao on the street. Credit: Chuck Nacke / Alamy Stock Photo
21m Oct 13, 2023
21m
Israel’s harrowing week and the consequences for the Middle East
Paul Lay and Alastair Benn are joined by Suzanne Raine, national security and counter-terrorism expert, and Michael Goldfarb, author and broadcaster, to discuss Hamas' terrorist outrage and the uncertain future that follows for the region. Image: Members of the Hamas Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades. Credit: ZUMA Press, Inc. / Alamy Stock Photo
52m Oct 13, 2023
52m
Kjell Nordström on the future of capitalism
The proletarianisation of knowledge promises a bumpy ride for both us and capitalism as we know it. Read by Leighton Pugh. The New York Stock Exchange. Credit: Sergi Reboredo / Alamy Stock Photo
19m Oct 06, 2023
19m
The cultural resonances of Autumn
Paul Lay and Alastair Benn discuss the idea of Autumn, a season peculiarly rich in cultural resonances. Image: Autumn on the Seine, Claude Monet (1840-1926). Credit: IanDagnall Computing / Alamy Stock Photo
35m Oct 06, 2023
35m
Maurizio Viroli on the city as a political order and urban space
A good political community can only live and flourish in cities that speak to the soul of the citizens and inspire the love of order. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: Map of Renaissance Florence. Credit: Pictures Now / Alamy Stock Photo
19m Sep 29, 2023
19m
The problems and perils of nuclear strategy
Paul Lay is joined by Francis J. Gavin, Director of the Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs at Johns Hopkins SAIS, to discuss nuclear statecraft past and present. Image: Still from Stanley Kubrick's 1963 film Dr Strangelove. Credit: TCD/Prod.DB / Alamy Stock Photo
40m Sep 29, 2023
40m
Gudrun Persson on rewriting Russian history
In modern Russia, the past is being rewritten to suit Vladimir Putin's script. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: People carry portraits of their relatives - soldiers of the Second World War - as they take part in the Immortal Regiment march in downtown Moscow. Credit: SOPA Images Limited / Alamy Stock Photo
21m Sep 22, 2023
21m
The conduct and practice of war
Paul Lay is joined by the historian Sir Hew Strachan to discuss On War, the military theorist Carl von Clausewitz's seminal text, and the indispensable guide to the conduct and practice of war. Image: Carl von Clausewitz. Credit: ART Collection / Alamy Stock Photo
40m Sep 22, 2023
40m
Fraser Nelson on the Intellectual Dark Web
The intellectual dark web will, most likely, be a flicker in history, a reminder of when the West’s conversation was at its most shrill, and when free-thinking people had to look to underground clubs for a place to air their thoughts. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: Camille Paglia. Credit: Independent / Alamy Stock Photo
23m Sep 15, 2023
23m
Kennedy’s enduring status
JFK biographer Fredrik Logevall, in conversation with EI's Paul Lay and Iain Martin, discusses Kennedy's enduring and 'iconic' status, his claims to greatness, his style, and what his example offers for a divided America. Image: During a campaign trip Senator John F. Kennedy greets a roadside crowd in Indiana. Credit: American Photo Archive / Alamy Stock Photo
39m Sep 14, 2023
39m
Christopher Coker on the changing meaning of patriotism in war
Dying to defend territory is an ancient human need - but war in the 21st century may not follow the script. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: English propaganda poster from the First World War showing a column of soldiers and civilians marching to war. Credit: Photo 12 / Alamy Stock Photo
22m Sep 08, 2023
22m
A guide to Rugby Union
In the latest episode of EI Talks... Paul Lay and Alastair Benn put together an idiot's guide to Rugby Union. The World Cup, the sport's showcase competition, kicks off tonight. The team gives their predictions. Image: French Rugby poster from the 1930s. Credit: Lordprice Collection / Alamy Stock Photo
32m Sep 08, 2023
32m
Remaking the moral case for capitalism by Iain Martin
A defence of capitalism will have to rest first and foremost on an appeal to ethics, obligation, and duty. Read by Leighton Pugh.
23m Sep 01, 2023
23m
Spoken history: the modern importance of indigenous cultures by John Hemming
Our information-rich civilisation is not superior or inferior to the pre-literate world of Brazil's indigenous peoples, just different. Read by Leighton Pugh.
23m Aug 25, 2023
23m
EI Weekly Listen — Mark Plotkin on the price of deforestation
The destruction of rainforests threatens valuable cultures and reams of possible medical innovations. Read by Leighton Pugh. Credit: Dennis Frates / Alamy Stock Photo
14m Aug 11, 2023
14m
EI Weekly Listen — On the good society by David Goodhart
 A good society is one with a proper balance between the aptitudes of ‘head’, ‘hand’ and ‘heart’. The modern knowledge economy, however, has delivered higher and higher returns to the cognitive elite and reduced the relative pay and status of manual and caring jobs. Read by Leighton Pugh.
25m Aug 04, 2023
25m
EI Weekly Listen — Time to regulate the development of AI by Maria Borelius
The risks we now face are vast, as is the potential upside of the technology. Read by Leighton Pugh. Art installation on the theme of AI. Credit: Michele D'Ottavio / Alamy Stock Photo
24m Jul 28, 2023
24m
Mick Jagger at 80
As the Rolling Stones frontman enters his ninth decade, EI asks whether there is a future for ageing rockers. Image: Mick Jagger in 1975. Credit: Pictorial Press Ltd (https://www.alamy.com/search/imageresults.aspx?cid=C6LUJ5J4D99AJ2U63WH2B7UN766KQ4JGVRQARYWP3CLMDLCRF3XEMH7NWX5ZN9G3&name=Pictorial%2bPress%2bLtd&st=12&mode=0&comp=1) / Alamy Stock Photo
41m Jul 27, 2023
41m
What the Silicon Valley idealists got wrong
The internet and social media were supposed to democratise knowledge and unite the world. Things didn't quite turn out that way. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder of Facebook. Credit: Kristoffer Tripplaar / Alamy Stock Photo
22m Jul 20, 2023
22m
The future of tourism
Paul Lay and Alastair Benn discuss the explosion of tourism in the modern era and what might come next. Image: Travel poster encouraging tourists to visit Blackpool. Credit JJs / Alamy Stock Photo
39m Jul 20, 2023
39m