Why the brain is the ultimate weapon of war
EI's Paul Lay is joined by neuroscientist Nicholas Wright to discuss how the brain shapes war, and how war shapes the brain. Image: The brain as a weapon of war. Credit: fStop Images GmbH
1hr 1m Dec 18, 2025
1hr 1m
The end of Pax Britannica
Graeme Thompson on the fall of a liberal world order. Read by Leighton Pugh. Read the original essay here: https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/the-end-of-pax-britannica/. Image: 'Taming the British Lion'. Puck magazine, 1888. Credit: Historical Images Archive
30m Dec 11, 2025
30m
The classical key to the AI revolution
John Tasioulas examines how a classical conception of democracy – distinct from liberal democracy – may offer the resources needed to meet the challenges posed by Artificial Intelligence. Read by Leighton Pugh. Read the original essay here: https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/the-classical-key-to-the-ai-revolution/. Image: Rudolph Müller, View of the Acropolis from the Pynx (1863). Credit: Era...
22m Dec 04, 2025
22m
The Risorgimento myth
Gerald Warner on the origins of a 'black legend' designed to discredit the once-flourishing Bourbon Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Read by Leighton Pugh. Read the original here: https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/the-risorgimento-myth/. Image: A painting displaying the splendour of the Neapolitan fleet. Credit: The Picture Art Collection
23m Nov 27, 2025
23m
China's quest to engineer the future
EI's Paul Lay is joined by technology analyst Dan Wang to discuss how China has engineered its way to global power status. Image: New high-rise buildings in China. Credit: ton koene
44m Nov 20, 2025
44m
The double agent who introduced Japan to the West
Bill Emmott (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/bill-emmott/) profiles Lafcadio Hearn, the Anglo-Irish-Greek foreign correspondent who made Japan his home. Read by Leighton Pugh. Read the original essay here: https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/the-double-agent-who-introduced-japan-to-the-west/. Image: Lafcadio Hearn photographed with his wife, Setsuko Koizumi, and their son. Credit: GRANGER -...
20m Nov 13, 2025
20m
Lessons from the Wall Street Crash
Bestselling author Andrew Ross Sorkin discusses his new book, 1929: The Inside Story of The Greatest Crash in Wall Street History (https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/321010/1929-by-sorkin-andrew-ross/9780241479414) , with EI's Iain Martin. Image: The Wall Street financial crash of 1929, with a city businessman speculator trying to sell his car for $100 cash, having lost all on the stock market. C...
32m Nov 05, 2025
32m
1821 and the invention of world order
Historian Damian Valdez on international order's 19th-century origins. Read by Leighton Pugh. Read the original essay here: https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/1821-and-the-invention-of-world-order/. Image: Mexican general Agustín de Iturbide rides through a ceremonial arch to welcoming officials in Mexico City on September 27, 1821, after decisively winning independence for Mexico. Credit: Al...
20m Oct 30, 2025
20m
The growing-pains of Graham Greene
Critic Malcolm Forbes (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/malcolm-forbes/) investigates Graham Greene's troubled childhood. Read by Leighton Pugh. Read the original essay here: https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/the-growing-pains-of-graham-greene/. Image: Graham Greene in 1940. Credit: Everett Collection Historical / Alamy Stock Photo
23m Oct 23, 2025
23m
The Slavic War according to Stalin
Historian Luka Ivan Jukic (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/luka-ivan-jukic/) explores how Stalin hijacked the Slavic cause to forge the Soviet Empire. Read by Leighton Pugh. Read the original essay here: https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/the-slavic-war-according-to-stalin/. Image: A poster celebrating Stalin at the Russian State Library, Moscow. Credit: Album / Alamy Stock Photo
26m Oct 16, 2025
26m
A warning to the young: just say no to AI
Aaron MacLean (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/aaron-maclean/) , host of the School of War podcast, on AI's threat to the life of the mind. Read by Leighton Pugh. Read the original essay here: https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/a-warning-to-the-young-just-say-no-to-ai/. Image: The Library Hall of the Upper Lusatian Library of Sciences. Credit: Petr Svarc / Alamy Stock Photo
14m Oct 09, 2025
14m
The Slow Horses are Britain’s perfect spies
Alastair Benn (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/alastair-benn/) on the magic of Mick Herron’s Slough House series. Image: Still from Apple TV's Slow Horses. Credit: LANDMARK MEDIA / Alamy Stock Photo
15m Oct 02, 2025
15m
Stephen Kotkin on a new age of warfare
EI's Paul Lay (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/paul-lay/) discusses a world order in flux with Stephen Kotkin (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/stephen-kotkin/) , historian and biographer of Stalin. Image: A Canadian soldier during a NATO-led operation. Credit: Associated Press (https://www.alamy.com/search/imageresults.aspx?cid=3QUBN3T9EFPBL6Y3AQ35N5ZJWEA4G8FKVN5S8RQL59D9LH9QJVLH8WCVK2LS...
1hr 8m Sep 25, 2025
1hr 8m
The Great French Songbook
Why do people the world over enjoy listening to songs sung in French? Critic Muriel Zagha (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/muriel-zagha/) illuminates the living tradition of French chanson. Read the original essay here: https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/the-great-french-songbook/. Image: Juliette Gréco, the French actress and singer. Credit: Heritage Image Partnership Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo
16m Sep 18, 2025
16m
Our attention dilemma is age-old
Alastair Benn (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/alastair-benn/) explores an attention dilemma that has haunted western thought for centuries. Read by Leighton Pugh. Read the original essay here: https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/our-attention-dilemma-is-age-old/. Image: Detail from Echo and Narcissus by John William Waterhouse, 1903. Credit: SuperStock / Alamy Stock Photo
14m Sep 11, 2025
14m
How the state can do more for less
Historian David Cowan (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/david-cowan/) explains how radical reform can reshape the state. Read by Leighton Pugh. Read the original essay here: https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/how-the-state-can-do-more-for-less/. Image: A political caricature, 'Political Dreams, Visions of Peace, Perspective Horrors', by James Gillray of Pitt the Younger. Credit: INTERFOTO /...
16m Sep 04, 2025
16m
The espionage revolution
David Omand (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/david-omandq/) , ex-head of GCHQ, the British government's world-renowned cyber agency, explores how intelligence officers exploit the latest technological advances. Read the original essay here: https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/the-espionage-revolution/. Image: Digital espionage is on the rise. Credit: Stu Gray / Alamy Stock Photo
16m Aug 28, 2025
16m
Graham Greene's Vietnam
EI's Alastair Benn (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/alastair-benn/) and Paul Lay (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/paul-lay/) are joined by Jonathan Esty (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/jonathan-esty/) , of Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, to discuss Graham Greene’s The Quiet American, published 70 years ago, a gripping novel that captures the passing of the bato...
1hr Aug 21, 2025
1hr
How the Nazis weaponised Charlemagne
Samuel Rubinstein (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/samuel-rubinstein/) explores how Nazi historiographers sought to present Adolf Hitler as the heir to Charlemagne. Read by Leighton Pugh. Read the original essay here: https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/how-the-nazis-weaponised-charlemagne/. Image: A large Sèvres presentation plate celebrating Nazism's alleged debt to Charlemagne. Credit: I...
16m Aug 14, 2025
16m
Why do we get the wrong leaders?
James Vitali (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/james-vitali/) reflects on the profound importance of political judgement. Read by Leighton Pugh. Read the original essay here: https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/why-do-we-get-the-wrong-leaders/. Image: The front door of Number 10 Downing street. Credit: GreatBritishStock.com / Alamy Stock Photo
17m Aug 07, 2025
17m
Why liberal democracies win total wars
Journalist Duncan Weldon (https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/why-liberal-democracies-win-total-wars/) reveals how liberal capitalist economies adapt to total war. Read by Leighton Pugh. Read the original essay here: https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/why-liberal-democracies-win-total-wars/. Image: Second World War-era British propaganda. Credit: Venimages / Alamy Stock Photo
17m Jul 31, 2025
17m
No more Napoleons: British grand strategy in the 19th century
EI’s Paul Lay (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/paul-lay/) joins historian Andrew Lambert (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/andrew-lambert/) to discuss his book ‘No More Napoleons: How Britain Managed Europe from Waterloo to World War One', Lambert's provocative new study of how Britain maximised its naval and diplomatic prestige to maintain a stable, post-Napoleonic Europe. Image: 'A squa...
51m Jul 24, 2025
51m
The rift that doomed the Confederacy
Historian Katherine Bayford (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/katherine-bayford/) exposes the fractures and contradictions that doomed the Confederacy from within. Read by Leighton Pugh. FURTHER READING: The rift that doomed the Confederacy | Katherine Bayford (https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/alexander-stephens/) Image: A statue of Alexander Stephens in the US Congress. Credit: Sipa US ...
29m Jul 17, 2025
29m
The Trial at 100: revisiting Kafka’s prophetic masterpiece
This year marks the centenary of the publication of Franz Kafka’s novel, The Trial - a seminal work that continues to captivate and unsettle its readers. EI’s Alastair Benn (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/alastair-benn/) and Paul Lay (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/paul-lay/) are joined by Karolina Watroba (https://www.mod-langs.ox.ac.uk/people/karolina-watroba) , author of Metamorphose...
57m Jul 10, 2025
57m
How the Knights Templars conquered Christendom
Historian Nicholas Morton (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/nicholas-morton/) explores how a miracle of marketing brought the Knights Templars to prominence. Read by Leighton Pugh. FURTHER READING: The Knights Templars and the pursuit of Christendom | Nicholas Morton (https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/the-knights-templars-and-the-pursuit-of-christendom/) Image: A Victorian illustration of...
21m Jul 03, 2025
21m
The lost art of chorography
The writer Josh Mcloughlin (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/josh-mcloughlin/) reflects on the art of chorography, one of English literature’s most eccentric and mercurial forms. Read by Leighton Pugh. FURTHER READING: The lost art of chorography | Josh Mcloughlin (https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/the-lost-art-of-chorography/) Image: Renaissance map of Europe showing England. Credit: Wor...
24m Jun 26, 2025
24m
1975, the year that made the modern world
Historian Damian Valdez (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/damian-valdez/) reflects on the meaning of 1975, a fateful year for the international order. Read by Leighton Pugh. FURTHER READING: 1975, the year that made the modern world | Damian Valdez (https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/1975-the-year-that-made-the-modern-world/) Image: A helicopter is pushed off the overcrowded deck of the ai...
19m Jun 19, 2025
19m
How Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin fought Hitler – and each other
EI’s Paul Lay joins historian Tim Bouverie (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/tim-bouverie/) to discuss ‘Allies at War’, his gripping new book on how Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin’s uneasy alliance led to the end of the Second World War – and reshaped the global order in ways that are still felt today. Image: Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin at Yalta. Credit: Niday Picture Library / Alamy S...
42m Jun 12, 2025
42m
What happened to the politician’s moustache?
Writer Luka Ivan Jukic (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/luka-ivan-jukic/) laments the all-but-total disappearance of facial hair from politics. Read by Leighton Pugh. FURTHER READING: What happened to the politician’s moustache? | Luka Ivan Jukic (https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/what-happened-to-the-politicians-moustache/) Image: A double portrait of Mozaffar al-Din Shah, the fifth Qaj...
19m Jun 05, 2025
19m
The strange death of squalor
Journalist and author Jenny McCartney (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/jenny-mccartney/) celebrates the magic of squalor, and explores how generations of artists have seen the sublime in slime. Read by Leighton Pugh. FURTHER READING: On squalor | Jenny McCartney (https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/on-squalor/) Image: Walter Sickert's Easter Monday. Credit: Logic Images / Alamy Stock Photo
21m May 29, 2025
21m
Why Finns joined the fight
Geopolitical analyst Charly Salonius-Pasternak (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/charly-salonius-pasternak/) examines Finland's long journey to full membership of the Western alliance, and explores how the Nordic nation could play a leading role in its future. FURTHER READING: Why Finns joined the fight | Charly Salonius-Pasternak (https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/why-finns-joined-the-fig...
22m May 22, 2025
22m
The West’s lust for liberty
The late Christopher Coker (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/christopher-coker/) , Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics for almost 40 years, explains why, although the love of liberty is not unique to the West, the lust for liberty is. Read by Helen Lloyd. FURTHER READING: The West’s lust for liberty | Christopher Coker (https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/t...
14m May 15, 2025
14m
Christianity and the creation of England
In this episode of The EI Podcast, the historian Bijan Omrani (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/bijan-omrani/) is joined by EI's Paul Lay (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/paul-lay/) to explore the indelible mark Christianity has left on England’s identity and culture. FURTHER READING: The tragic decline of Christian rituals | Bijan Omrani (https://engelsbergideas.com/notebook/the-tragic-...
1hr May 08, 2025
1hr
How the liberation of France shaped the modern world
Agnès Poirier (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/agnes-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 (https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/the-liberation-of-france-made-the-modern-world/) Engelsbe...
17m May 01, 2025
17m
China vs the WTO: The Inside Story
EI's Alastair Benn (https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/the-subtle-art-of-english-comedy/) and Paul Lay (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/paul-lay/) are joined by Michael Sheridan (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/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...
1hr 3m Apr 24, 2025
1hr 3m
Madame Bovary and the problem of desire
Marie Daouda (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/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 (https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/the-truth-s...
18m Apr 17, 2025
18m
The German key to European liberty
Brendan Simms (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/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 (https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/the-germ...
16m Apr 11, 2025
16m
The making of Trump's worldview
What 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 (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/alastair-benn/) and Paul Lay (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/paul-lay/) are joined by Charlie Laderman (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/charlie-laderman/) , Senior Lecturer in International H...
1hr 3m Apr 10, 2025
1hr 3m
How Russia negotiates
Iuliia Osmolovska (https://www.globsec.org/who-we-are/our-people/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 (https://engelsbergideas.com/) is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit (https://axsonjohn...
34m Apr 04, 2025
34m
Liberty under attack
Juliet Samuel (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/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 (https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/liberty-under-attack-from-enemies-within/) Engelsberg Ideas (https:...
20m Mar 28, 2025
20m
The uses of comedy
What makes us laugh? And why should it matter? EI's Alastair Benn (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/alastair-benn/) and Paul Lay (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/paul-lay/) are joined by the critic Mathew Lyons (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/mathew-lyons/) to discuss the uses of comedy. FURTHER READING: The subtle art of English comedy | Alastair Benn (https://engelsbergideas.com/e...
51m Mar 27, 2025
51m
Gazing back to see China’s future
Roel Sterckx (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/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 (https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/gazing-back-to-see-chinas-future/) Engelsberg...
18m Mar 21, 2025
18m
The myth of Venice
Alexander Lee (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/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 (https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/liberty-and-the-myth-of-venice/) Engelsberg Ideas (https://engelsbergideas.com/) is funded by the Axel and ...
22m Mar 14, 2025
22m
Spartacus, history’s nowhere man
Richard Miles (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/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 (https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/spartacus-historys-nowhere-man/) Engelsberg Ideas (https://engelsbergideas.com/) is funded by the Axel a...
20m Mar 07, 2025
20m
How a Second Cold War could have been averted
The choice to enlarge NATO was a justifiable response to the geopolitics of the 1990s. The problem was how it happened.
21m Feb 28, 2025
21m
The case for Classical music
What 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 (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/alastair-benn/) is joined by Richard Bratby (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/richard-bratby/) , the chief classical music ...
57m Feb 27, 2025
57m
Ukraine's rich history of resistance
Russia'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.
32m Feb 21, 2025
32m
The global threat to liberty
Non-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.
19m Feb 14, 2025
19m
The myth and magic of spy fiction
Are we living through a golden age of espionage drama? And what do spy stories tell us about the true nature of the secret world?
56m Feb 13, 2025
56m
How the GDR fell in love with the West
Citizens 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.
19m Feb 07, 2025
19m