S1 Ep159: The Domino Effect
Professor Jeremy Black joins Graham Stewart to talk 1960s geopolitics, the Cold War, and the long war in South East Asia.
42m Nov 17, 2023
42m
S1 Ep158: Red alert?
Professor Jeremy Black and Graham Stewart discuss the Cold War in the 1950s, the role of air forces and the development of nuclear brinksmanship.
41m Nov 10, 2023
41m
S1 Ep157: "X" marks a spot
Professor Jeremy Black and Graham Stewart discuss the evolution of Cold War thought, the errors of FDR, the complexities of containment and the unpredictable nature of foreign policy commitments.
43m Nov 02, 2023
43m
S1 Ep156: New beginnings, old problems
Professor Jeremy Black speaks with Graham Stewart about geopolitics at the end of World War Two. Were there reasonable prospects for optimism about a new, more peaceful future? Or had power just been rearranged into differently dangerous forms? All this and China, the British Empire and more.
37m Oct 30, 2023
37m
S1 Ep149: The ways of war
Professor Jeremy Black and Graham Stewart discuss geography, logistics and materiel in World War Two, and whether geopolitics represents the lens through which to see conflict or just one useful field of study.
42m Oct 19, 2023
42m
S1 Ep155: United Statecraft
Professor Jeremy Black and Graham Stewart discuss geopolitics in the United States in the approach to the Second World War, and the underrated importance of logistics and materiel in statecraft.
40m Oct 12, 2023
40m
S1 Ep154: The opposing eagles
Professor Jeremy Black and Graham Stewart discuss geopolitics in Nazi Germany and the United States, and explore the questionable influence of intellectuals and the predictive value of geopolitical theories.
40m Oct 06, 2023
40m
S1 Ep153: On a different plane
Professor Jeremy Black and Graham Stewart discuss British air power, geopolitics and the relationship between ideas and technological progress.
45m Sep 29, 2023
45m
S1 Ep152: The study and the slaughter
Professor Jeremy Black and Graham Stewart discuss how geography and infrastructure affected the First World War, but also how geopolitics is as much a rhetoric of power as a description of the world.
38m Sep 21, 2023
38m
S1 Ep151: Ideas, influence and international politics
Professor Jeremy Black and Graham Stewart discuss the academic roots of the field of geopolitics and the intellectual overratedness of a key essay of Halford Mackinder.
43m Sep 14, 2023
43m
S1 Ep150: What is geopolitics?
The term “geopolitics” is flung around a lot these days, but what does the concept mean? Professor Jeremy Black and Graham Stewart begin their exploration of world politics and theory
37m Sep 07, 2023
37m
S1 Ep149: The end of the line?
Professor Jeremy Black and Graham Stewart finally reach the station as their series on the history of railways ends — discussing the slower rate of innovation and the complexities of investment.
38m Aug 24, 2023
38m
S1 Ep148: Hitting the buffers — when rail fails
Professor Jeremy Black and Graham Stewart discuss why rail projects often end up mired in delays and cancellations, from Facebook’s bridge to nowhere to HS2.
43m Aug 17, 2023
43m
S1 Ep147: Rail riddles — the complex practicalities of rail travel
Professor Jeremy Black and Graham Stewart discuss the realities of modern rail — from the costs of construction to the limits of geography.
37m Aug 11, 2023
37m
S1 Ep146: Tracking modernity — trains in the modern world
Professor Jeremy Black and Graham Stewart avoid train triumphalism in discussing the complex political and environmental circumstances that surround modern rail.
47m Aug 03, 2023
47m
S1 Ep145: Beeching reconsidered
Professor Jeremy Black and Graham Stewart discuss rail in Britain in the 20th century, and why the infamous Beeching cuts must be seen in their proper historical context.
41m Jul 27, 2023
41m
S1 Ep144: Going loco — the development of modern rail
Professor Jeremy Black and Graham Stewart discuss the evolution of railways in the mid-to-late 20th Century, and their influence on the evolution of the age, considering labour disputes, nationalisation and the Cold War.
42m Jul 20, 2023
42m
S1 Ep132: Travel and terror — trains in World War Two
Professor Jeremy Black and Graham Stewart discuss the use of rail travel in WW2, from the logistics of war to the architecture of genocide.
46m Jul 13, 2023
46m
S1 Ep131: Between two superpowers — rail in the USA and the Soviet Union
In the early decades of the Twentieth Century, the USA and the Soviet Union took major steps towards becoming the two greatest powers in the world. What was the state of their railways? Professor Jeremy Black and Graham Stewart discuss.
38m Jul 06, 2023
38m
S1 Ep130: Blood on the tracks — rail transport between the wars
Rail in the interwar period was not just Hercule Poirot on the Orient Express. Professor Jeremy Black and Graham Stewart discuss the politics of rail travel in the 1920s and 30s, from Stanley Baldwin to Benito Mussolini.
42m Jun 30, 2023
42m
S1 Ep129: The rail war
Professor Jeremy Black joins deputy editor Graham Stewart to discuss the role of locomotives in the First World War.
41m Jun 27, 2023
41m
S1 Ep128: Across the universe
Professor Jeremy Black and Graham Stewart explore how railways spread across the world — from India to Australia — in what was a technological achievement but also a complex political phenomenon.
42m May 25, 2023
42m
S1 Ep127: Tracks across America — rail and the development of the USA
The car may be the defining vehicle of the United States of America, but as Professor Jeremy Black and Graham Stewart explore the train was integral to its development as well.
36m May 18, 2023
36m
S1 Ep126: Atlantic to Pacific
Professor Jeremy Black and Graham Stewart follow the development of railways across Europe and America, and reflect on their impact on the US Civil War.
44m May 11, 2023
44m
S1 Ep125: From Paris to Berlin — the beginnings of rail transport in Europe
How did the railways develop in France and Germany? Professor Jeremy Black and Graham Stewart take a European excursion.
39m May 04, 2023
39m
S1 Ep124: On the right tracks
It is easy for us to associate steam trains with nostalgia. As British trains and railways were being developed, though, as Professor Jeremy Black and Graham Stewart discuss, they were at the forefront of British progress.
41m Apr 27, 2023
41m
S1 Ep123: At full steam
Professor Jeremy Black and Graham Stewart begin a new series on the development of British railways. How were they funded? Who were the key figures? Did trains simply supplant other forms of transport or cooperate with them? Find a seat and join us.
44m Apr 20, 2023
44m
S1 Ep122: The door of no return – slavery and reparations in the 21st century
Professor Jeremy Black joins Graham Stewart to discuss slavery and reparations, and the complexity and potential folly of seeking to right moral evils of the past in the politics of the present.
35m Apr 14, 2023
35m
S1 Ep121: American politics at the crossroads
Professor Jeremy Black and Graham Stewart discuss American disorder in the past and present, and whether the US or the UK is more welcoming of different opinions.
41m Apr 06, 2023
41m
S1 Ep120: The Revolution's shadow
Did the French Revolutionary Wars dominate British politics or did they spur innovation and reform? Professor Jeremy Black and Graham Stewart discuss a tempestuous time.
40m Mar 31, 2023
40m
S1 Ep119: Fielding Sterne questions
18th Century England featured an exciting literary milieu — but also political and religious upheaval. Professor Jeremy Black and Graham Stewart investigate.
35m Mar 23, 2023
35m
S1 Ep118: Imperial inquiries
How should we think about Britain's colonial expansion? Professor Jeremy Black and Graham Stewart try to set it in historical context and discuss its economic and geopolitical implications.
41m Mar 16, 2023
41m
S1 Ep117: A multitude of multitudes
Professor Jeremy Black and Graham Stewart discuss conflict and cooperation between the different peoples of Britain in the 18th Century.
36m Mar 09, 2023
36m
S1 Ep116: The ways of Whigs
Professor Jeremy Black speaks with Graham Stewart about eighteenth century politics and the recurrent situations of history.
34m Mar 02, 2023
34m
S1 Ep115: Has Ukraine changed modern warfare?
How similar and different is the Russo-Ukrainian War from other conflicts in history? Graham Stewart interviews Professor Jeremy Black.
44m Feb 24, 2023
44m
S1 Ep114: Cameron's unhappy heirs
Why have the Conservative PMs who have followed David Cameron struggled to leave their mark? Professor Jeremy Black speaks to Graham Stewart.
45m Feb 16, 2023
45m
S1 Ep113: The Blair phenomenon
Was Blair a shallow political operator — or something worse? Jeremy Black speaks to Graham Stewart
38m Feb 09, 2023
38m
S1 Ep112: The Major problem
Was John Major’s premiership “continuity Thatcher”, something distinctive in its own right or just a long period of undistinguished drift from which Blairism offered escape? Professor Jeremy Black and The Critic’s deputy editor, Graham Stewart, assess what Major wanted and what he got.
44m Jan 26, 2023
44m
S1 Ep111: Maggie the Great?
Is modern Britain the country that Margaret Thatcher largely shaped or a repudiation of much of what she strived to create? In this episode of Black's History Week, Professor Jeremy Black and The Critic's deputy editor, Graham Stewart, debate the extent of the Iron Lady achievements.
33m Jan 12, 2023
33m
S1 Ep110: We called him Dave
Was David Cameron's premiership the last stable period of British government or did he bequeath many of the problems that beset Britain today? In this episode of Black's History Week, Professor Jeremy Black makes the case for the prosecution to The Critic's deputy editor, Graham Stewart.
43m Jan 05, 2023
43m
S1 Ep109: Gordon Brown — a study in failure
Gordon Brown is back, devising constitutional reform for the House of Lords and more devolution for Scotland. In this episode of Black's History Week, Professor Jeremy Black and The Critic's deputy editor, Graham Stewart discuss his legacy.
33m Dec 15, 2022
33m
S1 Ep108: What has gone wrong with our universities?
In this edition of Black's History Week, Professor Jeremy Black talks to The Critic's deputy editor, Graham Stewart, about how the expansion of higher education has delivered so much less than it promised. Is government policy, managerial self-interest, funding models or student priorities most to blame?
43m Dec 08, 2022
43m
S1 Ep107: Mapping the past — and the future
How did the priorities of cartographers shape the past and, now that we have satellite imaging, how will map-making continue to inform our view of the world? In this episode of Black's History Week, Professor Jeremy Black talks to The Critic's deputy editor, Graham Stewart.
38m Dec 01, 2022
38m
S1 Ep106: Midterm trials and tensions
In this edition of Black's History Week, Professor Jeremy Black talks to The Critic's deputy editor, Graham Stewart, about America's political and strategic options and what the mid-term elections have changed or clarified.
41m Nov 24, 2022
41m
S1 Ep105: House of Lords — keep, reform or abolish?
In this episode of Black's History Week, Professor Jeremy Black talks to The Critic's deputy editor, Graham Stewart, and considers why there is so little agreement on what to do with the House of Lords.
43m Nov 17, 2022
43m
S1 Ep104: The truth about book reviewing
What are the practices and politics behind book reviewing and what does "peer review" mean in reality? In this edition of Black's History Week, Professor Jeremy Black tells all to The Critic's deputy editor, Graham Stewart.
36m Nov 10, 2022
36m
S1 Ep103: Crisis? What Crisis?
In this episode of Black's History Week, Professor Jeremy Black weighs Britain's recent political and economic turbulence and suggests to The Critic's deputy editor, Graham Stewart, that it is scarcely evidence of national decline.
41m Nov 03, 2022
41m
S1 Ep102: Obituaries — the unvarnished truth?
Should we speak ill of the dead? Professor Jeremy Black tells The Critic's deputy editor, Graham Stewart, that we should.
38m Oct 22, 2022
38m
S1 Ep101: From Fatherland to Heimat
In this concluding episode on German history, Professor Jeremy Black talks to The Critic's deputy editor, Graham Stewart, about what holds German identity and heritage together given the institutional, political, religious and territorial ruptures that have shaped and reshaped German history.
41m Oct 15, 2022
41m
S1 Ep100: German foreign policy
In this episode of Black's History Week, Professor Jeremy Black talks to The Critic's deputy editor, Graham Stewart, about contemporary German foreign policy. Have German interests really been subsumed into a common European position on the world stage and why did Berlin so badly miscalculate its relations with Putin's Russia?
39m Oct 07, 2022
39m