The EI Podcast

View Top 200 Chart

Back to Rankings Page

Government
**The EI Podcast**

The EI Podcast brings you weekly conversations with leading writers, thinkers and historians. Hosted by Alastair Benn, Jack Dickens and Paul Lay. Produced by Max Mitchell.

Latest Episodes:

A warning to the young: just say no to AI Oct 09, 2025

Show notes

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

The Slow Horses are Britain’s perfect spies Oct 02, 2025

Show notes

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

Stephen Kotkin on a new age of warfare Sep 25, 2025

Show notes

EI's Paul Lay discusses a world order in flux with Stephen Kotkin, historian and biographer of Stalin.
Image: A Canadian soldier during a NATO-led operation. Credit: Associated Press

The Great French Songbook Sep 18, 2025

Show notes

Why do people the world over enjoy listening to songs sung in French? Critic 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

Our attention dilemma is age-old Sep 11, 2025

Show notes

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

How the state can do more for less Sep 04, 2025

Show notes

Historian 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 / Alamy Stock Photo

The espionage revolution Aug 28, 2025

Show notes

David Omand, 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

Graham Greene's Vietnam Aug 21, 2025

Show notes

EI's Alastair Benn and Paul Lay are joined by 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 baton from the old colonial powers to the new masters in South-East Asia.
Image: French paratroops at the beginning of the First Indochina War. Credit: Keystone Press

How the Nazis weaponised Charlemagne Aug 14, 2025

Show notes

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: INTERFOTO / Alamy Stock Photo

Why do we get the wrong leaders? Aug 07, 2025

Show notes

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