Engelsberg Ideas Podcasts
Engelsberg Ideas podcasts bring together leading writers, thinkers and historians to discuss the biggest issues facing the world today. You’ll find calm conversations and thought-provoking analysis.
EI Weekly Listen — Adrian Wooldridge on meritocracy
The biggest division in modern society is between the meritocracy and the people, the cognitive elite and the masses, the exam-passers and the exam-flunkers. Read by Leighton Pugh.
Image: Caricature of a Cambridge University library in the Georgian era. Credit: Thomas Rowlandson / Alamy Stock Photo
EI Talks... the Entente Cordiale
Self-interest, imperial competition and new threats in Europe - T.G. Otte examines the complex 120-year long history of the Entente Cordiale with EI's senior editor, Paul Lay.
Image: First prize winner at the Covent Garden fancy dress ball in 1905, a lady dressed in an elaborate costume as the Entente Cordiale. Credit: Chronicle / Alamy Stock Photo
EI Weekly Listen — Mariano Sigman on how language has shaped human consciousness
How did our ancestors think? Read by Leighton Pugh.
Image: A play is performed in an ancient Greek theatre. Credit: Classic Image / Alamy Stock Photo
EI Portraits — Anna Komnene: the princess who chronicled Byzantium’s changing fortunes
Peter Frankopan on the Byzantine princess Anna Komnene who, banished to a convent for her political ambition, devoted her gifts of observation to charting the fortunes of her father's empire – etching her legacy as Europe's first female historian. Read by Sebastian Brown.
Image: Anna Komnene, a Byzantine princess and scholar. Credit: history_docu_photo / Alamy Stock Photo
EI Weekly Listen — Nathan Shachar on ideology in science
There is no linear, moral progress in knowledge and science. Read by Leighton Pugh.
Image: Triple-microscope made by the optician Camille Sebastien Nachet in Paris. Credit: gameover / Alamy Stock Photo
EI Talks... terrorism
EI's Deputy Editor Alastair Benn speaks to Suzanne Raine, visiting professor in the Department of War Studies at King's College London, about the evolution of the terrorist threat and its long history.
Image: Anarchist outrage at the Liceo theatre in Barcelona, 1893. Credit: Photo 12 / Alamy Stock Photo
EI Weekly Listen — Gregory Feifer on the mirage of Russian power
The mistake many Western countries make is to take Russia largely at face value. Read by Leighton Pugh.
Image: Nesting Russian dolls showing former leaders. Credit: Mr Standfast / Alamy Stock Photo
EI Portraits — The many ways of seeing Saint Monica
Gillian Clark on Saint Monica, mother to Augustine of Hippo and lionized by the Latin Church, a women of many names and many more mysteries. Read by Sebastian Brown.
Image: Saint Augustine and his mother, Saint Monica. Credit:: Carlo Bollo / Alamy Stock Photo
EI Weekly Listen — Peter Heather on empire and development in first millennium Europe
The story of first millennium Europe is one of remarkable economic change and demographic upheaval; a precocious analogue to the modern era of globalisation. Read by Leighton Pugh.
Image: Charlemagne. Credit: The Picture Art Collection / Alamy Stock Photo
EI Talks... AI and education
Daisy Christodoulou punctures the hype around the applications of Large language models (LLMs) and chatbots to the field of learning. Will AI really revolutionise education?
Image: Mechanical brain. Credit: Sibani Das / Alamy Stock Vector
