The EI Podcast

The vision of nuclear strategy as a means to prevent war remains a powerful but contested idea in international politics. As global rivalries intensify and nuclear arsenals expand, the risk of conflict seems more pronounced than ever. Read by Helen Lloyd. Image: A photograph of nuclear testing at Pacific Island test sites. Credit: EMU history / Alamy Stock Photo 

Was the revolution that created the United States of America inevitable? The life of Joseph Galloway shows what might have been. Read by Sebastian Brown. Image: An illustration of Joseph Galloway by Thomas Emmett, 1885. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Over the last decade, NATO has embarked on a significant process of military and political adaptation to ensure it can effectively enable the collective defence of allies in a competitive, contested and unpredictable world. Read by Helen Lloyd. Image: NATO flag waving in the wind. Credit: Zoonar GmbH / Alamy Stock Photo 

EI's Paul Lay and Alastair Benn discuss an attention dilemma that has haunted western thought for centuries. READING LIST Our attention dilemma is age-old | Alastair Benn Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium | Seneca The Essays of Michel de Montaigne Don Quixote | Miguel de Cervantes Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit . EI Talks... is hosted b...

Through his visionary leadership, inspired rhetoric, and willingness to compromise, John F. Kennedy summoned the narrative of American hope, his most powerful and enduring legacy. Read by Helen Lloyd. Image: Senator John F. Kennedy at Hyannis Port. Credit: Phillip Harrington / Alamy Stock Photo

One of the few leaders on whom history has bestowed the title ‘the Great’, Akbar was a noted connoisseur of cultures and architect of political pluralism. Read by Sebastian Brown. Image: Akbar the Great hunting. Mughal Scool, 1590. British Museum. Artist Unknown. Credit: CM Dixon/Heritage Images/Getty Images

Like it or not, Japan has become one of the most critical actors in contemporary international politics. Read by Helen Lloyd. Image: A naval exercise conducted by Japan. Credit: World History Archive / Alamy Stock Photo 

Michael Sheridan , author of The Red Emperor: Xi Jinping and His New China , joins EI's Angus Reilly to discuss the personal and ideological roots of one of the world's most powerful, and inscrutable, leaders. Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit . EI Talks... is produced by Alastair Benn . The sound engineer is Gareth Jones. Image: Xi Ji...

Foundation myths based on the lives of heroic figures are often used by leaders to affirm their own authority — but they can also inspire wider society. Read by Helen Lloyd. Image: Statue showing the mythological origins of Roman society. Credit: LatitudeStock / Alamy Stock Photo

Having witnessed first-hand the mechanised onslaught of the Great War, Captain Basil Liddell Hart sought a philosophy of warfare based on the prudent use of technology, psychology and deception – and the avoidance of the 'total war' catastrophes of preceding decades. Read by Sebastian Brown. Image: A picture of Basil Henry Liddell Hart studying a tactical situation in 1947. Credit: Popperfoto via...

The US must adopt a grand strategy of democratic expansion. Only then can global security be established. Read by Helen Lloyd. Image: American Second World War-era poster. Credit: Mouseion Archives / Alamy Stock Photo

EI's Alastair Benn speaks to Rachel Cockerell , author of Melting Point: Family, Memory and the Search for a Promised Land , a history of the quest for a Jewish homeland at the turn of the 19th century and beyond, weaving memoir, documentary, and literature. Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit . EI Talks... is hosted by Paul Lay and Alas...

The tumultuous relationship between Red China and the Soviet Union hints at an uncertain future for the Sino-Russian partnership. Read by Helen Lloyd. Image: Sino-Soviet propaganda poster. Credit: Album / Alamy Stock Photo

Socialite and literary pioneer - Anna de Noailles was a bright star in the firmament of the Parisian Belle Époque. Read by Sebastian Brown. Image: De László's portrait of Anna de Noailles. Credit: Svintage Archive / Alamy Stock Photo 

Stagnation at home and turmoil abroad demand a radical rethink of how – and why – Britain forges its future leaders. Read by Helen Lloyd. Image: The Treasury building in Whitehall, London. Credit: mauritius images GmbH / Alamy Stock Photo

EI's Alastair Benn sits down with Orlando Gibbs to discuss what the Romans found funny, what we might find not so funny about ancient humour, and whether there is something universal about the comedic genre. READING LIST No Laughing Matter? What the Romans Found Funny | Antigone Plautus punching up: a different class of comedy | Engelsberg Ideas Mary Beard, Laughter in Ancient Rome: On Joking, Tic...

Few ancient monarchs have enjoyed such a consistent positive reputation as Cyrus the Great. Perhaps it’s time to become reacquainted. Read by Helen Lloyd. Image: The Tomb of Cyrus, Iran. Photograph taken in 1898. Credit: Penta Springs Limited / Alamy Stock Photo 

Andrew Wilton profiles Amanda McKittrick Ros , a late Victorian novelist admired in her day but now largely forgotten. Read by Sebastian Brown. Image: A typical late Victorian scene. Credit: Dave Rheaume / Alamy Stock Photo 

Catherine II’s inoculation against smallpox was an extraordinary act of political self-creation. Read by Helen Lloyd. Image: A portrait of Catherine the Great (1729-1796) by Alexey Antropov. Credit: Pictorial Press Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo

Neil D. Lawrence , inaugural DeepMind Professor of Machine Learning at the University of Cambridge and author of The Atomic Human: Understanding Ourselves in the Age of AI , joins the EI team to challenge received wisdom on our AI future. Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit . EI Talks... is hosted by Paul Lay and Alastair Benn . The soun...

If we want to understand the ‘meaning’ of The Prince, we should start with Machiavelli himself. Read by Helen Lloyd. Image: A statue of Niccolo Machiavelli in Florence, Italy. Credit: Goran Bogicevic / Alamy Stock Photo

Rana Mitter profiles Tsiang Tingfu , the American-educated diplomat and historian, who sought Chinese national revival on cosmopolitan lines. Read by Sebastian Brown. Image: Tsiang Tingfu raises his arm to veto a proposal introduced by the Soviet Union to the UN. Credit: SuperStock / Alamy Stock Photo 

Nuclear weapons are likely to be around for a long time to come – and the predicaments they create for world leaders are unlikely to be easily solved. Read by Helen Lloyd. Image: President John F. Kennedy with Robert McNamara during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Credit: RBM Vintage Images / Alamy Stock Photo 

Marie Kawthar Daouda , author and a lecturer in French language and literature at the University of Oxford, joins EI's Alastair Benn to discuss how Belle Époque-era Paris continues to fascinate, with its burgeoning commercial culture, everyday beauty and glittering department stores. Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit . EI Talks... is p...

A world of machine art would be an eerie one. Art connects us to one another. We cannot, and we should not, replace that connection with an uncanny simulacrum of it. Read by Helen Lloyd. Image: The Tribuna of the Uffizi by John Zoffany. Credit: PAINTING / Alamy Stock Photo