The EI Podcast

Paul Lay and Alastair Benn are joined by Matthew Hefler, post-doctoral fellow at the Ax:son Johnson Institute for Statecraft and Diplomacy, to discuss the changing role of intelligence services in an era of intense geopolitical competition. Image: The MI6 building in Vauxhall, London. Credit: Alex Segre / Alamy Stock Photo 

Putin uses history not only to fit a narrative that Russia is strong when it stands together, but also to seek legitimacy. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: Russian Second World War propaganda poster. Credit: Shawshots / Alamy Stock Photo 

What went wrong for the western alliance in Afghanistan? Paul Lay and Alastair Benn are joined by John Ferris, author of Behind the Enigma: The Authorised History of GCHQ, Britain's Secret Cyber-Intelligence Agency, to discuss whether liberal states can still carry out effective counter-insurgency operations. Image: U.S. Marines search a compound in Afghanistan. Credit: Stocktrek Images, Inc. / Alamy Stock Photo 

Religion is often ignored as a political factor; in the Middle East, this is not possible. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: Supporters of the pro-Iranian Lebanese Hezbollah group wave the party flags in front of a poster of late Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini during a ceremony in Beirut. Credit: dpa picture alliance / Alamy Stock Photo 

Paul Lay and Alastair Benn are joined by Calder Walton, author of Spies: The epic intelligence war between East and West, to discuss how governments can use covertly acquired intelligence as a powerful tool to influence debate — and how easily it can all go wrong. Image: US Ambassador to the United Nations, Adlai Stevenson, second from right, confronts Soviet delegate Valerian Zorin, first on left, with a display of reconnaissance photographs during an emergency session of the U.N. Security Council at the United Nations headquarters in New York, on October 25, 1962. Credit: Associated Press / Alamy Stock Photo 

Wherever we insist on truth in order to win over our adversaries, we awaken a spirit of violence that endangers our living-together in the world. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: The Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre by Francois Dubois. Credit: Niday Picture Library / Alamy Stock Photo 

Paul Lay and Alastair Benn are joined by Kate Cooper, author of Queens of a Fallen World, to discuss the women who shaped the life of Augustine of Hippo. Image: A 17th century painting of Saint Augustine and Saint Monica. Credit: The Picture Art Collection / Alamy Stock Photo 

Mystical experience is the missing link in modern accounts of how human beings came to be conscious. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: Trasverberazione di Santa Teresa d’Avila (1640). Credit: jozef sedmak / Alamy Stock Photo 

Paul Lay, Alastair Benn and Iain Martin discuss the cultural legacy of the Fab Four and why the Beatles story continues to fascinate sixty years on. Image: The Beatles showing their MBE Insignias after receiving them from the Queen. Credit: PA Images / Alamy Stock Photo 

The Middle East and North Africa's transition from authoritarianism to democracy has been slow and painful, with both hopeful gains as well as worrisome setbacks. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: Crowds cheer joyfully in central Cairo, Egypt. Credit: Jake Lyell / Alamy Stock Photo