
The EI Podcast
The EI Podcast brings you weekly conversations and audio essays from leading writers, thinkers and historians. Hosted by Alastair Benn and Paul Lay. Find the EI Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or search The EI Podcast wherever you get your podcasts.
Latest episodes

Jun 15, 2023 • 39min
EI Talks... Cricket
Paul Lay and Alastair Benn discuss the deep meaning of Cricket in light of the forthcoming Ashes series between England and Australia, and the recent wider changes the game has undergone.
Image: The Ashes urn. Credit: David Bagnall / Alamy Stock Photo

Jun 8, 2023 • 28min
EI Weekly Listen — Do we know the truth about the Thirty Years’ War? By Dick Harrison
Different perspectives and eye-witness accounts reveal historical fallacies and myths about the war. Read by Leighton Pugh.
Image: Gustavus Adolphus II. Credit: Wiki Creative Commons

Jun 8, 2023 • 33min
EI Talks... the problem with Classical music
Paul Lay and Alastair Benn discuss the future of Classical music.
Image: String quartet playing in the Saint Nicholas Shopping centre, London. Credit: RayArt Graphics / Alamy Stock Photo

Jun 2, 2023 • 33min
EI Talks... strategy, resilience and defence
Paul Lay and Alastair Benn discuss the London Defence Conference and the return of strategic thinking to the Western alliance.
Image: Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaks with the director of the London Defence Conference, Iain Martin. Credit: PA Images / Alamy Stock Photo

Jun 2, 2023 • 35min
EI Weekly Listen — Each Charter’d Street: Taking the long view on urban planning by Nicholas Boys Smith
For as long as there have been cities they have attracted admiration and fear. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: Eighteenth century map of London. Credit: Chronicle / Alamy Stock Photo

May 25, 2023 • 29min
EI Talks... AI
In the first episode of the Engelsberg Ideas editorial podcast, EI Talks..., Iain Martin, Paul Lay and Alastair Benn discuss Artificial Intelligence and how it might shape the future for better... or worse.
Image: Programmable humanoid robot NAQ. Credit: Lilyana Vynogradova / Alamy Stock Photo.

May 25, 2023 • 36min
EI Weekly Listen — The geopolitics and grand strategy of Alfred Thayer Mahan by John H. Maurer
Alfred Thayer Mahan's writings on naval warfare have overshadowed his contributions to geopolitics. His theories, however, are clearly playing out today. Read by Leighton Pugh.
Image: A print of a First World War Imperial German Navy battlecruiser, the SMS Goeben. Credit: Troy GB images / Alamy Stock Photo

May 19, 2023 • 31min
EI Weekly Listen — The cultural conversation of mankind by Christopher Coker
Isolationist thinking and exceptionalism is on the rise and our global culture is the poorer for it. Our civilisations thrive when in conversation with each other: ideas are exchanged and self-reflection is promoted. Read by Leighton Pugh.
Image: An American Mercantile Building in Yokohama, 1861. Credit: Heritage Image Partnership Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo.

May 12, 2023 • 45min
EI Weekly Listen — Epic news by Jessica Frazier
What are myths for? More than entertainment alone, these epic tales helped the Ancients follow current affairs. Read by Leighton Pugh.
Image: Heritage Image Partnership Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo

May 5, 2023 • 30min
Worldview — A Sacred Coronation for a Secular Nation
Adam Boulton is joined by Paul Lay, Senior Editor of Engelsberg Ideas, Agnès Poirier, journalist and author, and Royal biographer Hugo Vickers, to reflect on the deep meaning and symbolism of Britain's Coronation.
Image: King Charles III views a wooden carving at St. Laurence's Church in Ludlow, Shropshire. Credit: Michelle Jones / Alamy Stock Photo.
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