The EI Podcast
Our attention dilemma is age-old
Alastair Benn explores an attention dilemma that has haunted western thought for centuries…
September 12, 2025
Meritocracy Week
It’s Meritocracy Week on Engelsberg Ideas. Leading writers explore the global history of merit in culture and politics. Do meritocracies deliver on their promise? Is meritocracy working? Can the concept be fixed?
Podcast episodes
/https%3A%2F%2Fengelsbergideas.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F09%2FNarcissus.jpg)
/https%3A%2F%2Fengelsbergideas.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2025%2F02%2FWilliam-Pitt-the-Younger.jpg)
The EI Podcast
How the state can do more for less
Historian David Cowan explains how radical reform can reshape the state. Read by Leighton …
September 5, 2025
/https%3A%2F%2Fengelsbergideas.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2025%2F06%2FEspionage-digital.jpg)
The EI Podcast
The espionage revolution
David Omand, ex-head of GCHQ, the British government’s world-renowned cyber agency, explor…
August 29, 2025
/https%3A%2F%2Fengelsbergideas.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2025%2F08%2FGraham-Greene-The-Quiet-American.jpg)
The EI Podcast
Graham Greene’s Vietnam
EI’s Alastair Benn and Paul Lay are joined by Jonathan Esty, of Johns Hopkins School of Ad…
August 22, 2025
/https%3A%2F%2Fengelsbergideas.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F06%2FCharlemagne.jpg)
The EI Podcast
How the Nazis weaponised Charlemagne
Samuel Rubinstein explores how Nazi historiographers sought to present Adolf Hitler as the…
August 15, 2025
/https%3A%2F%2Fengelsbergideas.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F10%2FNumber-10.jpg)
The EI Podcast
Why do we get the wrong leaders?
James Vitali reflects on the profound importance of political judgement. Read by Leighton …
August 8, 2025