The EI Podcast
The Great French Songbook
Why do people the world over enjoy listening to songs sung in French? Critic Muriel Zagha ...
September 19, 2025
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.
All episodes
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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
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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
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The EI Podcast
The espionage revolution
David Omand, ex-head of GCHQ, the British government's world-renowned cyber agency, explor...
August 29, 2025
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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
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The EI Podcast
How the Nazis weaponised Charlemagne
Samuel Rubinstein explores how Nazi historiographers sought to present Adolf Hitler as the...
August 15, 2025
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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
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The EI Podcast
Why liberal democracies win total wars
Journalist Duncan Weldon reveals how liberal capitalist economies adapt to total war. Read...
August 1, 2025
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The EI Podcast
No more Napoleons: British grand strategy in the 19th century
EI’s Paul Lay joins historian Andrew Lambert to discuss his book ‘No More Napoleons: How B...
July 25, 2025