Episodes

  • John Law and financial crises with Kwasi Kwarteng

    John Law and financial crises with Kwasi Kwarteng
    Jun 20 2024
    EI's Iain Martin is joined by Kwasi Kwarteng, historian and former Chancellor of the United Kingdom, to discuss the turbulent life of the 18th century financial speculator John Law, whose innovative ideas were credited with bringing Ancien Régime France to the brink of ruin. There are echoes of what happened when the Truss government tried its own financial experiment, he acknowledges.

    Image: A cartoon of John Law (1671–1729), the Scottish economist who was appointed Controller General of Finances of France under King Louis XV. Credit: PRISMA ARCHIVO / Alamy Stock Photo
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    28 mins
  • Women of the ancient world with Daisy Dunn

    Women of the ancient world with Daisy Dunn
    Jun 13 2024
    The leading classicist Daisy Dunn joins EI's Paul Lay to discuss her new book, The Missing Thread: A New History of the Ancient World Through the Women Who Shaped It.

    Image: Nikolaos Gyzis, a 19th Century painter, depicts Sappho playing the lyre. Credit: Photo 12 / Alamy Stock Photo
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    37 mins
  • The history of democracy with Erica Benner

    The history of democracy with Erica Benner
    May 30 2024
    Erica Benner applies ancient wisdom to modern problems in her new book Adventures in Democracy: The Turbulent World of People Power. She shares her insights with EI's Deputy Editor, Alastair Benn.

    Image: Gathering of the Areopagus, a deliberative court that met in the open air in ancient Athens. Credit: North Wind Picture Archives / Alamy Stock Photo
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    56 mins
  • The age of upheaval

    The age of upheaval
    May 17 2024
    EI's Paul Lay and Alastair Benn ask: do we really live in an age of upheaval?

    Image: Turner's Vesuvius in Eruption. Credit: Artefact / Alamy Stock Photo
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    45 mins
  • Caravaggio

    Caravaggio
    May 2 2024
    A small but riveting exhibition at London's National Gallery tells the dramatic story of the troubled Renaissance master's 'last' painting.

    Image: The Martyrdom of St Ursula, 1610. Credit: incamerastock / Alamy Stock Photo
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    37 mins
  • The Entente Cordiale with T.G. Otte

    The Entente Cordiale with T.G. Otte
    Apr 18 2024
    Self-interest, imperial competition and new threats in Europe - T.G. Otte examines the complex 120-year long history of the Entente Cordiale with EI's senior editor, Paul Lay.

    Image: First prize winner at the Covent Garden fancy dress ball in 1905, a lady dressed in an elaborate costume as the Entente Cordiale. Credit: Chronicle / Alamy Stock Photo
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    36 mins
  • Terrorism with Suzanne Raine

    Terrorism with Suzanne Raine
    Apr 5 2024
    EI's Deputy Editor Alastair Benn speaks to Suzanne Raine, visiting professor in the Department of War Studies at King's College London, about the evolution of the terrorist threat and its long history.

    Image: Anarchist outrage at the Liceo theatre in Barcelona, 1893. Credit: Photo 12 / Alamy Stock Photo
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    37 mins
  • AI and education with Daisy Christodoulou

    AI and education with Daisy Christodoulou
    Mar 21 2024
    Daisy Christodoulou punctures the hype around the applications of Large Language Models and chatbots to the field of learning. Will AI really revolutionise education?

    Image: Mechanical brain. Credit: Sibani Das / Alamy Stock Vector
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    40 mins