Shiraz Maher examines how the fallout from the US-Iran conflict is reshaping the Gulf States and the wider Middle East, with EI’s Jack Dickens. Image: Close-up vintage map of the Middle East. Credit: Alamy
The rise of the mega-influencer
2026/03/05 | 6 mins.
Mega-influencers shape the public imagination. Phillip Dolitsky and Luke Moon explore a world where narrative matters more than fact. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: Still from a film version of George Orwell's 1984. Credit: Allstar Picture Library Limited
Putin, the once and future Chekist
2026/02/26 | 17 mins.
Gordon Corera contends that to truly understand Vladimir Putin, you have to understand the phenomenon of Chekism. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: Vladimir Putin's East German Stasi identification card issued while he worked as a KGB agent in Dresden in 1985. Credit: Pictorial Press Ltd
When Edo became Tokyo
2026/02/19 | 20 mins.
Christopher Harding on the birth of Tokyo. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: A woodblock print by Utagawa Hiroshige. From One Hundred Famous Views of Edo, 1856. Credit: incamerastock / Alamy Stock Photo
Hamlet unravelled
2026/02/12 | 51 mins.
Emma Smith, Professor of Shakespeare Studies at Oxford University, explores Hamlet and its rich critical history with EI’s Alastair Benn and Paul Lay. Image: Laurence Olivier plays Hamlet in 1948. Credit: Masheter Movie Archive
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.
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