The EI Podcast
The EI Podcast brings you weekly conversations and audio essays from leading writers, thinkers and historians. Hosted by Alastair Benn, Jack Dickens and Paul Lay. Find the EI Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or search...
Insights from recent episode analysis
On the show
- Nicholas Wright2 eps
- Paul Lay2 eps
- Daisy Christodoulou1 ep
Also: Marie Kawthar Daouda, Joseph Ledford, Elisabeth Kendall, Michael Auslin, Adrian Wooldridge, Mark Leonard, Katja Hoyer, George Magnus, Marc David Baer, Hannah Lucinda Smith, Maura Smith, Clare Mulley, Craig Fehrman, Thomas de Waal, Leighton Pugh, Peter Ricketts, Brendan Simms
Audience Interest
Podcast Focus
Publishing Consistency
Insights are generated by CastFox AI using publicly available data, episode content, and proprietary models.
Most discussed topics
Brands & references
Total monthly reach
Based on 1 signal.
Built from
By chart position
- 🇬🇧United Kingdom · History#110944 to 5.0K
- 🇮🇹Italy · History#65743 to 3.9K
- 🇰🇷South Korea · History#92387 to 2.0K
- 🇵🇹Portugal · History#73179 to 948
- 🇮🇪Ireland · History#12364 to 337
- Per-Episode Audience
Est. listeners per new episode within ~30 days
2.5K to 13K🎙 ~2x weekly·403 episodes·Last published 3d ago - Monthly Reach
Unique listeners across all episodes (30 days)
5.0K to 26K🇺🇸71%🇬🇧11%🇮🇹9%+5 more - Active Followers
Loyal subscribers who consistently listen
2.7K to 14K
Market Insights
Platform Distribution
Reach across major podcast platforms, updated hourly
Total Followers
—
Total Plays
—
Total Reviews
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* Data sourced directly from platform APIs and aggregated hourly across all major podcast directories.
| Date | Episode | Topics | Guests | Brands | Places | Keywords | Sponsor | Length | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10/22/26 |  The Fifth Republic: order or chaos? | France is in some ways one of Europe’s most conservative societies, and yet revolutionary violence is never far from the surface. Muriel Zagha joins Alastair Benn to discuss this month’s riots and what they mean for next year’s presidential election.Image: ‘Liberty Leading the People’ by Eugene Delacroix (1830). Credit: Alamy | 34m 10s | ||||||
| 10/15/26 |  The deep roots of Anglo-German relations | Britain and Germany have shared royal dynasties, forged pragmatic alliances, exchanged huge flows of capital and fought terrible wars against each other. In his new book, ‘Great Powers: A History of Britain and Germany’, Jan Rüger documents that symbiotic relationship’s twists and turns over the past 300 years.Image: An anti-German British propaganda poster from the First World War. Credit: Wikimedia Commons | 1h 09m 13s | ||||||
| 10/8/26 |  Napoleon’s nest of vipers | Napoleon appointed a total of 26 Marshals between 1804 and 1815, and they became crucial to his military success. Yet only two of them fought alongside him at the Battle of Waterloo. Andrew Roberts sits down with Paul Lay to discuss his new book, ‘Napoleon and his Marshals’.Image: Napoleon near Borodino, by Vasily Vereshchagin (1897). Credit: Wikimedia Commons | 45m 11s | ||||||
| 10/1/26 |  Russia’s war on Ukrainian science | Earlier this week, a Russian drone strike hit the National Academy of Sciences in central Kyiv, bringing terror to the historic centre of Ukraine’s capital and damaging a symbol of national independence. Paul Josephson speaks to Jack Dickens about why Vladimir Putin is targeting Ukraine’s leading research institutes.Image: The Soviet-era Duga radar near Chernobyl, Ukraine. Credit: Alamy | 38m 01s | ||||||
| 9/24/26 |  Space and the new clash of civilisations | Earlier this month, the US confirmed for the first time that it had deployed a space weapon in Earth’s orbit. John B. Sheldon and Jack Dickens discuss the fight for extraterrestrial supremacy. Image: A mural of a Soviet-era cosmonaut in Ukraine. Credit: Alamy | 42m 14s | ||||||
| 9/17/26 |  Reinventing Disraeli | What did Benjamin Disraeli believe and why is he still invoked as a prophet of modern conservatism? Emily Jones speaks to Paul Lay about her new book, ‘The Disraeli Myth: The Making of a Conservative Tradition’.Image: Portrait of Benjamin Disraeli, c.1860. Credit: Alamy | 59m 09s | ||||||
| 9/10/26 |  The scramble for the Middle East | Simon Sebag Montefiore speaks to Jack Dickens about his new book, ‘The Cauldron: The Making of the Modern Middle East’. Image: British troops on parade at Jaffa Gate after seizing military control of the region from the Ottoman Empire (1917). Credit: Wikimedia Commons | 48m 07s | ||||||
| 9/3/26 | British literaturehistory of the novel+3 | Alastair Benn | A History of the Novel in Britain | — | novelBritain+5 | — | 1h 08m 09s | ||
| 8/27/26 | Europefrontiers+3 | Caitlin Allen | Hinterlands: Journeys through Europe’s Unfinished Frontiers | United Nations Buffer ZoneVarosha+2 | EuropeHinterlands+4 | — | 37m 29s | ||
| 8/20/26 | political philosophyMachiavelli+3 | Paul Lay | Engelsberg Ideas | — | Machiavellipolitical philosophy+3 | — | 37m 07s | ||
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| 8/13/26 | cinema historyfilm criticism+3 | David Thomson | A Sudden Flicker of Light: A Revisionist History of the Movies | HollywoodlandLos Angeles | cinemafilm+3 | — | 47m 30s | ||
| 8/6/26 | Declaration of IndependenceAmerican history+5 | Paul Lay | AlamyColumbia's Courtship: A Picture History of the United States in Twelve Emblematic Designs in Color with Accompanying Verses | Philadelphia | Declaration of IndependenceMichael Auslin+7 | — | 49m 02s | ||
| 7/30/26 | Homer's Odysseyclassical literature+3 | Orlando Gibbs | The Odyssey | — | HomerOdyssey+5 | — | 1h 09m 03s | ||
| 7/23/26 | history of winehuman relationship with wine+3 | Kathleen Burk | — | ancient Near Eastmodern France+1 | winehistory+5 | — | 38m 37s | ||
| 7/20/26 | archaeologySaudi Arabia+3 | — | Alamy | Saudi ArabiaQasr Al Farid | Saudi Arabiaarchaeology+3 | — | 19m 27s | ||
| 7/16/26 | diplomacyWorld War II+3 | Peter Ricketts | — | BritainFrance+1 | diplomacyHitler+5 | — | 35m 56s | ||
| 7/13/26 | wardiplomacy+3 | — | — | — | wardiplomacy+5 | — | 15m 36s | ||
| 7/9/26 | geopolitical rivalryGreat Powers+4 | Brendan Simms | EI | — | geopoliticsGreat Powers+4 | — | 1h 03m 26s | ||
| 7/6/26 | nuclear weaponsCold War+3 | — | Engelsberg Ideas | GermanyBavaria | nuclear dilemmaGermany+5 | — | 20m 08s | ||
| 7/2/26 | American historypolitical conspiracies+3 | Phil Tinline | Ghosts of Iron Mountain: The Hoax that Duped America and its Sinister Legacy | United States | American experimentpolitical history+3 | — | 46m 10s | ||
| 6/29/26 | Russiageopolitics+3 | Stephen Kotkin | Engelsberg IdeasWhere is Russia’s place in the world? | RussiaEast Asia+1 | Russiageopolitics+4 | — | 42m 46s | ||
| 6/25/26 | ChristianityRoman Empire+3 | Tim Whitmarsh | Rome’s Age of Revolution: Augustus, Empire and the Making of Christianity | Turin | ChristianityRoman Empire+6 | — | 46m 00s | ||
| 6/22/26 | French cinemaJean Eustache+4 | — | Engelsberg IdeasNouvelle Vague | France | Jean EustacheFrench cinema+5 | — | 16m 48s | ||
| 6/18/26 | warpeace+3 | Margaret MacMillan | — | — | warpeace+5 | — | 43m 33s | ||
| 6/15/26 |  Testament to doomed media | The old media has failed to rise to the challenge of tech, but we'll miss it when it's gone.Read the original essay here: https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/testament-to-doomed-media/. Image: Woman reading a newspaper. Credit: Alamy | 17m 09s | ||||||
| 6/11/26 | Armeniaelections+3 | Thomas de Waal | — | ArmeniaCaucasus+1 | Armeniaelections+3 | — | 33m 34s | ||
| 6/8/26 | spy fictionmoral complexity+3 | Leighton Pugh | Engelsberg IdeasThe Ipcress File | — | Len Deightonspycraft+3 | — | 33m 16s | ||
| 6/4/26 | Chinaeconomic strategy+3 | George Magnus | Engelsberg Ideas | China | Chinaeconomic supremacy+3 | — | 47m 47s | ||
| 6/1/26 | Jewish communityAmerican history+3 | — | American Jewish Congress | AmericaIsrael | Jewish-Americancivil rights+3 | — | 24m 41s | ||
| 5/28/26 | Jewish-Muslim relationshistorical connections+3 | Marc David Baer | Children of Abraham: The Story of Jewish-Muslim Relations | Marrakech, Morocco | MuslimsJews+5 | — | 42m 23s | ||
| 5/26/26 | CS LewisNarnia+3 | Hannah Lucinda Smith | Engelsberg IdeasNearTheCoast.com+1 | — | CS LewisNarnia+3 | — | 17m 41s | ||
| 5/21/26 | photographydocumentary+3 | Maura Smith | Steve Schapiro: Being Everywhere | — | Steve Schapirophotographer+3 | — | 37m 20s | ||
| 5/18/26 | Polish historyWorld War II+3 | Clare Mulley | Home Army | Poland | Elżbieta Zawackaspy+5 | — | 13m 42s | ||
| 5/14/26 | Lewis and ClarkAmerican history+3 | Craig Fehrman | Engelsberg IdeasThis Vast Enterprise: A New History of Lewis & Clark+1 | — | Lewis and ClarkAmerican history+5 | — | 1h 00m 27s | ||
| 5/11/26 | politicsglobal leadership+3 | Nicholas Wright | Wanderer above the Sea of Fog | ChinaIndia+1 | politicsXi Jinping+5 | — | 17m 41s | ||
| 5/7/26 | Weimar RepublicGermany+4 | Katja Hoyer | Weimar: Life on the Edge of Catastrophe | Weimar | WeimarGoethe+7 | — | 1h 03m 13s | ||
| 5/5/26 | alcohol consumptioncivilisation+3 | — | Engelsberg IdeasLuncheon of the Boating Party | — | winealcohol+3 | — | 11m 46s | ||
| 4/30/26 | Europemultipolar world+3 | Mark Leonard | European Council on Foreign Relations | SiracusaEurope+2 | Europemultipolar world+3 | — | 53m 41s | ||
| 4/27/26 | Nuremberg TrialsTokyo Trials+4 | — | Allies | — | Nuremberg TrialsTokyo Trials+5 | — | 27m 10s | ||
| 4/23/26 | crisis in educationBritish universities+1 | Daisy ChristodoulouNicholas Wright | British universities | Bodleian LibraryUniversity of Oxford | universitiescrisis+4 | — | 1h 01m 42s | ||
| 4/20/26 | spy novelspostwar literature+4 | — | James BondSlow Horses+1 | — | spy novelIan Fleming+5 | — | 14m 10s | ||
| 4/16/26 | identity crisisdecolonization+4 | Marie Kawthar Daouda | Not Your Victim: How our Obsession with Race Entraps and Divides UsRuins with an Obelisk in the distance | — | identity crisisdecolonization+4 | — | 51m 37s | ||
| 4/13/26 | Scottish nationalismIran+3 | — | Islamic Republic | YazdUK | IranScottish nationalism+3 | — | 10m 08s | ||
| 4/9/26 | US interventionismLatin America+4 | Joseph Ledford | Hoover InstitutionEI | CubaVenezuela | US interventionLatin America+5 | — | 55m 31s | ||
| 4/3/26 | YemenHouthis+3 | Elisabeth Kendall | Houthis | IranYemen+1 | HouthisYemen+5 | — | 50m 13s | ||
| 3/30/26 | epic poetryhistory+3 | Michael Auslin | Engelsberg IdeasCan epic poetry revive History? | — | epic poetryhistory+3 | — | 14m 32s | ||
| 3/26/26 | liberalismpolitical philosophy+3 | Adrian Wooldridge | Centrists of the World Unite! The Lost Genius of LiberalismLeviathan | — | liberalismpolitics+5 | — | 49m 45s | ||
| 3/23/26 | entomologybutterflies+3 | — | Society of AureliansThe Aurelian; a Natural History of English Moths and Butterflies | Britain | butterfly collectorsentomological society+3 | — | 8m 05s | ||
Showing 48 of 403
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Chart history for The EI Podcast
Peaked at #65 in Italy, currently #65 in Italy.
| Market | Genre | Peak | Current | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Italy | — | #65 | #65 | — |
| PT | — | #73 | #73 | — |
| South Korea | — | #92 | #92 | — |
| United Kingdom | — | #110 | #110 | — |
| Ireland | — | #123 | #123 | — |
| HK | — | #123 | #123 | — |
| Norway | — | #133 | #133 | — |
| MY | — | #134 | #134 | — |
| RO | — | #163 | #163 | — |
Chart Positions
9 placements across 9 markets.
Chart Positions
9 placements across 9 markets.