Engelsberg Ideas

07/02/2025

In the 1880s, Randolph Churchill’s band of rebels took on the Conservative Party leadership in the name of ‘Tory Democracy’. Through political dissension and publicity stunts, they sought to broaden the Conservatives’ electoral appeal and incite a grassroots revolution within the party.

Reform and the long shadow of the Fourth Party | Harry Cluff

In the 1880s, Randolph Churchill’s band of rebels took on the Conservative Party leadership in the name of ‘Tory Democracy’. Through political dissension and publicity stunts, they sought to broaden the Conservatives’ electoral appeal and incite a grassroots revolution within the party.

07/02/2025

Why do people the world over enjoy listening to songs sung in French?

The Great French Songbook | Muriel Zagha

Why do people the world over enjoy listening to songs sung in French?

06/02/2025

President Trump’s call for the United States to ‘Drill, baby, drill!’ is a new riff on a familiar theme. American fears about an overdependence on imported oil have a long lineage stretching back to the dawn of the postwar period.

The roots of America’s oil anxiety | Jack Dickens

President Trump’s call for the United States to ‘Drill, baby, drill!’ is a new riff on a familiar theme. American fears about an overdependence on imported oil have a long lineage stretching back to the dawn of the postwar period.

06/02/2025

Squalor, when sufficiently diluted and distanced through the medium of prose, paint or song, carries an undeniably authentic charge of what it means to be mortal and mired in the flawed, material world.

On squalor | Jenny McCartney

Squalor, when sufficiently diluted and distanced through the medium of prose, paint or song, carries an undeniably authentic charge of what it means to be mortal and mired in the flawed, material world.

05/02/2025

The claim that Trump represents a resurgence of the ruthless capitalism of the Gilded Age is propaganda, not history. Trump’s blend of economic nationalism and realpolitik more closely resembles the Republican ideals of Nixon and Eisenhower.

Will Trump’s Golden Age be a Gilded one? | Michael Lind

The claim that Trump represents a resurgence of the ruthless capitalism of the Gilded Age is propaganda, not history. Trump’s blend of economic nationalism and realpolitik more closely resembles the Republican ideals of Nixon and Eisenhower.

05/02/2025

A 1945 land swap between Britain and the Soviet Union shows the enduring consequences for local populations and landscapes when leaders redraw the map.

A great power carve up | Suzanne Raine

A 1945 land swap between Britain and the Soviet Union shows the enduring consequences for local populations and landscapes when leaders redraw the map.

04/02/2025

China’s DeepSeek is an island of technological excellence, but the country’s AI innovators can only achieve so much without greater political freedom and institutional flexibility.

China’s innovation paradox | George Magnus

China’s DeepSeek is an island of technological excellence, but the country’s AI innovators can only achieve so much without greater political freedom and institutional flexibility.

04/02/2025

In the turbulent 1820s, the rise of diverse nationalisms, demands for constitutional government, and deft management by established regimes, created something new: the idea of a unified world order.

1821 and the invention of world order | Damian Valdez

In the turbulent 1820s, the rise of diverse nationalisms, demands for constitutional government, and deft management by established regimes, created something new: the idea of a unified world order.

03/02/2025

Like its Soviet predecessor, Russia’s nuclear energy industry is a tool of state power pursuing military and foreign policy goals with ruthless ambition.

Russia’s global grip on nuclear energy | Paul Josephson

Like its Soviet predecessor, Russia’s nuclear energy industry is a tool of state power pursuing military and foreign policy goals with ruthless ambition.

03/02/2025

An exhibition at Magdalen College, Oxford explores Oscar Wilde’s time there as a student 150 years ago, and the success and disgrace which followed.

The making of Oscar Wilde | Malcolm Forbes

An exhibition at Magdalen College, Oxford explores Oscar Wilde’s time there as a student 150 years ago, and the success and disgrace which followed.

31/01/2025

China's AI sector has profound strengths, but it will need to overcome a range of complex challenges if it is to thrive, as the unveiling of the AI model DeepSeek shows.

China’s AI Sputnik moment is not what it seems | Alice Han

China's AI sector has profound strengths, but it will need to overcome a range of complex challenges if it is to thrive, as the unveiling of the AI model DeepSeek shows.

31/01/2025

Concentration camp prisoners turned music into a powerful act of resistance against the N***s.

Music in Auschwitz | Benjamin Poore

Concentration camp prisoners turned music into a powerful act of resistance against the N***s.

30/01/2025

The adventurer Frederick Courteney Selous epitomised the Victorian ideal of the gun-toting, daring frontiersman as a force for civilisation, and lent it an everlasting allure.

Frederick Selous, the archetypal great white hunter | Maria Golia

The adventurer Frederick Courteney Selous epitomised the Victorian ideal of the gun-toting, daring frontiersman as a force for civilisation, and lent it an everlasting allure.

30/01/2025

Is the era of mass literacy over? And what might a post-literate society look like?

EI's Alastair Benn is joined by Times columnist James Marriott and Senior Editor Paul Lay to discuss the promise and peril of a culture defined by the audiovisual.

The podcast is available on all streaming sites now.

30/01/2025

At a time of mounting geopolitical tensions, Scandinavian leaders have sent the world a powerful message: that it is possible for countries, and their leaders, to have close and trusting relationships.

Geopolitics, the Scandinavian way | Elisabeth Braw

At a time of mounting geopolitical tensions, Scandinavian leaders have sent the world a powerful message: that it is possible for countries, and their leaders, to have close and trusting relationships.

30/01/2025

Is the era of mass literacy over? And what might a post-literate society look like?

EI's Alastair Benn is joined by Times columnist James Marriott and Senior Editor Paul Lay to discuss the promise and peril of a culture defined by the audiovisual.

Is the era of mass literacy over? And what might a post-literate society look like?

29/01/2025

The major forces driving 21st-century change will come not just from the actions of states and corporations but from the intricate lattice of infrastructure networks that connects us all.

Infrastructure power | Mary Bridges

The major forces driving 21st-century change will come not just from the actions of states and corporations but from the intricate lattice of infrastructure networks that connects us all.