Engelsberg Ideas

03/11/2025

Artificial Intelligence must not be weaponised to downgrade ideas of artistic excellence founded on human creative genius, elitism and meritocracy.

AI against the arts | Alexandra Wilson

Artificial Intelligence must not be weaponised to downgrade ideas of artistic excellence founded on human genius, elitism and meritocracy.

03/11/2025

Britain's intelligence networks of the First and Second World War could not have operated without the vital contributions of female agents.

Secret networks behind enemy lines | John Raine

Britain's intelligence networks of the First and Second World War could not have operated without the vital contributions of female agents.

31/10/2025

The American director’s latest film is infused with a mass of cinematic culture.

Muriel Zagha () on Paul Thomas Anderson at the movies. Click the link in bio to read.

Image: Paul Thomas Anderson on the set of One Battle After Another. Credit: Everett Collection Inc

31/10/2025

China’s activities in Europe are driven more by opportunism than any grand plot to divide the continent. In geopolitical terms, Beijing treats European countries as extensions of American power.

John Delury on what China wants from Europe. Click the link in bio to read.

Image: Chinese Yuan and Euro. Credit: Stephane Roussel

31/10/2025

China's activities in Europe are driven more by opportunism than any grand plot to divide the continent. In geopolitical terms, Beijing treats European countries as extensions of American power.

What China wants from Europe | John Delury

China's activities in Europe are driven more by opportunism than any grand plot to divide the continent. In geopolitical terms, Beijing treats European countries as extensions of American power.

31/10/2025

The latest film from the American director Paul Thomas Anderson is infused with a mass of cinematic culture.

Paul Thomas Anderson at the movies | Muriel Zagha

The American director's latest film is infused with a mass of cinematic culture.

31/10/2025

Tsukumogami are beings that arise when ordinary objects gain a spirit of their own. Their moral message? Treat your possessions well.

Christopher Harding () on Japan’s time of spirits. Click the link in bio to read.

Image: Handscroll painting of the ‘Night Parade of One Hundred Demons’, a Japanese folk belief. Credit: CPA Media Pte Ltd

30/10/2025

Tsukumogami are beings that arise when ordinary objects gain a spirit of their own. Their moral message? Treat your possessions well.

Japan’s time of spirits | Christopher Harding

Tsukumogami are beings that arise when ordinary objects gain a spirit of their own. Their moral message? Treat your possessions well.

30/10/2025

If we live in a time of great worries, we also live in a time of great wonders, where the problems that plagued humanity from the beginning of recorded time have been improved beyond imagination.

Wonder and worry: dealing with uncertainty in contemporary history | Francis J. Gavin

If we live in a time of great worries, we also live in a time of great wonders, where the problems that plagued humanity from the beginning of recorded time have been improved beyond imagination.

30/10/2025

President Trump's quest for the prestigious prize is unlikely to succeed for one simple reason: they are often awarded to unentitled ‘underdogs’ who express a selfless vision of a better, closer world, and show a degree of humility.

How not to win the Nobel Peace Prize | Peter Caddick-Adams

President Trump's quest for the prestigious prize is unlikely to succeed for one simple reason: they are often awarded to unentitled ‘underdogs’ who express a selfless vision of a better, closer world, and show a degree of humility.

29/10/2025

A fatal combination of AI exuberance, reckless private credit, and skyrocketing levels of sovereign debt is generating economic bubbles. When they burst, the ensuing global crisis may well transform the geopolitical landscape.

A crash is coming | David Roche

Economic bubbles abound, generated by a fatal combination of AI exuberance, reckless private credit and skyrocketing levels of sovereign debt. When they burst, a global crisis could transform the geopolitical landscape.

29/10/2025

At a time of crisis at home and conflict abroad, it is vital that the UK's political and media class have an historically informed understanding of their country and its institutions.

Britain’s elite needs a history lesson | Alastair Benn

At a time of crisis at home and conflict abroad, it is vital that the UK's political and media class have an historically informed understanding of their country and its institutions.