Empty city London had its harbingers in literature and history. How will it emerge from its isolation? Read by Leighton Pugh.

https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/pandemics-and-the-metropolis-city-lockdown-london/

Credit: 1000 Words / Shuttersotck

Despite globalisation, the nation state retains its privileged position in world politics. Read by Leighton Pugh.

https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/a-world-of-nations-and-states-is-here-to-stay/

Credit: AMA/Corbis via Getty Images

Beijing wants to foster a world where Chinese standards replace those of the post-1945 US-led system. Read by Leighton Pugh.

https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/chinese-china-the-great-uncoupling/

Credit: Feng Li/Getty Images

Mattias Hessérus in conversation with Jonathan Dimbleby on the strategic decision that cost Hitler the war.

The tension between independence and compliance is everywhere in society – but in medicine, reason must come before rules. Read by Leighton Pugh.

https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/covid-19-and-the-moral-case-for-personal-judgement/

Credit: DeAgostini/Getty Images

This period of turbulence could turn today's twenty-somethings into the leaders of a new liberal revolution. Read by Leighton Pugh.

https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/meet-the-zoomer-generation/

Credit: Jack Taylor/Getty Images

As a result of President Erdogan's embrace of two interlinked geopolitical concepts, 'Strategic Depth' and 'Blue Homeland', Turkey faces international isolation. Read by Leighton Pugh.

https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/new-turkeys-old-politics/

Credit: Kerem Uzel/Bloomberg via Getty Images

To argue that Margaret Thatcher attacked the post-war dream is to caricature, not illuminate, her importance to British history. Read by Leighton Pugh.

https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/continuity-thatcher-rescuing-a-complex-leader-from-historical-cliche/

Credit: John Downing/Getty Images

Thucydides saw plague as an opportunity to improve the health of society. But history shows that pandemics have a way of disrupting medical and social progress. Read by Leighton Pugh.

https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/challenging-the-great-reset-theory-of-pandemics

Credit: Bettmann

Mattias Hessérus is in conversation with Niall Ferguson on how pandemics, and other disasters, shape human history.