English Plus Podcast

The cold in Moscow is a living entity, prowling the streets for any weakness. Ivan, a homeless veteran, sits on a steam grate behind a metro station, his only warmth coming from the mongrel dog, Laika, tucked inside his coat. When the Social Patrol van pulls up offering a warm bed in a shelter, there is a catch: no dogs allowed. Ivan looks at the open door of the van, and then at the loyal eyes of his companion. This is a story about the family we choose, and the lines we refuse to cross, even when the temperature drops to minus thirty.   If these moments of quiet connection and hope resonated with you, we’re thrilled to tell you that the full collection, When the Bells Don't Ring by Danny Ballan, is now available on Amazon and everywhere books are sold. Get Danny's book When the Bells Stop Ringing for yourself or as a gift for your loved ones this Christmas. Buy the paperback from Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0G34NWXDV Support Danny on Patreon: https://patreon.com/dannyballan

In Stockholm, the winter darkness arrives just after lunch, settling over the city like a heavy blanket. Astrid sits by her window, watching a candle burn down—a silent, stubborn signal to a son she hasn't spoken to in two years. She calls it 'waiting,' but deep down, she knows it is pride. The candle is fading, and the silence of the phone is deafening. Tonight, Astrid faces the hardest journey of all: the distance between her hand and the receiver. A story for anyone who is waiting for the other person to blink first.   If these moments of quiet connection and hope resonated with you, we’re thrilled to tell you that the full collection, When the Bells Don't Ring by Danny Ballan, is now available on Amazon and everywhere books are sold. Get Danny's book When the Bells Stop Ringing for yourself or as a gift for your loved ones this Christmas. Buy the paperback from Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0G34NWXDV Support Danny on Patreon: https://patreon.com/dannyballan

We spend so much of our lives protecting things. We protect our privacy, our inventory, our traditions, and even our sadness. But what if safety is actually the most dangerous thing of all? In this episode of Thinking Out Loud, we travel to a pub in rainy Dublin, a dark stairwell in Beirut, a snowbound station in Japan, and a fragrant kitchen in Berlin. We look at the "Empty Chair" at the head of the table, the cargo of oranges sealed in a truck, and the cheese that is about to spoil. We ask the difficult questions: Are we guarding a shrine or a prison? Why are we so afraid of "loud" smells? And what happens when we finally realize that the only way to save the feast is to give it away? Join me as we learn how to break the seal.

Berlin in December is gray, damp, and smells of wet wool. For Fatima, a refugee from Aleppo, the city feels impossibly cold and distant. Desperate for a sense of home on Christmas Eve, she opens a jar of seven-spice and begins to cook Maqluba, filling her apartment building with the rich, loud scents of the Levant. But when a sharp knock comes at the door, Fatima fears the worst. On the other side stands her stern German neighbor, Frau Weber. What follows is a story about the flavors that divide us, and the unexpected tastes that bring us together.   If these moments of quiet connection and hope resonated with you, we’re thrilled to tell you that the full collection, When the Bells Don't Ring by Danny Ballan, is now available on Amazon and everywhere books are sold. Get Danny's book When the Bells Stop Ringing for yourself or as a gift for your loved ones this Christmas. Buy the paperback from Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0G34NWXDV Support Danny on Patreon: https://patreon.com/dannyballan

A blizzard has erased the highways of Hokkaido, trapping a diverse group of travelers in a roadside station on Christmas Eve. There is a businessman with a deadline, a crying toddler, and a truck driver named Kenji hauling a perishable cargo of sunshine—mandarin oranges. As the power flickers and the vending machines die, the tension in the room rises. With the road closed and hunger setting in, Kenji looks at his sealed cargo and faces a choice: follow the rules of the logbook, or break the seal to feed the strangers stranded with him. If these moments of quiet connection and hope resonated with you, we’re thrilled to tell you that the full collection, When the Bells Don't Ring by Danny Ballan, is now available on Amazon and everywhere books are sold. Get Danny's book When the Bells Stop Ringing for yourself or as a gift for your loved ones this Christmas. Buy the paperback from Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0G34NWXDV Support Danny on Patreon: https://patreon.com/dannyballan

In Beirut, the darkness doesn't fall gently; it seizes the city. On Christmas Eve, the power grid fails, leaving twelve-year-old Nour and her neighbors in a suffocating blackout. In a building where iron doors are usually triple-locked and neighbors rarely speak, the silence is heavy. But Nour remembers her grandmother’s beeswax candles and makes a choice. Instead of huddling in her own apartment, she heads for the dark stairwell. This is a tale about what happens when the lights go out, and we are forced to become the light for one another. If these moments of quiet connection and hope resonated with you, we’re thrilled to tell you that the full collection, When the Bells Don't Ring by Danny Ballan, is now available on Amazon and everywhere books are sold. Get Danny's book When the Bells Stop Ringing for yourself or as a gift for your loved ones this Christmas. Buy the paperback from Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0G34NWXDV

In Dublin, the rain drifts rather than falls, turning the streetlights of Temple Bar into blurred halos. Cillian sits alone in a pub, avoiding the deafening silence of his own home—a house that has been too quiet since his wife, Siobhan, passed away. He has set a place at the table out of habit, a monument to his loss. But when a soaking wet traveler stumbles into the pub with a backpack and a ruined plan, Cillian is forced to decide whether to guard his grief or open the door. Join us for a story about the 'empty chair' and the courage it takes to fill it. If these moments of quiet connection and hope resonated with you, we’re thrilled to tell you that the full collection, When the Bells Don't Ring by Danny Ballan, is now available on Amazon and everywhere books are sold. Get Danny's book When the Bells Stop Ringing for yourself or as a gift for your loved ones this Christmas. Buy the paperback from Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0G34NWXDV

It is easier to be charitable than it is to be kind. Charity requires a coin; kindness requires a piece of ourselves. In this episode of Thinking Out Loud, we take a deep, philosophical dive into four stories of winter connection. We look at a bakery window in Paris, a metro station in Prague, a frozen mountain border, and a riverside bench in Seoul. We ask the difficult questions: Why do we prefer to give leftovers rather than offer a seat at the table? Why is grief forbidden during the holidays? And how do we learn to see the "indigo" history of the people we rush past every day? Join me as we dismantle the invisible walls we build to keep the cold—and each other—out. Support Danny on Patreon Buy When the Bells Stop Ringing as a gift for you or for those you love: 

Seoul is a city of neon miracles and heated benches, but for Min-ji, a seventy-year-old cardboard collector, it is a place of relentless cold. She moves through the Christmas Eve crowds like a ghost, her spine curved by the weight of her cart, invisible to the young couples passing by. When a student stops not to offer pity, but to listen, he uncovers a history buried under layers of dust—a memory of silk, indigo, and a woman who was once a queen in her own life. This is a story about the dignity we carry, even when the world refuses to see it. Welcome to a new episode of the English Plus Podcast. If these moments of quiet connection and hope resonated with you, we’re thrilled to tell you that the full collection, When the Bells Don't Ring by Danny Ballan, is now available on Amazon and everywhere books are sold. Get Danny's book When the Bells Stop Ringing for yourself or as a gift for your loved ones this Christmas. Buy the paperback from Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0G34NWXDV

High in the Caucasus Mountains, the wind screams across a frozen ridge known as No Man’s Land. Levan, a soldier on guard duty, stares through his scope at the enemy line, waiting for movement. It is Christmas Eve, but war does not respect the calendar. When a figure finally breaks the white silence of the neutral zone, Levan’s finger hovers over the trigger. But he isn't looking at a soldier; he is looking at a desperate woman and a trapped animal. Today, we witness a moment on the border where duty collides with humanity. If these moments of quiet connection and hope resonated with you, we’re thrilled to tell you that the full collection, When the Bells Don't Ring by Danny Ballan, is now available on Amazon and everywhere books are sold. Get Danny's book When the Bells Stop Ringing for yourself or as a gift for your loved ones this Christmas. Buy the paperback from Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0G34NWXDV

In the depths of the Prague metro station, amidst the screech of brakes and the rush of commuters desperate to get home, an old man named Karel plays his violin. To the thousands passing by, he is nothing more than background noise—architecture with a bow. But tonight, the crowd is gone, leaving only one man standing in the shadows, paralyzed by a grief that the holidays cannot fix. In this episode, we explore the power of music when the words fail us, and how a sad song might just be the only comfort that rings true. Welcome to a new episode from English Plus Podcast. A new short story from When the Bells Stop Ringing, A Christmas short story collection by Danny Ballan. If these moments of quiet connection and hope resonated with you, we’re thrilled to tell you that the full collection, When the Bells Don't Ring by Danny Ballan, is now available on Amazon and everywhere books are sold. Get Danny's book When the Bells Stop Ringing for yourself or as a gift for your loved ones this Christmas. Buy the paperback from Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0G34NWXDV

Today is the first of our final series for this year, When the Bells Stop Ringing to celebrate the season of light together. Our first story is The Pâtisserie Window. Paris in winter is often painted as a romantic wonderland, but for ten-year-old Chloé, the City of Lights offers no warmth—only the biting wind and the rules of the street: don’t loiter, don’t touch, don’t look like a problem. Tonight, on Christmas Eve, she stands outside the golden glow of Maison Lefèvre, separated from the warmth by a pane of glass and a world of difference. But what happens when the door opens, not to shoo her away, but to invite her in? This is a story about the invisible walls we build, and the simple, terrifying bravery required to cross the threshold. Get my book When the Bells Stop Ringing for yourself or as a gift for your loved ones this Christmas. Buy the paperback from Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0G34NWXDV

This episode is different. For the first time, I'm sharing my personal story—the journey that explains everything about who I am and why I'm making a big change. I've always been a private person on the podcast, but to explain this new chapter, I want to share the full context. I talk about being forced to leave school at 14, finding English as my lifeline, and building a career in Educational Technology. I also get transparent about the realities of operating a global brand from Lebanon, and how that has led me to a new, exciting, and more sustainable direction. In this episode, you will hear about: My personal journey and why "English" has always had a "Plus." My decision to return to my professional field of Educational Technology. The great consolidation: English Plus is becoming my single, unified passion project for all my writing, music, and creative ideas. My core identity as a writer and how this new structure will honor it. An honest look at the challenges for creators in Lebanon and why your support is so crucial. Support This New Journey on Patreon As I explained in the episode, I'm committed to keeping all this content free. However, because I live in Lebanon, I have no access to PayPal or Stripe. My Patreon page is the single, only possible way you can support this show and my work as a creator. If you find value in my work and want to help me build this new chapter, please consider becoming a patron. Join the Patreon Community: https://patreon.com/dannyballan

We're all familiar with the "Scramble for Africa" and the Sykes-Picot agreement—arbitrary lines drawn by colonial powers that have caused a century of conflict and division. But focusing only on that problem is getting stuck in the past. This article, "Beyond the Scramble," acknowledges that pernicious legacy but pivots to the future. It's a deep dive into the ingenious solutions being built right now to make those borders irrelevant. We're exploring massive economic "corridors," powerful political bodies like the African Union, and vibrant local cultural festivals that prove a shared history is stronger than a line on a map. This is the new story, the one of 21st-century cooperation. Read the full, in-depth article here: https://englishpluspodcast.com/beyond-the-scramble-overcoming-artificial-borders-through-21st-century-cooperation/ Support English Plus Podcast to keep the show going on Patreon

How do you pull off the biggest, most violent smash-and-grab in human history? You can't just say that's what you're doing. You need a story. You need a justification. This episode is a three-part journey into the long, dark, and ridiculously complicated shadow of empires, framed as "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly". Part 1: The "Good" We dissect the official PR campaign for global domination. This is the "civilizing mission", the "divine mandate", and the "enlightened" philosophy of men like John Locke and John Stuart Mill. We explore how scientific racism and cultural projects like Orientalism created "The Other" , culminating in the infamous "White Man's Burden". Part 2: The "Bad" This is the reckoning. We watch as the colonized turn the master's own tools—"Liberty, Equality, Fraternity"—against him, exposing the empire's glaring hypocrisy. We cover the earth-shattering Haitian Revolution, Gandhi's brilliant moral theater with the Salt March, and the groundbreaking philosophy of liberation. We dive deep into Frantz Fanon's devastating diagnosis of colonialism as a mental illness and Edward Said's unmasking of Orientalism. Part 3: The "Ugly" The story doesn't end when the flags come down. We confront the world we live in now: Neo-Colonialism. We trace how the system mutated, swapping soldiers for bankers. This is the story of the IMF and World Bank, "Structural Adjustment Programs" that crippled new nations, and the creation of a new "comprador" elite. Finally, we explore the new liberation movements, from "decolonizing the mind" to the urgent fights for debt forgiveness and climate justice. This isn't just a history lesson; it's a look at the code that still runs our world. Support me to keep the show going on Patreon https://patreon.com/dannyballan