The Prospect Podcast

The Prospect Podcast episodes:

• 05.29.2024

  Election kick-off! Sunak, Starmer—and South Africa’s historic vote

  On today’s podcast, Ellen Halliday is joined by legendary British pollster Peter Kellner to discuss Sunak’s soggy start and Labour’s “no mistakes” tactics. And calling in from Cape Town, Peter Fabricius, a leading political journalist for the Daily Maverick, explains why...

  
• 05.22.2024

  Priyamvada Gopal: What do the Gaza student protests mean for universities?

  As a series of encampments have sprung up at universities around the world, what do the Gaza protests tell us about freedom of speech at these often-embattled institutions? Author and Cambridge professor Priyamvada Gopal joins Ellen Halliday to dive beyond...

  
• 05.16.2024

  Prospect Lives: A question of identity

  This month, our writers are mulling over questions of identity: Sheila regrets her lifelong habit of judging people by appearances while sex-worker and author Tilly Lawless considers the solidarity that exists between sex-workers and trans-women. OCD sufferer Sarah Collins feels...

  
• 05.15.2024

  Britain’s opioid crisis?

  The United States has been ravaged by synthetic opioids such as fentanyl, and a few months ago, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned that a similar disaster might be coming for Europe. Is he right? Freelance journalist Ella Glover...

  
• 05.08.2024

  Local election special, with Peter Kellner

  The local elections went very badly for the Tories and pretty well for Labour—but what can the results really tell us about the upcoming general election? Prospect columnist and pollster Peter Kellner joins deputy editor Ellen Halliday to explain why Sunak is...

  
• 05.02.2024

  Prospect Lives: A decision that changes everything...

  This month, Jason Thomas-Fournillier, Prospect’s Displaced life writer makes a reappearance to reveal some truly exciting news about his story of seeking asylum in the UK. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  
• 04.30.2024

  Will Hutton: How Labour can get it right

  Polls suggest Labour is set to win the next general election—but if it does, it will face governing in dismal economic circumstances. What would it take for Labour to transform the country, despite the apparent lack of money available to...

  
• 04.23.2024

  Avraham Burg: Israel’s tyrannical leadership

  Author, politician and former member of the Israeli Knesset Avraham Burg joins Ellen Halliday to discuss political leadership in Israel and the influence that extremist voices are having on Netanyahu. Burg argues Israelis must push for the change in leadership...

  
• 04.17.2024

  Broke Birmingham and the council crisis

  Last year three councils in England went bust, and the BBC political research unit has reported that one in five councils have warned of effective bankruptcy in five years, unless there is reform. Contributing editor Tom Clark joins Ellen Halliday...

  
• 04.09.2024

  Margot Wallström: How Russia is wreaking environmental destruction in Ukraine

  Prospect contributing editor Isabel Hilton is joined by Margot Wallström, a former Swedish foreign affairs minister and head of the High-Level Working Group on the Environmental Consequences of the War in Ukraine. They discuss the environmental damage Russia’s war has caused in Chernobyl...

  
• 04.02.2024

  The Americans defending democracy from Trump

  Author and journalist Phil Tinline joins Ellen Halliday on the podcast to discuss the threat Trump poses to US democracy and the cross-partisan movement of lawyers, activists and politicians fighting to safeguard it.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more...

  
• 03.27.2024

  The gospel according to GB News

  For our cover story this month, author, broadcaster and theologian Andrew Graystone explores media tycoon Paul Marshall’s God-driven mission to reshape Britain. He joins deputy editor Ellen Halliday to discuss Marshall’s life, faith and media empire—and why it matters for...

  
• 03.21.2024

  Prospect Lives: Decisions, challenges and fresh starts

  This month, OCD sufferer Sarah Collins faces her phobia of sleeping alone, while Gen Z-er Alice Garnett reflects on a search for a new job. Former England cricket captain Mike Brearley celebrates the many apprenticeships he's completed both in sport...

  
• 03.20.2024

  California’s billionaire city

  Rumours abound about the so-called “billionaire” city planned by a former banker and his backers in Solano County California. Is California Forever, as the project is known, a money-making scheme for those disillusioned with San Francisco’s rocketing prices and accumulating...

  
• 03.13.2024

  Should we give homeless people cash?

  Handing cash to rough sleepers has always been a controversial act, but is it actually the solution to our homelessness crisis? It’s an idea that award-winning journalist and author Samira Shackle explored in a feature for the most recent issue of Prospect....

  
• 03.06.2024

  Which generation has it harder? With Sheila Hancock and Alice Garnett

  In this special episode of the podcast, 91-year-old actor Sheila Hancock and 24-year-old writer Alice Garnett discuss the age-old question: are things really harder for the young? Gen Z Alice and nonagenarian Sheila are joined by Prospect’s boomer editor Alan Rusbridger and millennial...

  
• 02.28.2024

  Kim Darroch: Is the UK ready for Trump 2.0?

  Kim Darroch, who was the UK ambassador to the US from 2016-2019, joins Ellen Halliday to discuss how likely a second Trump presidency is and how the UK and Europe should prepare for it. In a wide-ranging conversation that covers...

  
• 02.21.2024

  Timothy Garton Ash: Ukraine, Navalny and the survival of the west

  Leading European historian Timothy Garton Ash joins Ellen Halliday to discuss the death of Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny, the challenges facing the Ukrainian armed forces and the west’s unpreparedness in dealing with Putin. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for...

  
• 02.14.2024

  Going cash-free: a world without money

  Physical cash is dying—but should we be worried about the consequences, or leave that to conspiracists and cranks who are concerned about digital payments? Author and journalist Stuart Jeffries joins Ellen Halliday to discuss what the payments of the future...

  
• 02.08.2024

  Prospect Lives: Looking forward and reflecting back

  This month, some of our writers are looking towards the future while others are reflecting on the past, reassessing their hopes and beliefs. Sex worker Tilly Lawless is in a new kind of relationship with new norms for communication while...

  
• 02.07.2024

  What motivates Hezbollah, Iran and the Houthis?

  So far, since 7th October, Hezbollah has held back from an all-out war with Israel. How long can that last? And, as tensions rise in the Red Sea, what motivates the Houthis, Iran and the “Axis of Resistance” in the Middle...

  
• 01.31.2024

  Argylle: Taylor Swift's first novel? Or not...

  When Swifties spotted connections between their favourite singer and a new spy thriller, Argylle, a theory took hold: was the book, ostensibly by a debut writer Elly Conway, actually written by the reigning queen of pop? Why did Apple Studios...

  
• 01.24.2024

  Daron Acemoglu: The Top Thinker of 2024

  Economist Daron Acemoglu is officially Prospect's Top Thinker of 2024. A professor of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Acemoglu is an expert in labour, technology, development and political economy. His work tackles a difficult problem: how can we ensure power...

  
• 01.17.2024

  Peter Kellner: How accurate are political polls?

  Legendary pollster and political analyst Peter Kellner joins Ellen Halliday and assistant editor Emily Lawford to explain how political polling works and to assess how effective it is at predicting election results. He also trails his new Election countdown column,...

  
• 01.16.2024

  The Rule of Law: Why Britain should be ashamed of the Rwanda Bill

  As the Safety of Rwanda Bill returns to Parliament, Helen Mountfield, Murray Hunt and Richard Hermer discuss the myriad ways it breaches international law and undermines the rule of law. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  
• 01.10.2024

  Avi Shlaim: Why I'm advocating for a one state solution

  Emeritus professor of international relations at the University of Oxford, Avi Shlaim joins Ellen Halliday to discuss his experience as an Arab Jew and how it has informed his perspective on the Israel-Palestine conflict. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for...

  
• 01.03.2024

  How China is preparing for battle in Taiwan

  As Taiwan prepares to hold key elections on 13th January, China is escalating its campaign to influence the vote’s outcome. What will 2024 look like for Taiwan? And could the CCP’s “grey zone” tactics, which currently fall short of war,...

  
• 12.27.2023

  Prospect Team: What will surprise us in 2024?

  The team discuss the turbulent year that's passed and give predictions for the year ahead, as well as sharing their highlights from Prospect in 2023. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  
• 12.20.2023

  Have we fallen out of love with Love Actually?

  This classic Richard Curtis film turned 20 this year but has been criticised for being elitist, misogynistic and farfetched. In a festive Prospect conversation, Books and Culture Editor Peter Hoskin and Assistant Editor Sarah Collins debate whether the film is the defining...

  
• 12.13.2023

  Standing up to dictators: Eliot Higgins, Bellingcat and the online sleuths

  A decade ago, Eliot Higgins founded an organisation that would transform investigative journalism. During the past ten years, Bellingcat has used (mostly) open-source methods to unmask the Salisbury assassins and Navalny’s poisoners, and give Putin a bloody nose. But who...

  
• 12.06.2023

  Samuel Moyn: America's undoing

  What do the Israel-Gaza and Russia-Ukraine wars demonstrate about US power in the world? For the cover story of our latest issue, out today, author and professor of law and history at Yale, Samuel Moyn argues that America's mission to...

  
• 11.29.2023

  Simon Sharpe: What climate diplomacy gets wrong

  As COP28 kicks off in the UAE, former UK diplomat Simon Sharpe joins Ellen Halliday to discuss why the current approach to climate diplomacy—the kind that saw deals struck in Paris and Glasgow—doesn’t really work. Drawing on his book Five Times...

  
• 11.22.2023

  Who is Javier Milei, Argentina's new president?

  Prospect contributing editor Isabel Hilton draws on her experience reporting from Argentina as she joins the podcast to discuss the country’s new far-right, “anarcho-capitalist” president, Javier Milei, and what his election means for the world. Read Isabel's piece on the Argentinian economy here. ...

  
• 11.15.2023

  Priyamvada Gopal: Are the humanities in crisis?

  The future of the humanities has become a new frontier in the culture wars. But are they really in crisis? Priyamvada Gopal, who is a professor of English at Cambridge and a scholar at Princeton, joins Ellen Halliday to discuss...

  
• 11.08.2023

  Peter Ricketts: How to negotiate a ceasefire in Gaza

  Peter Ricketts, former permanent representative to Nato and permanent under-secretary to the Foreign Office from 2006-2010, joins the podcast to discuss how ceasefires and humanitarian pauses work, and which conditions would need to be met to bring an end to...

  
• 11.01.2023

  The Israel-Gaza war: How Middle Eastern states respond

  Jordan-based writer Khaled Mansour—who spent thirteen years working for the United Nations—joins the podcast to discuss the geopolitical implications of the Israel-Gaza war. He discusses how states in the Middle East have responded to the conflict and what it would...

  
• 10.27.2023

  Taster episode : Is there a media bias against Israel?

  As a listener to the Prospect Podcast, we’d like to introduce you to another podcast series made by Prospect Magazine that we think you will enjoy. Media Confidential is presented by Prospect editor, Alan Rusbridger and he’s joined by Lionel...

  
• 10.25.2023

  Is Britain run by an out of touch elite?

  Matthew Goodwin and David Aaronovitch debate whether Britain is run by an out of touch elite. Matthew Goodwin thinks that there's a new elite of radically progressive, morally righteous graduates who are dominating Britain's major institutions and imposing on the...

  
• 10.20.2023

  Israel, Gaza and the laws of war

  How do we begin to understand the events in both Israel and Gaza from a legal perspective? In this episode of the Rule of Law podcast—produced in association with Matrix Chambers—human rights barrister Richard Hermer discusses the laws of war...

  
• 10.18.2023

  Biodiversity on the brink?

  Investigative journalist Nicola Cutcher explains why nature is, surprisingly, struggling inside many of the UK’s national parks. So, can the Bannau Brycheiniog national park in Wales, formerly known as the Brecon Beacons, revive it, and bring wildlife back from the...

  
• 10.11.2023

  Sam Freedman: Reflections from the Labour party conference

  Sam Freedman talks to Ellen Halliday about his first visit to a Labour party conference in several years. In Liverpool he finds a very professional and prepared party aiming to be in power after the next election. Prospect brings rigorously...

  
• 10.04.2023

  Andrew Bailey: Please, don’t call me Mr Governor!

  Lionel Barber has an exclusive conversation with Andrew Bailey, governor of the Bank of England. In a rare interview Bailey sheds light on a difficult period for the bank: covid, the end of the furlough scheme and the brief period...

  
• 09.27.2023

  Lizzie Porter: Syria's forgotten

  After more than a decade of devastation in Syria, the country has slipped off the international news agenda. And Arab nations are embracing Bashar al-Assad once again. Lizzie Porter, an award-winning journalist and senior correspondent for Iraq Oil Report joins...

  
• 09.20.2023

  Barry Eichengreen: Is the end of globalisation near?

  Donald Trump, Brexit, Covid-19: for a little while it seemed like nothing could stop the march of globalisation. But as tussels between the US and China come more sharply to the fore, will it finally have met its match? Barry...

  
• 09.12.2023

  Matthew d’Ancona: How centrism became a bad joke

  For Prospect’s October cover story, author, journalist and contributing editor Matthew d’Ancona asked why political centrism died and what it would take to revive it. He joins Alan Rusbridger on the podcast to outline how a new radical centrist movement could defeat the...

  
• 09.05.2023

  Elena Gordon: My son, Putin’s prisoner

  Vladimir Kara-Murza, a Russian opposition politician and British national, has been sentenced to 25 years in a maximum-security Russian penal colony. Talking to Ellen Halliday, his mother Elena Gordon reflects on his early life and his commitment to Russian democracy....

  
• 08.29.2023

  Paul Wallace: The wrong kind of inflation

  With interests rates rising and inflation falling, is the economy heading in the right direction? Or are we teetering on the brink of recession? And how will the current economic turbulence shape our politics before the next general election? Paul...

  
• 08.22.2023

  Jane O'Grady: Were the Greek philosophers self-help gurus?

  Can the Stoics help solve the mental health crisis? Should we adopt an Epicurean approach to pleasure? On this week's podcast, writer and lecturer Jane O'Grady joins Prospect's Mindful life columnist Sarah Collins to discuss whether the ancient Greeks can...

  
• 08.16.2023

  David Loyn: Why the west is failing Afghanistan

  Two years on from the fall of Kabul, is the west's soft engagement with the Taliban working? David Loyn, an award-winning foreign correspondent who was with the Taliban when they took Kabul in 1996 and has visited Afghanistan ever since,...

  
• 08.08.2023

  Can AI think?

  In this week’s episode, managing editor Alex Dean speaks to science writer Philip Ball on artificial intelligence: what it is, how it works and how it might even change our perception of what it means to have a mind. Hosted...