The Prospect Podcast

This month, Anglican priest Alice Goodman explains why she has mixed feelings about pilgrimages, while Gen Z-er Alice Garnett despairs at the development of AI friends. Sarah Collins contracts a case of burnout, while Kiran Sidhu enters into correspondence with a stranger. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why does every platform seem to get worse over time? This week, Ellen and Alona are joined by journalist, tech activist and sci-fi writer Cory Doctorow, who coined the term “enshittification” to describe the decay of digital services into exploitative, user-hostile platforms. As constraints that once kept platforms in check have broken down, Cory shares how tech giants polluted the digit...

Palantir has acquired key UK government contracts, promising to make government more effective. But Peter Thiel’s controversial company has also worked with the US government and ICE on deportations and with Israel’s military during its war on Gaza. This week, investigative journalist Mark Wilding joins Ellen to explain how the tech giant has become embedded in the British state—and what it might...

In a world of unpredictable strongman leaders, do nuclear weapons keep us safe or make us more vulnerable? This week, Ellen and Alona are joined by Serhii Plokhy, historian and author of The Nuclear Age , to discuss the threat of nuclear conflict. From Putin’s war in Ukraine to China’s expanding arsenal and new nuclear “threshold” states, Serhii discusses whether governments still hold to the idea...

How should the left resist fascism? This week,  Prospect ’s Ben Clark speaks to Yanis Varoufakis, economist and Greece’s former finance minister, whose most recent book is  Raise Your Soul: A Personal History of Resistance . Yanis reflects on writing a feminist history as a man, what his family’s encounters with Nazism taught him, and whether today’s left can still speak to young men dri...

In this episode of Policy Insights, sponsored by ASI and produced by Prospect Publishing, Prospect  deputy editor Ellen Halliday talks to Annalisa Prizzon from ODI Global, Daniel Pimlott from ASI, and Stefan Dercon from the Blavatnik Institute and Oxford University about the future of foreign aid. Our expert guests share their perspectives on the changing dynamics of foreign aid and explore h...

Zombies, werewolves and...ChatGPT? In this week’s spooky special, Ellen and Alona are joined by historian and “monster consultant” Surekha Davies, who argues that humans have always created monsters to understand the world—and ourselves. In her new book Humans: A Monstrous History, she explores a history of monsters, as well as the weird and horrifying monsters we’ve created in modern day life, in...

Does Washington need a shake up? As the Democratic party faces its lowest favourability ratings on record, one man wants to completely change its brand. This week,  Prospect ’s Ben Clark speaks to Saikat Chakrabarti, progressive political adviser and former chief of staff to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who is now running for Congress himself. Saikat discusses running against Democratic powerbro...

This month our writers are reflective: Alice Goodman asks how to be a priest in divided times, while Gen Z-er Alice Garnett questions the assumptions that underpin modern texting etiquette. Mindful life writer Sarah Collins decides to shift her pessimistic mindset, while rural life writer Kiran Sidhu learns to let go. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, political columnist Ben Ansell joins Prospect’s Alona and Imaan to discuss the rise of ethnonationalism in British politics, and the popularisation of the term “white British”. Ben explains the origin and implications of a term that has gone politically “viral”. He also discusses how a national conversation about asylum policy has “metastasised” into criticism of legal migrants—and now...

This week, Alona is joined by Omer Bartov, the Israeli-American historian and professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Brown University.   Two years after the Hamas-led attack in southern Israel, Israel’s retaliation has killed one in 33 Gazans. Omer argues that the war on Gaza is genocidal—and that many Israelis are in denial about what their government is doing.   On the podcast,...

The Labour government is struggling and the party is divided. Meanwhile, Reform is on the rise, and the Tories are collapsing. What kind of change does Labour need, if it is to get back on track? This week, Ellen and Alona dial in from the party conference in Liverpool, where they’re joined by Walthamstow MP Stella Creasy, and deputy leadership candidate Lucy Powell. Powell explains why she’s runn...

Are we all being manipulated? This week, Ellen and Alona are joined by Cass Sunstein–one of the scholars behind “nudge” theory–who explains how companies exploit our cognitive biases for their own profit. Cass is the founder and director of the Program on Behavioral Economics and Public Policy at Harvard, and author of  Manipulation: What It Is, Why It’s Bad, What to Do about It.  He exp...

The question of what is antisemitic and what is legitimate criticism of the state of Israel has long been a difficult question—but it has become even more fraught since 7th October 2023 and the continuing atrocities in Gaza. On 31st July 2025,  Prospect  brought two experts together to debate and discuss which kinds of speech and criticism are acceptable. Jo Glanville is the editor of&nb...

On the podcast this month, Ukrainian journalist and Second Life writer Vitali Vitaliev explains why he hates book signings, while sex worker Tilly Lawless argues that porn doesn’t make her clients more violent. Meanwhile Anglican Priest Alice Goodman celebrates the power of hope in the face of climate despair.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As Labour tanks in the polls, left and right-wing populists are on the rise. This week, Ellen and Alona and are joined by  Prospect ’s political columnist Ben Ansell, whose cover essay in this month’s magazine explored the government’s big challenge. From Zohran Mamdani to Zack Polanski, left populists are attracting votes and attention. Should Keir Starmer follow their lead? On the podcast,...

Is Britain becoming a police state? This week, Ellen and Imaan are joined by Conor Gearty, a barrister and professor of human rights law at LSE, who explains how his views on the future of protest have changed.  As hundreds have been arrested for supporting the recently proscribed group Palestine Action, Conor discusses his reaction to the ban. He criticises the Labour government’s...

From country walks to telephone box libraries, our  Prospect Lives  writers are enjoying the summer. Sex Worker Tilly Lawless reflects on the fragmentation of the sex industry in the age of OnlyFans, and Alice Goodman explores memory, homeland, and the meaning of Passover. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The government is considering introducing digital ID cards as a way to curb illegal immigration and improve the administration of public services. But is it a good idea?   In this week’s  Prospect Podcast,  former Labour Home Secretary David Blunkett debates Rebecca Vincent, from the civil liberties group Big Brother Watch.    Blunkett oversaw the introduction of identity...

Privatisation was meant to revitalise a public good. Instead, it left us with leaky pipes, sewage spills and rivers not fit to swim in. Ellen and Alona are joined by journalist and writer Oliver Bullough, whose books include  Moneyland: Why Thieves And Crooks Now Rule The World And How To Take It Back. He explains how water companies, sold off under Thatcher with promises of efficiency and in...

This week, Alona and Imaan are joined by Stewart Home, novelist, filmmaker and art historian, whose new book  Fascist Yoga  traces the unsettling links between yoga, wellness culture and the far right. Stewart’s research uncovers yoga’s strange story: from its reinvention in the early 20th century by a Californian escapologist, to its appropriation by occultists, grifters and even Nazis....

This week, writer and activist Laura Bates joins Ellen and Alona to discuss her latest book  The New Age of Sexism.   Best known for founding the Everyday Sexism project in 2012, Laura has spent more than a decade documenting the realities of gender-based discrimination. In her new book, she turns her attention to the digital world—where artificial intelligence is giving rise to disturbi...

There’s been a buzz in Westminster about Blue Labour, the socially conservative group led by peer Maurice Glasman. But where did Blue Labour come from—and how much influence does it really have over government? This week on the  Prospect Podcast , Ellen and Alona are joined by political theorist and director of the UCL policy lab Marc Stears, who was one of the founding members of Blue Labour...

The world’s richest man has fallen out with Donald Trump, but his story isn’t over. This week, Ellen and Alona are joined by Faiz Siddiqui, technology reporter at the  Washington Post  and author of  Hubris Maximus: The Shattering of Elon Musk.  He has closely followed Musk’s rapid rise and fall, from visionary entrepreneur to Washington exile, mired in political controversy, l...

Have you ever wondered where Andrew Tate came from? This week, Ellen and Alona are joined by journalist James Bloodworth to discuss his new book  Lost Boys: A personal journey through the manosphere . From attending a pick-up artist bootcamp himself in 2006, to reporting on the rise of red pill and incel ideologies, James traces how online misogyny has evolved—and why so many young men are dr...