The Prospect Podcast

Westminster editor at The Lead UK, Zoë Grünewald, joins the podcast to dissect the Reform party's new “contract with the people”, while Prospect’s editorial fellow Imaan Irfan takes us on a deep dive into The Muslim Vote campaign, a volunteer collective mobilising Muslim voters to elect pro-Palestine third-party and independent candidates. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more informatio...

Assistant editor Emily Lawford introduces Prospect’s election panel—the ultimate group chat of politics nerds from across the spectrum. One of the team, former Number 10 speechwriter Phil Collins, joins to give his take on the Tory manifesto and much more.  After, Ellen unpacks the crisis in universities with professor of academic history Glen O’Hara, who explains why they are in such trouble...

As the election campaign whirrs on—media circus in tow— Prospect’ s senior editor Alona Ferber is joined by Guardian columnist and author Rafael Behr to look beyond the Westminster bubble and ask: what does the Punch-and-Judy nature of our politics mean for the country,   and our democracy? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 the ruling ANC could lose its majority for the first time since 1994—and what the outcome could mean for the South Africa...

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 the headlines on this divisive story.  Read Priymavada's piece here . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 destabilised by her recent birthday, while Anglican Priest Alice Goodman is forced into a new role by her health: that o...

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 joins  Prospect ’ s  deputy editor Ellen Halliday to discuss who is really at risk from nitazenes—a category of synthetic opioids linked to an increasin...

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 overselling the odds of a hung parliament, why Sadiq Khan underperformed in London and why Reform could still be the Conservativ...

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.

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 government?  Perhaps more importantly, what should the animating moral principle of a potential new Labour government be? And is Keir Starmer prepared to be...

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 needed for the nation to pursue a more peaceful path.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 to unpick the deficit in local government funding, and to the chart the sorry course of Birmingham, a city that was once the cradle of municipal governa...

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 and across the country. Also on the podcast, climate scientist Gavin Schmidt discusses the worr...

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 information.

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 Britain.  Read Andrew Graystone's cover story here . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 and in life. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 problems? Or is it just America’s answer to Milton Keynes? Author and broadcaster Deyan Sudjic joins the podcast to discuss t...

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 . Shackle joins Ellen Halliday and Jonathan Tan, chief executive of non-profit Greater Change, on the podcast to discuss cash transf...

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 Sarah Collins to discuss everything from housing to climate change to mental health—and whether t...

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 Trump's domestic agenda and foreign policy regarding Nato, China, Ukraine and Gaza, Darroch argues that there are steps the UK can take to help Trump-proof our geo-politic...

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 more information.

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 might look like, from cryptocurrency to Amazon wishlists, as well as an unusual group of rebels who are burning cash to make a point. Read Stu...

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 actor Sheila Hancock is renouncing republicanism, after developing an affection for the Royals in her older age. Meanwhile, Sarah Collins, who suffers with OCD, r...

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 East? Simona Foltyn, an independent journalist, writer and videographer, joins the podcast to discuss what she’s seen and heard. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/pri...

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 pay £200 million to adapt a book that hadn't even been published yet? And what does the mystery of Argylle say about the publishing industry and online fando...