The Prospect Podcast

This week, journalist and author Oliver Burkeman joins  Prospect ’s Ellen Halliday and  Mindful life  columnist Sarah Collins to talk mental health and building a meaningful life—and why his new book,  Meditations for Mortals , really isn’t self-help. Plus, freelance political journalist Jonn Elledge dials in from the Lib Dem conference in Brighton to help us decide whether Ed...

This week Ellen Halliday and Alona Ferber discuss a vital question: what is the reality of life under occupation for Palestinians? And how much longer can the world ignore it?  They are joined by Nathan Thrall, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of  A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy,  which follows the life of a Palestinian man whose son Milad died in a...

In February 2022, invading Russian forces on their way to Kyiv also occupied the site of Europe’s biggest nuclear disaster—Chernobyl. The response of the Ukrainians running the site, and of the International Atomic Energy Agency, would prove decisive. But who would be honoured as a hero, and who would be branded a traitor?   In this episode of the Prospect Podcast, deputy editor Ellen Hallida...

In a brand-new season of the Prospect Podcast, Ellen Halliday welcomes aboard her new co-host Alona Ferber. They are then joined by leading print and broadcast journalist Paul Mason—an expert on the far-right—to tackle this week's big question: what is the new face of fascism? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This months Gen Z-er Alice Garnett and former England cricket Captain Mike Brearley are exploring the value of imitating one's idols, while farmer Tom Martin returns from Rugen in Germany, where he learns from local farmers on the island. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this special partnered podcast, RCEM President Dr Adrian Boyle and Mary Watkins, a crossbench peer, discuss one of the most problematic areas in the NHS: urgent care. Labour has promised an NHS "fit for the future" and “to get a grip on the record waiting list” of 7.6 million people that is blighting the health service. But aside from long waits for GP appointments, referrals and trea...

In a rare conversation about what happens once the fighting in Gaza is over—and how the Israeli-Palestinian conflict could end—Ehud Olmert, Israel’s prime minister from 2006-2009, and Dr. Nasser Alkidwa, who was Palestinian foreign affairs minister from 2005-2006 join Alona Ferber.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Home Office housing contracts have turned Clearsprings founder Graham King into one of the UK’s richest men. Meanwhile, the asylum seekers living in his business empire of taxpayer-funded hotels have compared living in them to being in prison, with reports of physical assault, racist abuse and confiscated belongings. Mark Wilding from Liberty Investigates joins Ellen Halliday to discuss what...

In the post-Brexit years, Britain has become increasingly irrelevant on the global stage. After Thursday's historic election, what can Keir Starmer and David Lammy do to put it back on the map? Senior Editor Alona Ferber is joined by international affairs expert, and  Prospect  contributing editor, Isabel Hilton to discuss. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This month, the lives writers feel compelled—in their own different ways—to take action in challenging circumstances. Tom Martin has to make the most difficult decision any farmer could face when one of his ewes experiences pain during labour.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With the country heading to the polls this week, legendary pollster and former president of YouGov Peter Kellner gives his predictions for what the split of seats will look like, while contributing editor Tom Clark explains the six trip hazards he thinks Starmer might face in his first term.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week’s episode of the Prospect podcast, Emily Lawford quizzes Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary, University of London, on the gambling scandal, election culture wars and who, out of all the candidates, has had the best campaign so far.   After the break—is Britain ready to for Putin? Ellen Halliday speaks with Malcolm Chalmers, deputy director general of the defence and se...

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...