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More of the Epstein files have been released—but why now, and what do they really tell us? This week, Ellen and Alona are joined by investigative journalist Peter Geoghegan, editor of the Democracy for Sale newsletter, to unpack what the documents reveal about power, money and impunity. Peter discusses the ways powerful figures protect themselves, and the latest political fallout in Britain—from renewed scrutiny of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor to Peter Mandelson’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein...
Britain needs new infrastructure and housing—and devolution could be a help or a hindrance. Will giving a greater say to local communities through devolution increase the legitimacy of infrastructure and housing plans and accelerate their delivery? Or does it add complexity and aid the ‘blockers’ not the builders? This podcast explores the issues, explains how to address the risks and charts an optimistic way forward. Picking up themes from a roundtable on this topic held by Prospect and sponsor...
Politics in Britain was once dominated by two big parties with predictable voter bases. But times have changed—and for the first time, new parties are on the rise.This week, Ellen and Imaan are joined by Prospect ’s new editor Philip Collins, to discuss the breakdown of British politics as we know it. Philip argues that we have entered a new political era—one where the traditional giants of British politics, Labour and the Conservatives, have become hollowed-out “zombies”, ill-equipped to face t...
A crackdown by the Iranian government has quietened protests that swept across the country in recent weeks, but tensions remain high. This week, Ellen and Alona are joined by Aniseh Bassiri Tabrizi, a Middle East analyst at Control Risks, who dials in from Abu Dhabi to explain how these protests differ from previous rounds of unrest in the country—from the scale of grievances to new geopolitical conditions. Aniseh also discusses Trump’s threat of military intervention from the United States. Plu...
This week, Ellen and Alona are joined by Isabel Hilton—former Latin America editor, expert in Arctic security and Prospect contributing editor—to discuss how American foreign policy has evolved under the Trump administration, particularly after the US abduction of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro. How different was this from the US’s history of coups and previous military interventions in South America, from Guatemala to Panama? Isabel discusses the region’s history and future, as well as the...
What hope is there for the future? Global greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise and right-wing populists rage against net zero. But, according to the UK’s climate minister and a leading American environmentalist, though, the economics of electrification will make the future brighter than it first appears. Ed Miliband, secretary of state for energy security and net zero, and Bill McKibben, an environmentalist and author, joined Wolfgang Blau, Prospect editorial board member and cofounder of t...
Prospect Lives delves into a spectrum of contemporary issues, featuring Kiran Sudhu on the rise of far-right support among British Indians and Vitaly Vitaliev's reflections on Soviet censorship at a banned books museum. Sarah Collins shares a cautionary tale about relying on AI for mental health, while Alice Goodman reveals the unique stresses and coping mechanisms of Anglican priests during Christmas. The episode also includes Tilly Lawless's insights into workplace safety in sex work, Sheila Hancock's critique of bureaucratic "head office" directives, and Alice Garnett's humorous account of appearing on a TV comedy panel show.
In the final podcast of the year, Ellen and Alona look back at their favourite episodes from 2025. During a dark year, Prospect has been collecting glimmers of hope. They asked some of the most interesting thinkers today—from politics, to environment to tech—for their perspectives on hope and optimism. What keeps them fighting for a more just world? Philosopher Slavoj Zizek and broadcaster Mehdi Hasan talk about the merits of pessimism. Human rights lawyer Philippe Sands discusses justice in the...
Swooning audiences, demon-hunting popstars, and Sydney Sweeney’s jeans—it’s been quite a year for arts and culture. In this week’s special episode, three of Prospect ’ s critics join books and culture editor Pete Hoskin to chat over eggnog and mince pies. Kate Maltby, Lucy Scholes and Laura Barton encounter the Prospect wheel of fortune and share their recommendations, as well as the cultural moments that defined the rest of the year. Which theatre performance saw audience members fainting in dr...
Seven MPs were suspended for rebelling on the two-child benefit limit last year. Now that the government has announced it will lift the policy, what will change? And why was this such a major focus for anti-poverty campaigners? Ellen and Alona are joined by two experts on the subject: journalist and campaigner Terri White and Ruth Patrick, professor in social and public policy at the University of Glasgow. They bust the myths and misconceptions around the policy, and analyse the negative respons...
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 digital landscape, why AI-generated “slop” has sped it up, and why we should all care. What’s in it for tech CEOs? ...
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 mean for us in future. In the latest issue of Prospect , Mark traces how Palantir seized a moment of...
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 of mutually assured destruction. He explains the role of fear in the origins of the nuclear bomb—an...
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 drifting toward the far right.He also weighs in on Ukraine, as well as Zohran Mamdani’s performance in the New York...
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 how and why the international development sector is changing. They discuss the impact of cuts in budgets fr...
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, including through Silicon Valley’s visions for artificial intelligence. Is technology pushing flesh-an...
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 powerbroker Nancy Pelosi, reveals his frustration with conventional Washington politicking, and shares what he thi...
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 a suspicion that white British citizens are losing out to non-white Brits. Was this an inevitable co...
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, Omer explains how this denial operates and its historical parallels. He argues that denialism has roots in his co...
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 running, and the importance of wrestling back the political narrative from Reform, while Creasy criticis...
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 explores the place of manipulation in a capitalist system, and whether technology is making manipulation a bigger p...
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 Looking for an Enemy: Eight Essays on Antisemitism , while Dave Rich is head of policy at the Community Security T...
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, Ben explains what makes a politician “populist”, the policies that might work for Labour, and why populist...
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 stance on protest, which he says panders to a “middle covert authoritarianism”. Conor also weighs in on what’s at st...
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 cards under New Labour—before they were scrapped by the Tory-Lib Dem coalition—and thinks they could have a place. Rebecca Vincent i...
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 investment, instead loaded themselves with debt, rewarded shareholders, and presided over a national sewage ...
