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 treatment of non-urgent health conditions, A&E waiting times are at record highs. Long waits and overcrowding ...
Jul 31, 2024•24 min
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.
Jul 23, 2024•1 hr
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 the Asylum King story can tell us about how the state treats vulnerable people in its care. Read Wilding’...
Jul 16, 2024•30 min
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.
Jul 09, 2024•20 min
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.
Jul 04, 2024•39 min
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.
Jul 02, 2024•34 min
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 security think tank Rusi about the nuclear threat, and what the next government might do to ensure a secure f...
Jun 26, 2024•33 min
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 information.
Jun 18, 2024•36 min
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 and what it means for students. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Jun 12, 2024•41 min
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.
Jun 05, 2024•28 min
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 in the world. Read Kellner's column and Fabricius’s feature here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy ...
May 29, 2024•29 min
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....
May 22, 2024•26 min
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 of a hospital patient. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
May 16, 2024•33 min
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 increasing numbers of deaths in Britain—and how prepared the UK is to protect them. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privac...
May 15, 2024•24 min
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 Conservatives’ biggest headache. Read Peter’s latest column here . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more informat...
May 08, 2024•22 min
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.
May 02, 2024•32 min
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 bold in pursuit of a vision—or will he be timid? Will Hutton, economist, columnist and author of new book ...
Apr 30, 2024•30 min
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.
Apr 23, 2024•27 min
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 governance, which is now run by a bankrupt council that is forced to make unprecedented cuts. Hosted on Aca...
Apr 17, 2024•37 min
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 worrying news that climate models can’t explain 2023’s historic temperature high. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy...
Apr 09, 2024•46 min
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.
Apr 02, 2024•30 min
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....
Mar 27, 2024•29 min
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.
Mar 21, 2024•33 min
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 the California Forever and what it illustrates about how capitalism grapples with the crisis in affor...
Mar 20, 2024•22 min
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 transfers, universal basic income and other measures that could ease Britain's growing homelessness problem. Read Sam...
Mar 13, 2024•36 min
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 there’s anything one generation can learn from the other. This conversation with two of Prospect’s Lives columnists is...
Mar 06, 2024•57 min
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-politics. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Feb 28, 2024•36 min
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.
Feb 21, 2024•31 min
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 Stuart's feature here . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Feb 14, 2024•23 min
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, reflects on how a health incident from years ago has sparked a present-day obsession—and a chat with ...
Feb 08, 2024•38 min
