The Prospect Podcast

Nov 19 2024 384 ep. 33 mins 1.8k

The Prospect Podcast artwork

The brightest minds discussing the ideas that matter most in politics, society and culture.
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Temporary accommodation: a national scandal

Nov 19 2024 46 mins

Families are spending years living in hotels, households are being moved miles across the country, and government is spending billions on a system that harms those it is designed to protect. What can be done?This week, Ellen and Alona are joined by researcher and local government expert Jack Shaw to talk about his exclusive investigation into the growing scandal of temporary accomm

The online gender wars

Nov 12 2024 40 mins

Why do some women like tradwife videos? And why does it even matter?This week, Ellen and Alona are joined by writer Sarah Manavis to discuss the small but significant group of women who promote anti-feminist values online—and why so many others watch their videos.Sarah argues that the success of right-wing young men with large social media followings has distracted from a boom in

Is assisted dying moral? Rowan Williams and Brenda Hale in conversation

Nov 05 2024 58 mins

Would legalising assisted dying end unnecessary suffering? Or would it instead enable the abuse of some of society’s most vulnerable people?As parliament discusses assisted dying once again, Prospect invited two of our most profound thinkers—Rowan Williams and Brenda Hale—to debate the issue. As archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams led a Church that publicly opp

Q&A US election special, with Jill Abramson

Nov 01 2024 38 mins

For the first time, Ellen and Alona host a special Q&A episode, recorded with a live audience. They’re joined by Jill Abramson, former executive editor of the New York Times, who has been has been covering the presidential election for Prospect.Jill describes how this American election compares to what she’s seen in the past, and answers listeners’ questions. Wh

Witches, conspiracies and the US election

Oct 29 2024 49 mins

As Halloween approaches, Ellen and Alona are joined by journalist Gabriel Gatehouse to discuss his plunge into the world of conspiracy theories, QAnon and the extreme fringes of US politics.What have witches in the dark ages got to do with American democracy? How has the internet destabilised state power? And what does that mean for this November’s election?Conspiracy theories ab

Climate culture wars and COP

Oct 22 2024 46 mins

This week, Ellen and Alona look ahead to COP29, the annual climate summit, hosted this year in Baku, Azerbaijan.They are joined by Isabel Hilton, Prospect’s contributing editor who shares her experiences at COP, and Sam Alvis, a policy advisor and director of energy and environment at Public First.25 out of the 35 key “planetary vital signs” are out of bounds, and biodiv

Peter Geoghegan: Labour and “dark money”

Oct 16 2024 51 mins

This week, Ellen and Alona talk to investigative journalist Peter Geoghegan. Peter is the former editor-in-chief of the award-winning website openDemocracy and is the author of Democracy for Sale: Dark Money and Dirty Politics.Public faith in democracy has been undermined by hidden influence and undisclosed donations—but how susceptible is the new government to this?In an en

Catching flights and making moves

Oct 10 2024 38 mins

This month, our columnists are busy with new difficult tasks. Sarah Collins, our Mindful life columnist, boards the emotional rollercoaster that comes with preparing to live abroad, while Anglican Priest Alice Goodman composes her first carol. Farmer Tom tries to rescue seven baby pheasants, while Alice Garnett is moving out of her shared house and navigating London’s rental hell

Sayeeda Warsi on the Tories and why ‘Muslims don’t matter’

Oct 08 2024 38 mins

Baroness Warsi, former Conservative cabinet minister and lawyer, joins Ellen and Alona to talk about her new book Muslims Don’t Matter, about “the silencing, stereotyping and stigmatising of Muslims by the British press and political parties.”Politicians, media outlets, think tanks and even the entertainment industry have poisoned public discourse about Muslims, culminat

Emily Lawford: Incels offline

Oct 01 2024 30 mins

This week, Prospect’s commissioning editor Emily Lawford joins Ellen and Alona to discuss a dark side of the internet: the “manosphere”.Emily spent months reporting “The incel trap” for this month’s issue of the magazine, meeting with self-proclaimed misogynists in real life. On the podcast, Emily shares what she learned about why young men are radicalised—includ