The Prospect Podcast

Just how much difference — or not — do the quirks of an individual make to the tide of history? In this month’s episode we welcome historian-turned-Cabinet minister Andrew Adonis, who claims every election is won by the more talented leader. We hear from Wittgenstein's biographer, Ray Monk, who argues that one of the greatest philosophical minds of the lot—Gottlob Frege—lived in a husk of a man. Finally, the globe-trotting journalist, Wendell Steavenson, who followed a refugee family from Syria to the US, describes the heartening signs that America’s open-armed tradition towards immigrants surviving the personality of Donald J Trump. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This month Tom Clark and guests chew over three simmering—or potential—culture wars.Immigration is often said to divide the "metropolitan elite" from "the masses", but Steve Bloomfield says that Canada proves that, done the right way, immigration can be popular.Jessica Abrahams fills us in on what's good, what's bad and what's complacent in fourth-wave feminism.And the Sun's Emily Andrews fills us in on how insiders fear that the change of the guards at Buckingham Palace that will bring in Charles III could bring down the institution at the pinnacle of British class: the monarchy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alison Wolf, Paul Ormerod and Adam Tooze join Prospect Editor Tom Clark to discuss whether it’s a good thing that so many people go to university; why trust in experts has fallen so low; and how, 10 years on from the banking crisis, a new system of regulation has been quietly introduced under-the-radar. But how sustainable is it? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The malconents have, once again, wrought revenge on the know-it-alls, landing Britain with a hung parliament instead of the predicted Conservative landslide. Steve Richards sees election 2017 as one more instance of the worldwide trend for outsiders causing an upset at the expense of an establishment which has lost all legitimacy since the economic crisis of a decade ago. Rachel Sylvester says the campaign performed an X-ray on Theresa May’s political soul, and revealed a brittle character that was never strong nor stable. Meanwhile, David Berry looks back to the 1930s, when radicals took a break from politics to set up tennis clubs—and made with such success that they took gas fitters and machinists to the All England Club, in the Worker’s Wimbledon. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nick Cohen, Matthew Parris and Meg Russell (Constitution Unit) join Tom Clark and a live audience to discuss where Theresa May’s surprise ballot will leave the government, the opposition and a divided country. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the ninth edition of Prospect's monthly podcast, Nick Cohen, Christine Ockrent and Geoffrey Wheatcroft join our editor, Tom Clark, to discuss the British and French elections, as well as the extraordinary resilience of the Tory party. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Simon Jenkins, Wendell Steavenson, and Paul Hilder join Tom Clark to discuss the fraying Union between England and Scotland, the reordering of London to favour the global elite, and the way that new digital campaigns are disrupting the old politics everywhere Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ross McKibbin, Nicholas Timmins and Lucky Wadham join Tom Clark to discuss the condition of Labour and its greatest creation, the NHS, as well as Marine Le Pen's run at the French Presidency. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“Debate globalisation?” Tony Blair said a dozen years ago, “You might as well debate whether autumn should follow summer." Well, we’re debating it now all right, and economist George Magnus fears that it's set to spin into reverse—very possibly sinking us into a global trade war. Some unhappy dwellers on Planet Trump fear that real war could soon be on the agenda as well. Spies are better placed than most of us to assess the risks, and a host of them have been coming out of the shadows to speak to Prospect’s Executive Editor, Jay Elwes about how they’re getting on with the new White House regime. The way that Brexit Britain navigates these frightening waters will depend very much on the woman at the wheel—Theresa May. Anne Perkins of the Guardian has been digging into her early life to get a sense of what makes our prime minister tick. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Power to the people! As an ideal democracy has long reigned unchallenged, but could it fall out of fashion after the convulsions of Brexit and Trump?Certainly, Vladimir Putin's cyberwars raise new questions about its integrity. Journalist Luke Harding, who was expelled from Russia in 2011, explains how the Kremlin's campaign of democratic disruption abroad exports tricks long in use in its elections at home. He also relays his first-hand experience of Putin's spies, who left sex manuals by his martial bed!Freshly returned from Indonesia, "recovering epidemiologist" Elizabeth Pisani talks about the bottom-up culture that makes elections vibrant out there, and draws inspiration from the young Aids activists of the 1980s. They demonstrated how active democratic campaigning by ordinary people can change the direction of things. In the end, the health of democracy is bound to depend on the way its building blocks—that is, individual human beings—make decisions. The bad news, says economist John Kay, is that we aren't systematically rational; but the good news is that this does not make us any less wise. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.