Headspace

The academic and cultural commentator Sarah Churchwell wrote a book on how Gone with the Wind—novel and film—has afflicted US politics. In a live recording of the Prospect Podcast, she talks to Prospect’s books and culture editor, Peter Hoskin, about the books, movies, albums and other cultural items before and since Gone with the Wind that have also changed the wider culture around them—in both good ways and bad. What works will come to define our times?If you enjoyed this podcast, listen to our Prospect Lives podcast here: https://podfollow.com/prospect-lives/viewMusic Credit: "JUMBO" from the album "MUSIC FOR THE LEFT-HANDED" by Mick Bass & Tot Taylor Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For years, Britain’s most powerful newspapers spied on anyone they thought might lead them to a juicy story. No victim was ever so angry and so fabulously wealthy that they could afford to risk everything in fighting back. Until now. Freelance writer Tom Lamont joins Alan Rusbridger to tell the inside story of the bitter battle between Prince Harry and the newspapers that hounded him, and how the phone hackers of the past have switched sides to help him. If you enjoyed this podcast, listen to our Prospect Lives podcast here: https://podfollow.com/prospect-lives/viewMusic Credit: "JUMBO" from the album "MUSIC FOR THE LEFT-HANDED" by Mick Bass & Tot Taylor Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After decades of environmental destruction in the Niger Delta, the fossil fuel giant Shell faces the prospect of a trial. Can legal action make amends, retrospectively, for the human and planetary consequences of pollution? Journalist and podcaster Mathilda Mallinson, Matthew Renshaw, a partner in the international department at Leigh Day, and Pedi Obani, associate professor at the University of Bradfordi, join Ellen Halliday on the podcast. Prospect Lives podcast: https://podfollow.com/prospect-livesMusic Credit: "JUMBO" from the album "MUSIC FOR THE LEFT-HANDED" by Mick Bass & Tot Taylor Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In a new documentary film Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power, award-winning independent filmmaker Nina Menkes puts the male gaze in cinema under the microscope. She joins Prospect's arts and books editor Peter Hoskin on the podcast to discuss how Hollywood taught us to objectify women. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How did our politics become so polarised? Do governments listen to protest? And what should people who are angry about the state of the country do to change it? Journalist, author, co-host ofThe Rest is Politics podcast and former Downing Street director of communications Alastair Campbell joins Alan Rusbridger to discuss his new book But What Can I do? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Has Britain reached peak inequality and is it becoming more equal for the first time in a century? Danny Dorling, professor of Human Geography at the University of Oxford advances this radical argument in discussion with Deborah Hargreaves, former CEO of the High Pay Centre and Prospect's deputy editor Ellen Halliday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What impact will the bank holiday nurses' strike have on patients? Will the government ever get round the negotiating table with junior doctors? And will this industrial action bring the already struggling NHS to its knees? Pat Cullen, general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing and Rachel Sylvester, columnist at The Times and chair of The Times Health Commission join assistant editor Sarah Collins on the podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Former treasury chief Nick Macpherson and eminent Keynesian economist Ann Pettifor debate whether the coalition's cuts were necessary—and whether they worked. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After the 2020 election, Fox News gave airtime to an outright fiction: that Biden had stolen the presidency. As the company is sued over what it broadcast, legal documents reveal how far the Murdochs will go to keep America’s biggest channel on top. Journalist Matthew d'Ancona, who is a former editor of the Spectator, and Sarah Ellison, staff writer at the Washington Post join Alan Rusbridger to discuss Prospect's cover story. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Richard Hermer KC speaks with Raza Husain KC and Sile Reynolds (Freedom from Torture) about the pressing Migration Bill—designed to deter refugees arriving into the UK on small boat—being pushed through UK Parliament. They discuss whether the bill can be overruled by the ECHR or the Refugee Convention. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What does the big libertarian idea of "zones of exception" mean for the nation state? Award-winning author and professor of history Quinn Slobodian joins contributing editor Tom Clark to discuss his new book Crack-up Capitalism, Market Radicals and the Dream of a World Without Democracy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What if the reason poverty persists in capitalist democracies like the US and Britain is because the rest of us benefit from it? What if the solution means facing up to the ways we all profit from the exploitation of low-income people? Pulitzer Prize winning author Matthew Desmond joins the podcast to discuss his radical new book Poverty, By America with Tom Clark, editor of new book Broke: Fixing Britain's poverty crisis and Sarah Collins, assistant editor at Prospect. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alfie Stirling chief economist at the New Economics Foundation and Lara Spirit Red Box reporter at the Times join Alan Rusbridger discuss today's budget. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

20 years on from the US led invasion of Iraq, what is life like in Baghdad today? Award-winning Iraqi journalist Ghaith Abdul-Ahad joins Alan Rusbridger to discuss his new book—which has been fourteen years in the making—A Stranger in Your Own City: Travels in the Middle East's Long War. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With growing numbers of people crossing the channel in small boats and the backlog of asylum claims at record levels, immigration has become a key issue for a government whose approach to fixing the system has favoured rhetoric over results. For the cover story of our April issue, David Normington, former permanent secretary for the home office from 2006-2010, and May Bulman, investigations editor at Lighthouse Reports, discuss how the government could solve the immigration crisis. They join deputy editor Ellen Halliday on the podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How do memories of the 1966-76 Cultural Revolution shape modern China? And why does Xi Jinping seek to control the ways people remember? Tania Branigan—a Guardian leader writer and author of Red Memory: Living, Remembering and Forgetting China’s Cultural Revolution—and Isabel Hilton, who is a contributing editor at Prospect and founder of China Dialogue, join Ellen Halliday to discuss China's relationship with it's own history. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Most conflicts end through negotiation. But how can Putin be trusted given the horrors of his war in Ukraine? Jonathan Powell, who represented the UK government in forging the Good Friday Agreement, and Vladimir Milov, who was Russia’s Deputy Minister of Energy in 2002, join Ellen Halliday to discuss whether peace talks will ever be possible. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Is Labour on track to win the next general election? Does Keir Starmer have the right strategy? Seasoned political journalist and pollster Peter Kellner and former head of political strategy for the Labour party, Greg Cook, join Alan Rusbridger to discuss why the next election is Labour’s to lose.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How can you satirise a government as farcical as the current one? If Labour wins the next election, how mockable will Keir Starmer be? Alan Rusbridger is joined by actor and comedian Rosie Holt—whose impersonation of a Tory MP set the internet on fire during the lockdowns—and comedian and producer Josh Berry, who in December 2019 created the fictional character of Rafe Hubris, an Eton-educated, implacably self-confident special advisor to Boris Johnson. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tens of thousands of working age people with terminal illnesses are dying in poverty in the UK, as the safety net fails to catch them in their final year of life. Could a relatively cheap and simple policy change solve this cruel problem? Helen Barnard, associate director at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and Sam Royston, Director of Policy and Research at Marie Curie join assistant editor Sarah Collins on the podcast. If you enjoyed this podcast, why not have a listen to our Prospect Lives podcast? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.