Headspace

Prospect magazine talks to Clare Malone from FiveThirtyEight.com about America's new left. How far can people like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez go? And how will Democratic Socialists like her affect the coming midterm elections? Plus, Stephanie Boland on rediscovering a great writer and Alex Dean on when politicians just won't take the blame. Hosted by Tom Clark, editor, Prospect. Prod. Jay Elwes  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The historian, author and BBC commentator Mark Urban discusses his new book on the former Russian spy, Sergei Skripal, who was poisoned in Salisbury, along with his daughter. Who was Skripal, who tried to kill him and why? Plus, Alex Dean on politics and Sameer Rahim on culture. Presented by Prospect's editor, Tom Clark. Produced by Jay Elwes.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

From May's speech to McDonnell's economics, this week Prospect brings you a round-up of the Labour and Conservative party conferences—including an audio postcard from the Tory event in Birmingham. What are the parties and their activists thinking? And what's it actually like to be at a party conference? Stephanie Boland, Steve Bloomfield, Sameer Rahim and Tom Clark get to grips with the state of the parties—while Jay Elwes and Alex Dean take you on tour to Birmingham.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Kwame Anthony Appiah’s new book The Lies That Bind confronts the question of how social identities are formed. They are incredibly important to people: we are prepared to kill and die for them. But is identity actually a mirage? 
Plus: Sameer Rahim on literary prizes and Alex Dean on why there’s no such thing as a Canada Brexit  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week it’s Stephen Collins, the illustrator who’s been doing the Prospect cartoon these many years. Subject-wise he’s covered a huge range, but one returned to more often than not recently is Donald Trump. Here, we ask Collins how you find humour in an era that’s often beyond satire. Plus: Sameer Rahim on new books about Trump and Alex Dean on Labour’s Brexit stance.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week Stephanie Boland speaks to historian of ideas Lyndsey Stonebridge about refugees and their status. How should history inform our thinking about the current refugee crisis? What rights should displaced people have? 

Stonebridge focuses on the literary side of those questions. Her new book is Placeless People and you can read her Prospect contributions here. Before we get to that, Alex Dean on the Lib Dems and Sameer Rahim on Spike Lee’s new film BlacKkKlansman  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week Ivan Hewett asks what happens when music meets philosophy and explains what lovers of classical music get wrong about the chart hits. These are newly relevant questions thanks to the publication of Roger Scruton’s book on the western musical tradition. You can read Hewett’s review of Scruton’s book on our website. Plus: politics with Alex Dean and culture with Sameer Rahim  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week it’s economic historian Adam Tooze, whose new book Crashed tells the story of the financial crisis. It is prompting the world to rethink the near total breakdown in international finance that happened just 10 years ago. We bring you highlights from Tooze’s recent event in Prospect towers. 

Plus: Alex Dean on ministerial churn and Sameer Rahim on impeachment  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week we speak to Donald Macintyre, the author and journalist who was Jerusalem correspondent for the Independent. Macintyre has written an essay for our September issue on the gradual death of the two-state solution. Twenty-five years since the Oslo Accords were signed, it is no longer achievable. Time to look at a radical alternative? 

Plus: Alex Dean on the minimum wage and Sameer Rahim on Israel and Palestine in the world of music.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week it’s Eric Lonergan, the financier, economist and philosopher of money. Listeners will remember last year’s Bitcoin boom and bust but what next for cryptocurrencies? One day your coins may be able to decide how they are spent. Would that make the world a better place?  Plus: Sameer Rahim on VS Naipaul and Alex Dean on the WTO.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Freya Johnston wrote a widely-discussed essay for our July issue on British politeness. Is there something rude about enforced civility? More worrying, is it all an act to hide far more barbaric instincts that lurk beneath the surface? She discusses these questions with Sameer Rahim. Plus: in politics and culture, Alex Dean and Stephanie Boland look north of the border. The topics are Brexit and the devolution settlement, and the future of the Edinburgh Fringe.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week the Prospect team is joined by esteemed writer Sarah Churchwell. Churchwell’s new book Behold, America charts the origins of Donald Trump’s America First approach, which goes back much further than you’d think. She also asks: have we lost sight of the fact that equality was part of the American dream? Before we get to that, the Prospect staff discuss what’s new in politics and culture.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week Zoe Williams speaks to Tom Clark about the left-wing path to a new Europe. But what would that look like and where does Jeremy Corbyn fit in? If the Labour leader did get into Downing Street could he really do a better job than the current crop? Williams raised these questions in her essay for our August issue. Plus: Alex Dean talks select committees and Sameer Rahim on the Man Booker.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Eight-year-olds playing Chopin is certainly impressive, but is it good for children to develop prodigious skills so early on? Suna Erdem talks to Prospect about maestros in miniature, whether they’ll grow up hating their parents, and why we’re so fixated on the concept of the youthful genius anyway. Erdem wrote on the subject for our August issue. Also: Alex Dean discusses the future of the Brexit departments and Sameer Rahim asks how much first time novelists can expect to be paid.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week Ben Rhodes speaks to Steve Bloomfield. Rhodes was formerly at the centre of the Obama administration: he started as a speechwriter but quickly became one of Obama’s closest advisors on foreign policy. He was there for some of the most important geopolitical events in recent history. 

His new book is called The World As It Is: Inside the Obama White House. Bloomfield reviewed it for our July issue.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week Cal Flyn speaks to Stephanie Boland about Britain’s other languages. Flyn wrote about learning Scottish Gaelic in our July 2018 issue. But what is the place of Gaelic in Scotland—and are dying languages really worth saving? Flyn certainly thinks so, and argues that all of us should be taking lessons.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Rock music is on the way down, music magazines aren’t what they used to be—but there are still an awful lot of sharp pens around. That’s the opinion of DJ Taylor who expands on his piece in Prospect’s July issue and talks to Sameer Rahim about the rock memoir. It’s a curious genre and we might think of it as unsophisticated, but actually it is at the centre of a new golden age of rock writing. Before that, Alex Dean and Tom Clark do a five minute political round-up on Brexit, Heathrow and the question of whether British politics will be lifted if England delivers in the World Cup.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, as last, there’s one big story: Brexit and the Conservative Party. Theresa May just about managed to see off Remainer rebellion in the Commons. But is it a hollow victory? Tom Clark asks whether after 300 years, Brexit could be the row that finally sinks the Tories. 

It’s not just in Britain that the traditionally dominant centre-right is on its knees; Andrew Gamble argues in our new issue that it’s a much broader trend and explains why here. Hephzibah Anderson discusses the fall of another great institution: the British high street.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week saw a series of crunch votes in the commons on the EU withdrawal bill and the role of parliament in the exit process. The government escaped defeat—just—but only by making dramatic last minute concessions. It promised Tory Remainers that parliament will indeed play a significant role. Antoinette Sandbach was one of the MPs to receive personal assurances from the prime minister and she explains what was said. But over recent days Brexiteers have insisted no such assurance can have been made. It has put the stark split in the Tory Party on display for all to see: can the PM appease both the Remainers and the Brexiteers on this and other issues? Sandbach is joined by Prospect’s Jay Elwes and Alex Dean.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

When Michael McFaul became the United States' ambassador to Russia, he didn't realise what he was letting himself in for. As the architect of Barack Obama's "Reset," he thought he'd be welcomed. But instead Vladimir Putin's cronies orchestrated a campaign of harassment and spread lurid personal allegations. McFaul talks to Sameer Rahim about his new book, From Cold War to Hot Peace, which tells of how US-Russia relations broke down and why Putin's aggressive posture on Crimea and Syria seems to be outfoxing the west. And why on Russia Donald Trump is at loggerheards with his own administration.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.