Best Prospect Magazine Podcasts (2025)

1
Mehdi Hasan: “The media doesn’t want to hear certain people” 41:40

16h ago41:40

41:40

Mehdi Hasan joins the Prospect podcast this week, talking to Prospect’s Ben Clark about Trump, tech bros, cancel culture and…“Gish galloping”. He opens up about his departure from MSNBC after the network cancelled The Mehdi Hasan Show and discusses his move from mainstream to alternative media, almost a year since founding Zeteo on Substack. Zeteo’…

1
Q&A: How to interview a president 18:58

3d ago18:58

18:58

This week, we get up close and personal with Alan and Lionel as they discuss dream guests, hobbies and personal media habits. How does a high-flying editor and news junkie switch off, even for a short time? From piano to cold water swimming, Alan and Lionel share some of their favourite ways to unwind. With media outlets under attack in the US, wha…

1
Trump 2.0 in America: Geopolitical Ripples Across Asia and the World 30:13

4d ago30:13

30:13

The second Trump term is nothing like the first. The implications for Asia are massive. The Diplomat’s Asia Geopolitics podcast hosts Ankit Panda (@nktpnd) and Katie Putz (@LadyPutz) discuss the early days of the second Trump administration in the United States.If you’re an iOS or Mac user, you can also subscribe to The Diplomat’s Asia Geopolitics …

1
Policy Prospects for Engineering in 2025 25:40

5d ago25:40

25:40

A new governing trifecta has swept into Washington and has set out to bring immediate changes to the way the Federal government does business. What does that mean for engineers in industry and research? Paul Fakes, director of ASME’s Government Relations education and outreach programs, explains what policy changes engineers should keep an eye out …

1
Norm Pearlstine: “Media is Trump’s cocaine” 32:18

7d ago32:18

32:18

Alan and Lionel are joined by American editor and media executive Norman Pearlstine. They reflect on Trump’s second term so far, and how news outlets have reported on some of his astonishing executive orders. Norm argues that while billionaire media moguls were once lauded as saviours, they have proved to be “poor stewards”, more concerned about th…

1
Has Labour abandoned the left? 34:35

8d ago34:35

34:35

Would a young Starmer join the Labour party today? Ellen and Alona are joined by Tom Clark, contributing editor at Prospect, who thinks not. From defending misfit environmentalists to denouncing them in the Daily Mail, Starmer’s evolution might dismay some on the left of the party. Once he was a young human rights lawyer and now he is a prime minis…

1
Q&A: Reporting as an act of resistance 23:30

10d ago23:30

23:30

Alan and Lionel return to answer listeners’ questions on today’s hot topics. With Lionel currently in New York, attention turns to American news coverage. Has US media gone far enough in its coverage of Trump’s first week back in power? Should journalists in the US be afraid of his second presidency? Alan and Lionel also discuss how teenagers relyi…

1
Are UK journalists under state surveillance? 44:29

14d ago44:29

44:29

On 18th June 1994, Catholic pubgoers in Loughinisland, County Down, were watching a World Cup match when a loyalist paramilitary group burst in and murdered six civilians, wounding five others. To this day, no-one has been charged for the crime. Produced by journalists Trevor Birney and Barry McCaffrey, No Stone Unturned (2017) told the story of th…

1
Exclusive: Top Thinker interview with Eliane Brum 26:16

15d ago26:16

26:16

In this week’s special episode, we bring you an exclusive interview with Prospect’s World’s Top Thinker of 2025, Brazilian journalist Eliane Brum. Eliane is the author of Banzeiro Òkòtó: The Amazon as the Centre of the World. In 2017, she co-founded Sumaúma, a journalism platform reporting on the Amazon from the inside, which trains young people fr…

1
Saad Mohseni: The tycoon and the Taliban 22:08

17d ago22:08

22:08

Alan and Lionel are joined by Saad Mohseni, the tycoon who reshaped Afghanistan's media landscape. In 2001, Saad was forging a career in international banking. But after the invasion of Afghanistan, and the subsequent fall of the Taliban government, he decided to move to Kabul. There, he co-founded the Moby Group, the country’s largest media compan…

1
Introducing the All-Digital Mechanical Engineering Magazine 22:02

19d ago22:02

22:02

The editors of Mechanical Engineering magazine discuss some of the best articles in its January issue - the first in its new digital format. These include an interactive feature about NASA's Artemis program and a look at startups developing sustainable ways to make steel.

1
Prospect Lives: My priest friends send me memes 34:21

19d ago34:21

34:21

Welcome back to Prospect Lives. In this episode, journalist and author Kiran Sidhu shares her journey of finding a sense of community in her rural Welsh village, while Anglican priest Alice Goodman explains how her clerical friends help her weather political turbulence. Actor and writer Sheila Hancock explores the powerful legacies left by those wh…

1
Prince Harry wins, Telegraph in Limbo: What next? 40:56

21d ago40:56

40:56

Rupert Murdoch's News Group Newspapers (NGN) has finally admitted that unlawful behaviour was carried out by private investigators working for the Sun and the News Of The World. They've offered "a full and unequivocal apology" to Prince Harry for illegally obtaining private information about him—and have agreed to a staggering eight-figure settleme…

1
Trump’s inauguration, Musk’s salute and the special relationship 39:16

22d ago39:16

39:16

After Trump’s second inauguration, Ellen and Alona are joined by Labour peer and diplomat Catherine Ashton. Catherine was formerly leader of the House of Lords, as well as the EU's first High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security policy. She shares her experience working with previous US administrations, and what she’s expect…

1
Q&A: The BBC, a broken tape recorder and a fake Meryl Streep 21:30

24d ago21:30

21:30

The BBC, a broken tape recorder and a fake Meryl Streep. That’s right, it can only mean a new edition of Media Confidential’s Q&A show. Alan is joined by Janine Gibson, in Lionel’s absence, to tackle questions about their first days as editors, their favourite headlines and the future of the BBC. One listener asks: do the editors remember a time wh…

1
Armando Iannucci: "X is an industrial piss factory" 46:38

28d ago46:38

46:38

How do you solve a problem like Elon? The billionaire owner of X controls one of the world's biggest social media channels, treating the platform as his own propaganda machine. Armando Iannucci—the satirist, writer and producer behind Alan Partridge, The Thick of It and Veep—has, until recently, been using his own Twitter account to fact-check Musk…

1
Will Lords reform be Starmer’s legacy? 46:57

29d ago46:57

46:57

As Labour plans to remove the remaining hereditary peers from the House of Lords progress through parliament, not everybody is happy about it. Critics have called the legislation “bungled piecemeal reform”, “high-handed” and “shoddy”. Meg Russell, professor of British and Comparative Politics at UCL, joins Ellen and Alona to unpick the conflict and…

1
Q&A: When Lionel met Obama and Alan met the queen 18:48

1M ago18:48

18:48

Alan and Lionel kick off the 2025 with a brand-new Q&A episode. While primetime CNN attracts a mere 400,000 listeners, the Joe Rogan Experience reaches over 17 million subscribers on YouTube. What explains the exponential rise of Joe Rogan’s podcast? In a world dominated by social media platforms, where fact and fiction are blurred, the editors mak…

1
The Biden Administration’s Asia Legacy 23:24

1M ago23:24

23:24

How will the Biden administration's approach to Asia be remembered? The Diplomat’s Asia Geopolitics podcast hosts Ankit Panda (@nktpnd) and Katie Putz (@LadyPutz) discuss the Biden administration's policy legacy in Asia.If you’re an iOS or Mac user, you can also subscribe to The Diplomat’s Asia Geopolitics podcast on iTunes here; if you use Windows…

1
A New Nation Relies on Maritime Engineering 39:47

1M ago39:47

39:47

Historian Emily Murphy joined ASME Techcast to discuss the role that engineering played at the height of international trade in Salem, Mass., when standards, weights, measures, gauges, and scales helped fund a new nation.

1
2025: Buckle up! It’s going to be quite a year 45:00

1M ago45:00

45:00

Alan and Lionel are joined by Janine Gibson, editor of the Weekend FT, to look ahead to what promises to be a “yuge” year for journalists. As Trump enters his second term in the White House, should we expect authoritarian clamp-downs on the press? And as Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg promises free-speech and the end of fact-checking at Facebook, will opin…

1
Ukraine: what lies ahead? 32:17

1M ago32:17

32:17

What's going on in Ukraine and what does 2025 hold for its people? Journalist Jen Stout has reported on the war in Ukraine for Prospect, the Sunday Post and others—and her prize-winning book Night Train to Odesa was published last year. Now, for our first episode of the year, she joins deputy editor Ellen Halliday to talk about the situation. What …

1
Is assisted dying moral? Rowan Williams and Brenda Hale in conversation 58:49

1M ago58:49

58:49

Would legalising assisted dying end unnecessary suffering? Or would it instead enable the abuse of some of society’s most vulnerable people? Kim Leadbeater’s assisted dying bill has passed its second reading. Back in September, Prospect invited two of our most profound thinkers—Rowan Williams and Brenda Hale—to debate the issue. As archbishop of Ca…

1
Oliver Burkeman: The power of negative thinking 51:09

1M ago51:09

51:09

While you're making those New Year's resolutions, how can we harness negative thought patterns and put them towards something productive? What's the best way to live a good life? In September, journalist and author Oliver Burkeman joined Prospect’s Ellen Halliday and Mindful life columnist Sarah Collins to talk mental health and building a meaningf…

1
Media Confidential: 2024 in review: From Sanewashing to the Observer sale 44:28

2M ago44:28

44:28

For our final episode of 2024, Alan and Lionel look back at their Media Confidential year. They’ve tackled a huge range of stories: from phone-hacking and the rise of AI, to Ofcom’s battles with GB News. They’ve analysed elections on both sides of the Atlantic, were joined by Toby Jones on the Post Office scandal, and heard from courageous reporter…

1
2024 in review: From Sanewashing to the Observer sale 44:28

2M ago44:28

44:28

For our final episode of 2024, Alan and Lionel look back at their Media Confidential year. They’ve tackled a huge range of stories: from phone-hacking and the rise of AI, to Ofcom’s battles with GB News. They’ve analysed elections on both sides of the Atlantic, were joined by Toby Jones on the Post Office scandal, and heard from courageous reporter…

1
Q&A: Will machines replace us? 25:36

2M ago25:36

25:36

Could machine-generated articles replace those created by human beings? After their series on AI in the media, Alan and Lionel now turn to listeners’ questions. There's no question that AI could help to make journalists lives easier, but what sort of practical uses will there be on a day-to-day basis? Is there a risk that AI will take over the crea…

1
Reaching Engineers: Insights from Content Trends 32:00

2M ago32:00

32:00

In this episode, we dive into Wiley's annual survey on the content preferences and trends of engineers and industry professionals. Danish Khan, David Löh, and Chris Darch of Wiley unpack which types of content resonated most with engineers in the past year, the platforms they trust, and key metrics for connecting with the engineering community. To …

1
AI: Powering newsrooms of the future? 40:25

2M ago40:25

40:25

Can traditional journalism survive when ChatGPT is able to produce copy in a matter of seconds? In Media Confidential’s third episode in a series exploring the world of artificial intelligence, Alan and Lionel are joined by Felix Simon, an AI expert and research fellow at the Reuters Institute of Journalism. He shares how the technology could trans…

1
South Korea’s Martial Law Crisis: Geopolitical Implications and Beyond 19:42

2M ago19:42

19:42

What does 2025 portend for South Korea's politics and foreign relations? The Diplomat’s Asia Geopolitics podcast hosts Ankit Panda (@nktpnd) and Katie Putz (@LadyPutz) discuss the implications of South Korea's December 2024 political crisis.If you’re an iOS or Mac user, you can also subscribe to The Diplomat’s Asia Geopolitics podcast on iTunes her…

1
Predictions: the biggest stories of 2025 35:25

2M ago35:25

35:25

Cyborgs, a Gregg Wallace public enquiry...the Popeye slasher movie? In our end of year special, the Prospect family—editors, writers and producers—share their predictions for the year ahead. From politics to technology and culture, what will be the most interesting stories of 2025? Ellen and Alona are joined by contributors to discuss the trends th…

1
Q&A: The Daily Mail's sidebar of shame 21:02

2M ago21:02

21:02

What do you do if a big story breaks on Christmas Day and there's a skeleton crew running the newsroom? That's just one of the seasonal questions put to Alan and Lionel in this week's Q&A episode. The editors also discuss Mishal Husain's departure from the BBC's Today programme, characterising her as one of the best interviewers of recent times. Fi…

1
Central Asian Militaries and Asian Geopolitics 14:07

2M ago14:07

14:07

How are Central Asia's militaries changing? The Diplomat’s Asia Geopolitics podcast hosts Ankit Panda (@nktpnd) and Katie Putz (@LadyPutz) are joined by Michael Hilliard, director of defense and security analysis at the Oxus Society for Central Asian Affairs, to discuss trends in Central Asian militaries.If you’re an iOS or Mac user, you can also s…

1
The Murdoch Succession and the limits of AI 40:46

2M ago40:46

40:46

In the second episode on our series focusing on AI's impact on the media industry, Alan and Lionel talk to the executive chairman of Sky News, David Rhodes. David has expressed support for AI advancements, as long as publishers are compensated fairly. He’s keen to promote transparency, support credible journalism, and combat fake news. Noble ambiti…

1
Assad’s fall: What the west gets wrong 44:19

2M ago44:19

44:19

After more than 50 years of repressive dynastic rule, Bashar al-Assad has fled Syria. Ellen and Alona are joined by Syria expert Lina Khatib, director of the Middle East Institute at SOAS and associate fellow at Chatham House. While many were surprised by the rapid toppling of Assad’s regime, Lina was not. As people speculate about what HTS and oth…

1
Top Engineering Stories of 2024 19:03

2M ago19:03

19:03

The staff of Mechanical Engineering magazine discuss their selections for the top stories for the year. This year's top topics are clustered around energy and sustainability themes.

1
Q&A: What's REALLY going on at the Observer? 23:38

2M ago23:38

23:38

Office streakers, whiskey before lunchtime, and untimely deaths: with Christmas party season almost upon us, Alan and Lionel get nostalgic for the old-fashioned newsroom on this week’s Media Confidential Q&A. Plus, your weekly update on the contested Observer sale, amidst disquiet amongst journalists at the paper. After grilling Tortoise’s James Ha…

1
AI: how to stop Big Tech ripping off journalism (again) 39:03

2M ago39:03

39:03

In the first of three special editions on artificial intelligence and the media, Alan and Lionel are joined by the CEO of ProRata.ai, Bill Gross. Artificial intelligence poses a serious threat to the survival of news organisations. Last year, the New York Times sued Microsoft over AI models secretly scraping its copyrighted work. Millions of articl…

1
Is democracy in crisis? 47:51

2M ago47:51

47:51

This week, political scientist Cas Mudde joins the Prospect podcast to analyse the “year of elections”. In 2024, around 70 countries with a combined population of 3.4bn went to the polls. In many of those elections—in the EU, India and the US, the far right did surprisingly well. But why do the far right seem to be the only group to have benefitted…

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