The Prospect Interview

Can Labour afford to keep ignoring its left? This week on the Prospect Podcast, Alona and Imaan are joined by Carys Afoko, writer and podcast host of Over the Top, Under the Radar.Carys discusses whether Starmer’s rightward shift will pay off. She analyses why the last general election was a “breakaway election” away from the major parties—with the rise of progressive independents, Greens and Liberal Democrat MPs—and whether this is just a blip, or represents a lasting shift away from Labour.Plus, is the Labour party “structurally racist”? How is the war on Gaza reshaping the UK’s political landscape? And what will the 2029 election look like?You can read Carys’s piece ‘Labour is ignoring the threat from its left’ at prospectmagazine.co.uk

This week, Ellen and Alona are joined by journalist Nicola Kelly, whose new book Anywhere But Here investigates the UK’s broken asylum system. Nicola used to work for the Home Office as a press officer on the immigration desk. But why did she leave?On the podcast, she unpacks Labour’s controversial new immigration white paper and why the party is embracing tough rhetoric. She exposes the relationship between the Home Office and client journalists, and shares some shocking findings from her reporting. Will third-country “return hubs”—similar to the Conservatives’ Rwanda scheme—actually happen under Starmer? And what would that mean for the people affected?Plus, Ellen and Alona discuss whether AI-generated writing is a “banger” or a “dud”.Nicola’s book Anywhere But Here: How Britain’s Broken Asylum System Fails Us All is out now. She also writes on Substack at ‘Not Another Snowflake’. To read more, head to prospectmagazine.co.uk, or watch our best interviews on YouTube (@prospect_magazine).

This month, Vitali Vitaliev recalls love and magic in Kyiv, Sheila Hancock embraces the word “valour,” Alice Garnett celebrates deep friendships, and Alice Goodman wonders—what if the teenagers are actually alright?

This week, Ellen and Alona are joined by Canadian historian Quinn Slobodian.The rise of the populist right is often framed as a backlash against neoliberalism—a revolt by those “left behind” by globalisation. But in his new book Hayek’s Bastards, Quinn argues the opposite: that movements like Maga are not a reaction to neoliberalism, but its latest iteration.Tracing the intellectual lineage of today’s far right, he characterises it as a “new fusionism” between three ideological pillars: racialised beliefs in genetically hardwired human nature, hard money, and hard borders.Quinn answers: who are “Hayek’s bastards”? Are the right better at engaging with ideas than the left? And what does Trump really believe?Hayek’s Bastards: The Neoliberal Roots of the Populist Right is available here.Prospect podcasts are also available on our YouTube channel (@prospect_magazine)

This week, poet and nature writer Robert Macfarlane joins Prospect’s Ellen Halliday and Imaan Irfan to explore the ideas in his new book Is a River Alive? They each share what ‘their rivers are’ and the waterbodies they feel most connected to.Robert discusses his travels to Ecuador, India and the Canadian wilderness: places that rivers are being defended from threat, and where our relationship with the natural world is being reimagined. He talks about writing a song with a cloud forest (and the legal battle to have it recognised as a co-writer) and the power of storytelling. He discusses challenges, policy and progress in the UK: is there hope for our rivers? And how do we save them?Plus, stay until the end to listen to “The Song of the Cedars” by Robert Macfarlane, Cosmo Sheldrake, Giuliana Furci and César Rodríguez-Garavito, in collaboration with the Los Cedros Cloud Forest.Robert’s book ‘Is a River Alive’ (2025) is published by Penguin

Has the United States become an autocracy? As Donald Trump marks his 100th day in office, Ellen and Alona are joined by Ruth Ben-Ghiat, scholar of authoritarianism and author of Strongmen: from Mussolini to the present (2020). She also writes a Substack called “Lucid” which focuses on autocracy.Ruth analyses the Trump administration’s rapid shift towards authoritarianism. She talks about Trump’s personality cult, how strongmen portray machismo and the potential for a female strongman figure. She also discusses how autocrats use corruption, violence and propaganda to stay in power, and how ICE roundups echo the past, resembling a “secret police force”.Ruth answers: can the Democrats can learn anything from Trump? What’s the best way to challenge an illiberal president? And how does this end?Plus, Ellen and Alona discuss their bookshelves for this week's “banger or dud”.

This week on the Prospect Podcast, philosopher and public intellectual Slavoj Žižek joins Ellen and Alona.Slavoj discusses fatherhood and Netflix’s Adolescence, as awareness grows around young male radicalisation via the “manosphere”. He also talks about feminism and his criticisms of #MeToo.Plus, with the release of his latest book, in which he argues that the left has hit its “zero point”, is there any hope for its recovery? He draws a through line from the left-wingers of 1968 to the politics and personality of Elon Musk—and gives his analysis on Starmer’s Labour as a "moderate, centre-right party" wrestling with the populist right. Slavoj suggests: does the left need a Trump figure?Slavoj’s latest book, Zero Point, is out now (Bloomsbury, £9.99 paperback)

This month on Prospect Lives: Vitali Vitaliev hits 60 and gets slammed with funeral ads, while Sarah Collins finds unexpected wisdom at the nail salon. Alice Garnett wonders how to plan for the future on a burning planet, while Alice Goodman wrestles with whether you can—or should—pray for someone like Putin.