Prospect Magazine
A politically independent monthly current affairs, culture & ideas magazine
Established 1995
Head to https://prospectmagazine.co.uk
- 🎧: Alan Rusbridger and @lionelbarber.bsky.social discuss the decline of the Washington Post, and how newsrooms should respond to the Epstein files
- Right-wing firebrand Matthew Goodwin is Reform’s candidate for Gorton and Denton. But his ‘Broken Britain’ mantra is unlikely to convince voters, writes Alan Rusbridger
- 🎥: The latest release of the Epstein files has further tarnished the reputation of Peter Mandelson. But what broader lessons do the files reveal? Peter Geoghegan explains. prospectmagazine.sub...
- The Global South might have responded more sceptically toward Mark Carney’s Davos speech than gushing western liberals. To them, the rules-based order was always honoured in the breach, writes Dr HA Hellyer
- Blair said: “We were elected as New Labour. We shall govern as New Labour.” But does anyone remember what Keir Starmer said on the steps of Downing Street? @peterkellner.bsky.social asks: does anyone care?
- “When the Spanish arrived in 1519, Tenochtitlan was possibly four times larger than London, and much cleaner.” Daniel Rey reviews Paul Gillingham’s MEXICO: A HISTORY. “Mexico has been a vital shaper of world affairs...”
- Keir Starmer is but one lonely man operating the Labour machine. His command of it is total, yet brittle. It could all too easily crack, writes Tom Clark
- “The UK’s culture wars cannot be cleanly cut away from the health of the British economy. A decade of culture war populism has been accompanied by a decade of economic stagnation,” writes Ben Ansell
- There is a danger that Holocaust commemoration will be seen as a tool of the old western order—on the left and right, writes Dave Rich
- 🎥: Peter Geoghegan on the Epstein files: ‘Who else is involved in this sort of access peddling?’
- Gen Z’s inclination is to fill every five-minute wait for the bus, 20-minute tube journey, or even two-minute bathroom break with scrolling on our phone. Our hands are in dire need of something better to do, writes Alice Garnett.
- The newspaper comic Nancy is one of America’s longest-running traditions, but it’s been in the doldrums for decades. Can a progressive new generation revive it?
- While most of the UK was glued to a TV game lauding deceit, betrayal and treachery, I have been obsessed with a more uplifting series, writes Sheila Hancock.
- Occupation is no longer a reliable indicator of who someone votes for. But property ownership is—and it shows why the UK’s old parties are in decline, writes Tom Clark
- Is WOMAN WITH A PEARL NECKLACE really “a vindication of the rights of women”? Christopher Bray reviews Andrew Graham-Dixon’s Vermeer biography—and watches the overinterpretation go into overdrive.
- 🎧: Peter Geoghegan on the Prospect Podcast: ‘We only know all this because Epstein was a paedophile...who else is involved in this sort of access peddling?’
- Keir Starmer has told parliament today that, when vetting Peter Mandelson for US ambassador, his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein came up. But as Alan Rusbridger wrote last year, even a cursory Google should have disqualified him
- Reposted by Prospect MagazineWednesday is @prospectmagazine.co.uk pod day, and this week the excellent @petergeoghegan.bsky.social joins me and @ellenhalliday.bsky.social to talk about Epstein, Mandelson, and the nexus of power, money and politics that Democracy for Sale covers so well www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/podcasts/pro...
- 🎥: Matthew Goodwin is now a Reform candidate. But how did this moderate academic become the populist firebrand he is today? James Bloodworth told Benjamin Clark his backstory last year.
- In today’s Lightbulb, Prospect’s free daily newsletter, Peter Geoghegan discusses the latest Epstein files drop. Plus: the latest on the Gorton and Denton byelection.
- Jesus was a sissy. It’s taken a lot of effort over the years to claim him as a man’s man, writes Anglican priest Alice Goodman .
- Is the Gorton and Denton byelection a missed opportunity for Zack Polanski? Andrew Adonis asks whether the leader of the Greens has made the right decision by turning down the chance to become a sitting MP.
- “The settled state of politics in the UK has dissolved. The bedrock of the old parties—its class its intellectual weight, its organisational prowess has crumbled.” What comes next?
- In his Prospect diary, David Miliband, CEO of @uk.rescue.org, writes from Mogadishu on the damage done by US aid cuts estimated to be responsible for one million deaths globally.
- In a POW camp near Lviv is a Ukrainian man who fought for Russia. Did he choose to fight, or was he forced? Jen Stout investigates.
- Matthew Goodwin is now Reform’s candidate for Gorton and Denton. But his ‘Broken Britain’ mantra is unlikely to convince voters, writes Alan Rusbridger
- “This man is a monster. Does it really matter if he is our monster?” Benjamin Clark reviews ‘The Spy Who Came in from the Cold’ at Soho Place—a return to John le Carré’s most cutting portrayal of espionage.
- The green growth vs de-growth debate in the climate movement only benefits the far right, writes Mathias Larsen
- SpaceX has requested approval from US authorities to launch data centres into orbit to support Elon Musk’s AI ambitions. Ethan Zuckerman argues tech bros’ unrealistic visions for servers in space are anti-social.
- Italian Renaissance painter Fra Angelico’s recent exhibition was a religious experience for believers and nonbelievers alike, writes Robert Chandler.
- Peter Mandelson says he will retire from the Lords tomorrow. But wait... didn’t Starmer promise to abolish the Lords entirely? Plus, Mandelson isn’t the only questionable appointment, as Alan Rusbridger explained in January.
- In today’s Lightbulb, Prospect’s free daily newsletter, we revisit Alan Rusbridger ’s take on Peter Mandelson, in light of the latest Epstein files release. Plus: green growth v de-growth.
- Right-wing firebrand Matthew Goodwin is Reform’s candidate for Gorton and Denton. But his ‘Broken Britain’ mantra is unlikely to convince voters, writes Alan Rusbridger
- Mark Carney’s call at Davos for a post-Trump order demands honesty about Gaza, not just Greenland, writes Dr HA Hellyer .
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- Many people have romantic ideas about the moon. But moonlight means something different to those of us who grew up outside the city, writes Tilly Lawless.
- The world’s superpowers want to dominate the warming Arctic. America’s designs on Greenland could play into its rivals’ hands, writes Isabel Hilton
- 30 years since GALLIVANT, Andrew Kötting’s daughter Eden—who wasn’t expected to reach adulthood—is now co-creating extraordinary work. Sukhdev Sandhu on THE MEMORY BLOCKS, their “most ingenious collaboration to date”:
- Focusing on the economy provides a salve to both Labour and Conservative woes, by uniting the left and dividing the right, writes Ben Ansell
- The significance of the Nazi genocide is being undermined, on the left and right, writes Dave Rich.
- Matthew Goodwin is now Reform’s candidate for Gorton and Denton. But his ‘Broken Britain’ mantra is unlikely to convince voters, writes Alan Rusbridger
- 🎥: Matthew Goodwin is now a Reform candidate. But how did this moderate academic become the populist firebrand he is today? James Bloodworth told Benjamin Clark his backstory last year.
- “Give me Afro house and bedroom pop, give me boom bap and rage, give me the sound of things falling apart.” Laura Barton on why, in 2026, musical fragmentation might be exactly what we need…
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- “It’s a hallmark of the best sci-fi concepts, this prompting of existential debate.” Imogen West-Knights on Vince Gillgan’s PLURIBUS:
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- Ralph Fiennes talks exclusively to Prospect about directing his first opera—Tchaikovsky’s ‘Eugene Onegin’—in Paris.
- Prince Harry is one of the few people with the power, money and motive to pursue Fleet Street cowboys through the courts, writes Alan Rusbridger
- Daniel Rey on Paul Gillingham’s MEXICO: A HISTORY—an epic tale from the Mexica to Nafta, from Benito Juárez to the 70-year rule of the PRI. “There is great potential in these pages,” says our critic. But the 750-page tome is “often exhausting”.
- After more than a year of traveling and adventure, including stints in Greece, Germany and France, I suspect my brain is scrambling to recalibrate my “emotional geography”, writes Sarah Collins
- From the London streets that brought us Charlie Chaplin to the deep freeze of northern Siberia… here are this month’s short book reviews from the magazine:
- In 2024, Labour won its landslide with just 9.7m votes—the smallest tally for any outright majority since 1924. @peterkellner.bsky.social on tactical voting, two-bloc politics, and why the latest big election survey lacks the inside story we deserve:
- 🎭 Fiammetta Rocco’s world-exclusive interview with Ralph Fiennes on directing his first opera, EUGENE ONEGIN—and imagining the characters’ afterlives.
- Jeremy Noel-Tod (Jeremy Noel-Tod) on the problem with telling history through poetry: “Good poets were not always eyewitness to historical events, or even interested in them after the fact...”
