I find it ironic that you say that dance is dead and "punk rock around to kick it well into touch".
Firstly, punk rock is at least 10 years older than dance music, its been around since the late 70s.

And if one of those genres is dead then it is definitely punk rock. There are very few genuine punk rock bands sill around, bands like the Sex Pistols and the Clash have been replaced by cheesey, sell out skater bands like "Blink 182" and "Sum 41" who sound more like easy listening than punk rock.

Rave on the other hand is not dead. There are still raves going on in London, mainly led by IDM artists like Aphex Twin, Vanetian Snares and Luke Vibert.
The reason so many people think rave is dead is because its still genuinely underground. Some of the best raves happening in London these days are also some of the best kept secrets.

Also, refering to the origional topic, I also think the Prodigy have gone downhill. With "Fat Of The Land" I think they got the balence between rock and dance just right, that was there best album ever but now they've gone too far the other way and there last single "Baby's Got a Temper" was poor. It sounded just like a mish-mash of their old samples, they even put the Firestarter guitar line in!