In defence of MrBeast
The YouTuber Jimmy Donaldson is seen as either a great philanthropist or an embodiment of the greed and narcissism of our age. Isn’t he just a…
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Yo Zushi
Yo Zushi is a contributing writer for the New Statesman.
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How Japan’s wartime history haunts its popular culture
In two new blockbusters – Godzilla Minus One and The Boy and the Heron – Japanese filmmakers grapple with…
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REM’s soundtrack to the end of history
The album Up captured the dehumanisation and sexless ennui that defined the late Nineties.
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Welcome 2 America is Prince’s best political work
Prince was always a political songwriter, even when he was detailing the 23 positions of a one-night stand. But…
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Bob Dylan at 80: His world is mysterious – he says everything and nothing at once
Songwriters like Leonard Cohen articulately present their subjective world-view, but Dylan gives us whole worlds to explore.
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Blutch’s graphic novel Mitchum revels in the power of mythic America
In the world of comics, which owes so much to the stateside masters, the American imagination looms large.
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Why we must remember the reality of Hiroshima
Nuclear weapons are treated, like pandemics, as an abstract political debate until they become a very different reality.
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From Neil Young to Prince: the lure of the “lost” album
Some great lost pop albums are great because they’re lost. But once they’re found, can they retain their power?
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The changing face of the ideal man
The ideal man is an archetype that changes with the times. A new Barbican exhibition asks – what does…
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