What the rise of Reagan tells us about the age of Trump
Rick Perlstein's Reaganland charts the conservative counter-revolution that moved the US to the right.
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Can Joe Biden save America?
How do we tell the story of Sylvia Plath?
Variously depicted as a victim or a villain, perhaps no other writer has an afterlife more contested than Plath.
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How Robert Tressell’s novel The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists became a sacred text for aspiring socialists
Despite an erratic publishing history, Tressell's ferocious satire became ubiquitous in the early 20th century, and soon entered the…
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NS Recommends: New books from Katharina Volckmer, Seb Falk, Kae Tempest and Kevin Barry
Volckmer’s The Appointment, Falk’s The Light Ages, Tempest’s On Connection and Barry’s That Old Country Music.
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Claudia Rankine and the construction of whiteness
In the past decade, the Jamaican-born poet has reversed the way we talk about race by focusing not on…
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The NS Poem: The Death of Tara Browne (1945-66)
A new poem by Hugo Williams.
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How the subversive dancer Michael Clark upended – then took over – the arts establishment
A new retrospective of Michael Clark explores the dancer's legacy as both maverick and muse.
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Garrett Bradley’s Time is a beautiful film about the ugly truth of US prisons
Collaging home movies and contemporary footage, Time is an impressionistic study of one woman’s attempts to see her husband…
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BBC One’s The Trump Show brilliantly reveals the US president’s egotism
We all know that Trump is in a world of "me" - but these films show the vanishingly small…
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The history of folk music, as told by Michael Morpurgo
BBC Radio 4's Michael Morpurgo's Folk Journeys explores the musical tradition of songs about war, protest, immigration and love.
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Personal story: Eton and the need to win
The Newcastle is Eton's premier academic prize and has many famous past winners, including Boris Johnson, but rather than bringing…
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Can Joe Biden defeat Donald Trump?
The Democratic presidential hopeful and veteran insider could end the Trump era on 3 November. If he succeeds, will…
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Intelligent football: Michael Cox and the rise of tactical analysis
The Athletic journalist’s powers of observation have transformed the way we watch the game.
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Commons confidential: Contortionist-in-chief
Your weekly dose of gossip from around Westminster.
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What the left can learn from Pope Francis
Mindful of our fractured world, the pope calls for a fairer sharing of resources, care for nature, and compassion…
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Andreas Malm: “The likely future is escalating catastrophe”
The Swedish author on how the climate crisis is dramatically increasing the risk of future pandemics.
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First Thoughts: Best friend Biden, infected students, and Murdochs left and right
Boris Johnson and his ministers would prefer a Donald Trump victory, but they are belatedly love-bombing Joe Biden just in case.
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Amy Coney Barrett: the US judge poised to undo Ginsburg’s legacy
How an ultra-conservative mother of seven rose to become Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee.
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Letter of the week: Nothing to see here
A selection of the best letters received from our readers this week. Email letters@newstatesman.co.uk to have your thoughts voiced…
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Leader: The revolt of the north
The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed England’s political fragmentation and the failures of devolution, with northern politicians revolting against Westminster.
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Liberalism will remain vulnerable unless it can speak to our need for emotional storytelling
Even if Joe Biden does triumph on 3 November, this should not be mistaken for a restoration of some…
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Watching the war in Nagorno-Karabakh, I think of my Armenian ancestors fleeing their home
My family story is bound up in the displacement of Armenians from their ancestral lands. In the conflict between Azerbaijan…
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Soumya Bhattacharya’s Diary: India after lockdown, the shock of redundancy, and watching Arsenal
Though Delhi is opening up again, it feels like a different city. The Indian capital seems to have mislaid its heart.
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Why we should move all statues into a sculpture park and use blue plaques instead
Statues are nothing more than a stone supplement to the preposterous honours system – and they should be removed.
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Why do I feel far more beautiful in London or New York than when back home in Ireland?
My estimation of my own sexual and physical worth has always dramatically fluctuated depending on location and context.
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How Boris Johnson’s indecision over a second Covid-19 lockdown is splitting the Conservative Party
The Tories are divided over whether to prioritise health or the economy. The Prime Minister is flirting with both.
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Pay attention to the colours of the leaves in your garden. They’re not just a sign of the changing seasons
Leaves can indicate the entire condition of an organism, and it repays every gardener to take notice.
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The international break recalls years of English mediocrity, and leaves me longing for the Prem
Watching England play three times in a week has left me bored out of my wine-sodden mind.
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So, new flat, new views, new (old) furniture, but the one thing that isn’t new is me
As I squint through my window at the wind farm in the distance, I feel my next buy should be…
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As the rain falls and the gloom increases, I read slowly, not wanting my book to end
Andrew O'Hagan's new novel, Mayflies, has me gripped as I revisit the giddy hedonism of Manchester in the 1980s.
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This England: If a tree falls
This column – which, though named after a line in Shakespeare's "Richard II", refers to the whole of Britain – has run in…
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Subscriber of the week: Gary Holden
Email emily.bootle@newstatesman.co.uk if you would like to be the New Statesman's Subscriber of the Week.
By How Robert Tressell’s novel The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists became a sacred text for aspiring socialists
Despite an erratic publishing history, Tressell's ferocious satire became ubiquitous in the early 20th century, and soon entered the…
By NS Recommends: New books from Katharina Volckmer, Seb Falk, Kae Tempest and Kevin Barry
Volckmer’s The Appointment, Falk’s The Light Ages, Tempest’s On Connection and Barry’s That Old Country Music.
By Claudia Rankine and the construction of whiteness
In the past decade, the Jamaican-born poet has reversed the way we talk about race by focusing not on…
By The NS Poem: The Death of Tara Browne (1945-66)
A new poem by Hugo Williams.
By Garrett Bradley’s Time is a beautiful film about the ugly truth of US prisons
Collaging home movies and contemporary footage, Time is an impressionistic study of one woman’s attempts to see her husband…
By BBC One’s The Trump Show brilliantly reveals the US president’s egotism
We all know that Trump is in a world of "me" - but these films show the vanishingly small…
By The history of folk music, as told by Michael Morpurgo
BBC Radio 4's Michael Morpurgo's Folk Journeys explores the musical tradition of songs about war, protest, immigration and love.
By Pay attention to the colours of the leaves in your garden. They’re not just a sign of the changing seasons
Leaves can indicate the entire condition of an organism, and it repays every gardener to take notice.
By Why do I feel far more beautiful in London or New York than when back home in Ireland?
My estimation of my own sexual and physical worth has always dramatically fluctuated depending on location and context.
By The international break recalls years of English mediocrity, and leaves me longing for the Prem
Watching England play three times in a week has left me bored out of my wine-sodden mind.
By Watching the war in Nagorno-Karabakh, I think of my Armenian ancestors fleeing their home
My family story is bound up in the displacement of Armenians from their ancestral lands. In the conflict between Azerbaijan…
By So, new flat, new views, new (old) furniture, but the one thing that isn’t new is me
As I squint through my window at the wind farm in the distance, I feel my next buy should be…
By Why we should move all statues into a sculpture park and use blue plaques instead
Statues are nothing more than a stone supplement to the preposterous honours system – and they should be removed.
By As the rain falls and the gloom increases, I read slowly, not wanting my book to end
Andrew O'Hagan's new novel, Mayflies, has me gripped as I revisit the giddy hedonism of Manchester in the 1980s.
By Soumya Bhattacharya’s Diary: India after lockdown, the shock of redundancy, and watching Arsenal
Though Delhi is opening up again, it feels like a different city. The Indian capital seems to have mislaid its heart.
By This England: If a tree falls
This column – which, though named after a line in Shakespeare's "Richard II", refers to the whole of Britain – has run in…
By First Thoughts: Best friend Biden, infected students, and Murdochs left and right
Boris Johnson and his ministers would prefer a Donald Trump victory, but they are belatedly love-bombing Joe Biden just in case.
By Subscriber of the week: Gary Holden
Email emily.bootle@newstatesman.co.uk if you would like to be the New Statesman's Subscriber of the Week.
By Andreas Malm: “The likely future is escalating catastrophe”
The Swedish author on how the climate crisis is dramatically increasing the risk of future pandemics.
By Commons confidential: Contortionist-in-chief
Your weekly dose of gossip from around Westminster.
By What the left can learn from Pope Francis
Mindful of our fractured world, the pope calls for a fairer sharing of resources, care for nature, and compassion…
By Letter of the week: Nothing to see here
A selection of the best letters received from our readers this week. Email letters@newstatesman.co.uk to have your thoughts voiced…
By Liberalism will remain vulnerable unless it can speak to our need for emotional storytelling
Even if Joe Biden does triumph on 3 November, this should not be mistaken for a restoration of some…
By How Boris Johnson’s indecision over a second Covid-19 lockdown is splitting the Conservative Party
The Tories are divided over whether to prioritise health or the economy. The Prime Minister is flirting with both.
By Leader: The revolt of the north
The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed England’s political fragmentation and the failures of devolution, with northern politicians revolting against Westminster.
By Amy Coney Barrett: the US judge poised to undo Ginsburg’s legacy
How an ultra-conservative mother of seven rose to become Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee.
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