“The social movements of our time are explosive“: Aaron Benanav on robots and revolution
The economic historian and social theorist discusses automation and the future of the left.
ByOut of control
How The Queen’s Gambit inspired a great chess revival
The hit Netflix show, with its captivating anti-hero Beth Harmon, has brought the game to new demographics, with the number…
By
First Thoughts: Boris Johnson’s moving targets, the Telegraph taken to task, and newsless newspapers
At 76, I am one of the 13 million that qualify for a vaccine. But I don't have any faith…
By
Commons Confidential: Snubs and strategy secrets
Your weekly dose of gossip from around Westminster.
By
The truth about the new Covid-19 variants
How coronavirus mutations could imperil the vaccine rollout.
By
The WeWork model may yet be the future of business
When the work-life balance is eradicated, no hour of the day will go unmonetised.
By
Climate denialism is rooted in a reactionary form of masculinity
“A certain type of masculinity willing to think of natural resources as something that exist for humans to grab, use,…
By
Patrick Grant, the maverick with a mission to transform the clothing business
Community Clothing operates from a number of factories in Britain as well as its hub in Blackburn: the Scottish…
By
Commons Confidential: Knitted John Bercow dolls for superfans
Your weekly dose of gossip from around Westminster.
By
How the attacks on the Aramco oil facility were striking at the symbol of Saudi power
The Houthis have their own reasons for hurting the Saudis – the war in Yemen is a humanitarian nightmare…
By
Why Labour is failing to benefit from Boris Johnson’s repeated mistakes
Keir Starmer has not yet capitalised on the woes of the Pandemic PM – and Labour MPs are starting to…
By
How the UK lost control of the mutant strain of Covid-19
In July, scientific advisers warned of the potential for a significant coronavirus variant to occur in the winter. But…
By
The prose style of John le Carré
The master of the spy novel could be simultaneously old-fashioned and thoroughly modern – but what made his fiction…
By
The NS poem: Revolution
A new poem by Ben Okri.
By
Gavin Francis’s Intensive Care: one doctor’s journey through the progress of coronavirus
This book acts as damning primary source material, exposing policy failings through the day-to-day life of a GP in 2020.
By
NS Recommends: New books from Małgorzata Szejnert, Sayaka Murata, Megan Rosenbloom and Jenny Erpenbeck
Szejnert's Ellis Island, Murata's Earthlings, Rosenbloom's Dark Archives and Erpenbeck's Not a Novel.
By
The most anticipated fiction of 2021
The literary highlights of the year ahead, from family sagas to historical fiction.
By
The essential non-fiction books of 2021
The literary highlights of the coming year span everything from big-picture investigations into the pandemic to moving personal memoirs. …
By
The Road to Conscious Machines is an accessible and highly readable history of artificial intelligence
As the respected computer scientist Michael Wooldridge explains, AI is the story of an effort to impose the order of mathematics…
By
Rebecca Solnit and the museum of misogyny
Rebecca Solnit steps into the culture wars with her new essay collection Whose Story is This?
By
Poet Lemn Sissay’s My Name is Why: a powerful memoir of a childhood in the care system
In Amharic, “Lemn” means “Why?” – and Sissay spends his book trying to answer that question. Why were he…
By
Atkinson Grimshaw’s glistening landscapes of Victorian prosperity
In the world of Atkinson Grimshaw it is always autumn or winter, always evening, and the rain has just…
By
Bowie the bellwether
Five years after his death, friends and admirers remember David Bowie not as an otherworldly genius but a magpie…
By
BBC Radio 4’s One to One turns to creativity and failure
In this sensitive three-episode series, journalist Rosie Millard speaks to creatives who are yet to have "made it".
By
The childish, cartoony smut of The Great
I'm quite sure it says nothing good at all about me that I'm really into this outlandish period drama,…
By
Why Tony Scott’s The Hunger is more than just a footnote in David Bowie’s acting career
Bowie was 36 when he starred in Scott's 1983 erotic horror. Five years after his death, it feels strange…
By
BBC One’s The Cameron Years: a parade of entitlement, cowardice and careerism
These highly educated boys, with their Greek and their Latin. How come they can’t find the right words now?
By
Netflix’s Unbelievable is a true crime drama with empathy for victims
The drama asks sensitive questions about bias, the myth of the “perfect victim”, and who suffers at the hands of…
By
Brad Pitt might look good in a spacesuit, but Ad Astra is missing a compelling story
Father-son relationship problems aren’t enough to drive this film forward.
By
Listening to him on Test Match Special, you’d hardly know Geoffrey Boycott was mired in scandal
Far from discreetly sidelining Boycott while debate festered over his knighthood, on Test Match Special it was almost business…
By
Leader: The careless Mr Johnson
History will record the British government’s handling of Covid-19 as a study in false hope and failure.
By
Letter of the week: The age of irreverence
A selection of the best letters received from our readers this week. Email letters@newstatesman.co.uk to have your thoughts voiced in the New…
By
Letter of the Week: Depths of dishonour
A selection of the best letters received from our readers this week. Email letters@newstatesman.co.uk to have your thoughts voiced…
By
Leader: The Labour Party’s Brexit confusion
Labour undoubtedly faces a strategic dilemma, simultaneously representing some of the most pro-Remain seats and some of the most pro-Leave…
By
New Year’s resolutions are born of self-loathing. Why else would we be so desperate to change?
Women’s magazines and Bridget Jones’s Diary taught me to believe constant self-criticism and a desire to change wasn’t a system flaw, but…
By
Why Boris Johnson’s Tories will want to keep immigration in the spotlight
Brexit has changed voter attitudes towards immigration and soothed their anxieties. But it might prove the only issue that…
By
Gwyneth Williams’s Diary: In praise of science, the Trump effect, and the joy of winter walks
One early morning, in the last turning week of the year, my spirits lift at the sight of the dawn…
By
Why the dawning of a new year and a new presidency may not herald a fresh start
Donald Trump may be on his way out, but unless he faces legal consequences for his attempts to abuse…
By
The rupture between Margaret Thatcher and Jacques Delors lives on in Brexit
The 1988 split between prime minister and European Commission president explains where Brexit came from - and where it might…
By
How Geoffrey Boycott, the perennial outsider, became a pillar of the establishment
The rapid shift in the political weather since Brexit has seen the ex-cricketer’s brand of armchair populism dusted down and put…
By
Andrew Murray’s Notebook: Surviving heart surgery, Labour’s Brexit heartlands and the resurgence of the British left
Most of those nursing me back to health have come to Britain from elsewhere – although mostly not within…
By
The family unit can be the most dangerous place of all – maybe we’d be better off without it
In the cases of Peter Sutcliffe and the Wests the terrible privacy of the family is apparent, the possibility that…
By
If Brexit happens, the Leave coalition will owe more to the EU than to the British parliament
Leave’s weakness has been compounded by the leadership of both Theresa May and Boris Johnson.
By
Jess Phillips’s Diary: Incredible hulks, the Brexit hellscape and why conference season is a waste of time
This year, more than ever, it seems an indulgence too far for legislators to have time off to drink…
By
Why the demise of potting sheds, like that of telephone boxes, is a creeping modern tragedy
There are books that give the impression at least half a gardener’s waking hours are spent in the potting shed.…
By
Why I’m struggling to forgive Mourinho’s dire football
Spurs have started tumbling again and worst of all, I fear that thanks to José, we are unlikely to celebrate…
By
If there’s one good thing 2021 has to offer, it’s the return of romance in my life
I had really begun to think a 57-year-old slob with no money, a barely in-control wine habit and a problematic…
By
Before I lived alone I thought I was an introvert. Now I realise I was simply exhausted
I always saw the appeal of living by myself. But during lockdown, it feels less like liberation and more…
By
This England: What’s in a name?
This column – which, though named after a line in Shakespeare’s “Richard II”, refers to the whole of Britain…
By
Subscriber of the week: Allan Kilner-Johnson
Email emily.bootle@newstatesman.co.uk if you would like to be the New Statesman's Subscriber of the Week.
By
Ngugi wa Thiong’o Q&A: “My mother passed the dream of education on to me“
The novelist and playwright on empire, task management and writing on toilet paper.
By
I’m missing Australia for its beloved friends, its lunchtime margaritas – and its bin chickens
It’s just a shame the place is so far away from London.
By
“Somewhere between rotten leather and fishy beef”: the rare Scottish delicacy of guga
In the Outer Hebrides, teenage gannets are hunted once a year, left to pickle in their juices on the…
By
How Aggie, unhinged by grief, was calmed by a psychiatrist pretending to be a dog
Aggie’s twin sister had died a couple of months before. Initial grief had given way to sleeplessness and increasingly…
By
My 500th column, and I’m more afraid than ever that I’m going to be sacked
Round numbers scare me, especially since I was ejected from the Hovel ten years to the day from when I moved…
By
Salman Rushdie Q&A: “None of us gets out of here alive”
The novelist talks Don Quixote, the Beatles, and rewriting history to erase Donald Trump.
By How The Queen’s Gambit inspired a great chess revival
The hit Netflix show, with its captivating anti-hero Beth Harmon, has brought the game to new demographics, with the number…
By The NS poem: Revolution
A new poem by Ben Okri.
By Gavin Francis’s Intensive Care: one doctor’s journey through the progress of coronavirus
This book acts as damning primary source material, exposing policy failings through the day-to-day life of a GP in 2020.
By NS Recommends: New books from Małgorzata Szejnert, Sayaka Murata, Megan Rosenbloom and Jenny Erpenbeck
Szejnert's Ellis Island, Murata's Earthlings, Rosenbloom's Dark Archives and Erpenbeck's Not a Novel.
By The most anticipated fiction of 2021
The literary highlights of the year ahead, from family sagas to historical fiction.
By The essential non-fiction books of 2021
The literary highlights of the coming year span everything from big-picture investigations into the pandemic to moving personal memoirs. …
By First Thoughts: Boris Johnson’s moving targets, the Telegraph taken to task, and newsless newspapers
At 76, I am one of the 13 million that qualify for a vaccine. But I don't have any faith…
By The Road to Conscious Machines is an accessible and highly readable history of artificial intelligence
As the respected computer scientist Michael Wooldridge explains, AI is the story of an effort to impose the order of mathematics…
By Commons Confidential: Snubs and strategy secrets
Your weekly dose of gossip from around Westminster.
By The truth about the new Covid-19 variants
How coronavirus mutations could imperil the vaccine rollout.
By New Year’s resolutions are born of self-loathing. Why else would we be so desperate to change?
Women’s magazines and Bridget Jones’s Diary taught me to believe constant self-criticism and a desire to change wasn’t a system flaw, but…
By BBC Radio 4’s One to One turns to creativity and failure
In this sensitive three-episode series, journalist Rosie Millard speaks to creatives who are yet to have "made it".
By Why Boris Johnson’s Tories will want to keep immigration in the spotlight
Brexit has changed voter attitudes towards immigration and soothed their anxieties. But it might prove the only issue that…
By The childish, cartoony smut of The Great
I'm quite sure it says nothing good at all about me that I'm really into this outlandish period drama,…
By Gwyneth Williams’s Diary: In praise of science, the Trump effect, and the joy of winter walks
One early morning, in the last turning week of the year, my spirits lift at the sight of the dawn…
By Why Tony Scott’s The Hunger is more than just a footnote in David Bowie’s acting career
Bowie was 36 when he starred in Scott's 1983 erotic horror. Five years after his death, it feels strange…
By Why the dawning of a new year and a new presidency may not herald a fresh start
Donald Trump may be on his way out, but unless he faces legal consequences for his attempts to abuse…
By Why the demise of potting sheds, like that of telephone boxes, is a creeping modern tragedy
There are books that give the impression at least half a gardener’s waking hours are spent in the potting shed.…
By Why I’m struggling to forgive Mourinho’s dire football
Spurs have started tumbling again and worst of all, I fear that thanks to José, we are unlikely to celebrate…
By The rupture between Margaret Thatcher and Jacques Delors lives on in Brexit
The 1988 split between prime minister and European Commission president explains where Brexit came from - and where it might…
By If there’s one good thing 2021 has to offer, it’s the return of romance in my life
I had really begun to think a 57-year-old slob with no money, a barely in-control wine habit and a problematic…
By Before I lived alone I thought I was an introvert. Now I realise I was simply exhausted
I always saw the appeal of living by myself. But during lockdown, it feels less like liberation and more…
By This England: What’s in a name?
This column – which, though named after a line in Shakespeare’s “Richard II”, refers to the whole of Britain…
By Subscriber of the week: Allan Kilner-Johnson
Email emily.bootle@newstatesman.co.uk if you would like to be the New Statesman's Subscriber of the Week.
By Ngugi wa Thiong’o Q&A: “My mother passed the dream of education on to me“
The novelist and playwright on empire, task management and writing on toilet paper.
By Letter of the week: The age of irreverence
A selection of the best letters received from our readers this week. Email letters@newstatesman.co.uk to have your thoughts voiced in the New…
By Leader: The careless Mr Johnson
History will record the British government’s handling of Covid-19 as a study in false hope and failure.
By I’m missing Australia for its beloved friends, its lunchtime margaritas – and its bin chickens
It’s just a shame the place is so far away from London.
By How Geoffrey Boycott, the perennial outsider, became a pillar of the establishment
The rapid shift in the political weather since Brexit has seen the ex-cricketer’s brand of armchair populism dusted down and put…
By Andrew Murray’s Notebook: Surviving heart surgery, Labour’s Brexit heartlands and the resurgence of the British left
Most of those nursing me back to health have come to Britain from elsewhere – although mostly not within…
By The family unit can be the most dangerous place of all – maybe we’d be better off without it
In the cases of Peter Sutcliffe and the Wests the terrible privacy of the family is apparent, the possibility that…
By Rebecca Solnit and the museum of misogyny
Rebecca Solnit steps into the culture wars with her new essay collection Whose Story is This?
By The WeWork model may yet be the future of business
When the work-life balance is eradicated, no hour of the day will go unmonetised.
By Climate denialism is rooted in a reactionary form of masculinity
“A certain type of masculinity willing to think of natural resources as something that exist for humans to grab, use,…
By Poet Lemn Sissay’s My Name is Why: a powerful memoir of a childhood in the care system
In Amharic, “Lemn” means “Why?” – and Sissay spends his book trying to answer that question. Why were he…
By Netflix’s Unbelievable is a true crime drama with empathy for victims
The drama asks sensitive questions about bias, the myth of the “perfect victim”, and who suffers at the hands of…
By Patrick Grant, the maverick with a mission to transform the clothing business
Community Clothing operates from a number of factories in Britain as well as its hub in Blackburn: the Scottish…
By How the attacks on the Aramco oil facility were striking at the symbol of Saudi power
The Houthis have their own reasons for hurting the Saudis – the war in Yemen is a humanitarian nightmare…
By Commons Confidential: Knitted John Bercow dolls for superfans
Your weekly dose of gossip from around Westminster.
By Letter of the Week: Depths of dishonour
A selection of the best letters received from our readers this week. Email letters@newstatesman.co.uk to have your thoughts voiced…
By Brad Pitt might look good in a spacesuit, but Ad Astra is missing a compelling story
Father-son relationship problems aren’t enough to drive this film forward.
By If Brexit happens, the Leave coalition will owe more to the EU than to the British parliament
Leave’s weakness has been compounded by the leadership of both Theresa May and Boris Johnson.
By Listening to him on Test Match Special, you’d hardly know Geoffrey Boycott was mired in scandal
Far from discreetly sidelining Boycott while debate festered over his knighthood, on Test Match Special it was almost business…
By BBC One’s The Cameron Years: a parade of entitlement, cowardice and careerism
These highly educated boys, with their Greek and their Latin. How come they can’t find the right words now?
By “Somewhere between rotten leather and fishy beef”: the rare Scottish delicacy of guga
In the Outer Hebrides, teenage gannets are hunted once a year, left to pickle in their juices on the…
By Jess Phillips’s Diary: Incredible hulks, the Brexit hellscape and why conference season is a waste of time
This year, more than ever, it seems an indulgence too far for legislators to have time off to drink…
By How Aggie, unhinged by grief, was calmed by a psychiatrist pretending to be a dog
Aggie’s twin sister had died a couple of months before. Initial grief had given way to sleeplessness and increasingly…
By My 500th column, and I’m more afraid than ever that I’m going to be sacked
Round numbers scare me, especially since I was ejected from the Hovel ten years to the day from when I moved…
By Salman Rushdie Q&A: “None of us gets out of here alive”
The novelist talks Don Quixote, the Beatles, and rewriting history to erase Donald Trump.
By Leader: The Labour Party’s Brexit confusion
Labour undoubtedly faces a strategic dilemma, simultaneously representing some of the most pro-Remain seats and some of the most pro-Leave…
By