Leader: The great unvaxxed
Faced with the challenge of the unvaccinated, governments should seek to persuade citizens, not condemn them.
ByThe age of economic rage
In this week’s issue
The age of economic rage
Letter of the week: The cradle of hippiedom
Email letters@newstatesman.co.uk to have your thoughts voiced in the New Statesman magazine.
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Do vaccine sceptics deserve a voice?
Anti-vaxxers cannot be dismissed as simply stupid or malicious: it is not always easy to “follow the science”.
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Tom Harwood’s Diary: Taking on the right over the trans debate, falling for the Twitter trap, and Macron’s winning populism
In reality, excluding trans people from public spaces is wildly unpopular – and there is nothing better than challenging…
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Angie Belcher on prescribing comedy on the NHS
The comedian discusses how laughter can be used to treat patients suffering with trauma.
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Tory MPs only have themselves to blame for this farce
Conservatives selected a man they knew to be ethically unfit for office to be their leader.
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In modern day youth culture, conformity rules
Young people were once rebellious, but they have fallen in love with authority
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How catching Covid has become a moral failing
This is not merely a virus, but a sinner’s mark, as we pretend we could stop getting sick if…
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Boris Johnson’s rule-breaking and risk-taking have finally caught up with him
The loyalty of Leave voters had hitherto given Johnson cover for his style of leadership – but their fealty…
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It’s time for the witch hunt against JK Rowling to end
You don’t have to agree with every aspect of Rowling’s politics to find the demonisation of her worrying –…
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Why the global middle class is in revolt
Rising prices, falling incomes and pandemic stresses have sparked social unrest and authoritarian crackdowns in middle-income countries across the…
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Muted and deferential, the UK’s scientists have failed the pandemic test
Throughout the pandemic, senior advisers and institutions have failed to challenge a post-truth government. It bodes ill for the…
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What the Thucydides Trap gets wrong about China
The theory goes that war is inevitable when an emerging power threatens to displace an old one. But when…
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How we lost the art of getting well
Gavin Francis examines how modern medicine tackles the crisis of illness, but neglects the essential process of physical and…
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How Thomas Hobbes’s Leviathan shaped modern politics
David Runciman’s history reveals what the great philosopher can teach us about emancipation, coercion and the doubleness of political…
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The NS Poem: Golden Apple
A new poem by Nisha Bhakoo.
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Eimear McBride and the anatomy of misogyny
In her vivid polemic McBride explores disgust and the female body.
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Why Hanya Yanagihara’s To Paradise is an unconvincing redesigning of America
The new novel from the bestselling author of A Little Life is less than the sum of its parts.
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Reviewed in short: New titles from Nathan Law, Johann Hari, Bart Van Loo and Saša Stanišic
Freedom by Law, Stolen Focus by Hari, The Burgundians by Van Loo and Where You Come From by Stanišic.
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Dear David: A birthday letter to Bowie
A fan writes to her hero on his 75th birthday.
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The sinister art of Victor Hugo
When the author of Les Misérables turned from pen to paintbrush, he conjured dark worlds from spilt ink and…
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The British Library takes us inside the mind of Beethoven
The artefacts in this major exhibition are poignant aids to understanding the composer’s struggles.
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Andrea Arnold’s Cow explores sex, death, and motherhood through the eyes of an animal
The British director’s first documentary is the story of a trapped female told through social realism. But this time,…
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BBC drama Rules of the Game shows how toxic culture spreads through workplaces
This waspish and witty series is like The Office meets The Real Housewives of Cheshire, with a hint of…
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The surreal twists and turns of Tortoise Media’s Sweet Bobby
This tale of catfishing promises to be the latest in a long line of salacious, whiplash-inducing true crime podcasts…
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What will we be eating in 2022? Less meat, more seaweed, and potato milk
It’s a relief to hear that jam sales have remained buoyant as the nation, presumably, tries to bake itself…
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I start the year as I don’t mean to continue, sipping venerable condiments
Right now I’m only on the year’s fifth day, and all I can say is it looks like it’s…
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Humans think they own the world but, outnumbered by birds, I am dumbfounded
A lot of birdwatching seems to be quite disappointing, but as I stare through my binoculars at the sky…
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This England: Story of my life
This column – which, though named after a line in Shakespeare’s “Richard II”, refers to the whole of Britain…
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Subscriber of the Week: Laurence Lewis
Email ellys.woodhouse@newstatesman.co.uk if you would like to be the New Statesman's Subscriber of the Week.
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Winnie Byanyima Q&A: “I’m a nomad in the way I have lived and worked”
The diplomat on the nuns who taught her, the joys of safari and why she looks up to Michelle…
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