The state transformed: As Putin grabs more power, the pressures on the Russian state are mounting
Many believe Russia's number of confirmed infections is inaccurate – the chronically underfunded state healthcare system is ill-equipped to…
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The final reckoning
The crisis of the liberal zombie order
Since the attacks of 9/11, progressives have endured a series of profound shocks – but coronavirus looks like a…
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Postcard from Paris: scared about everything
Surrealism, strikers on the streets and viral anxiety in the French capital.
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How populist leaders exploit pandemics
The coronavirus crisis exposes blowhard leaders such as Donald Trump for the charlatans they are. Yet the widespread mood…
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Peer pressure in a pandemic
A behavioural economist’s powerful insights about how acting in our individual interests can be collectively self-defeating.
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The women raped in war
How systemic sexual violence is deployed as a battlefield tactic
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Forgetting how it feels to be me
Personal accounts of the trauma and joy of becoming a mother are also a persistent and flourishing trend.
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Domestic Fox Physiognomy
A new poem by Claudine Toutoungi.
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How Andy Warhol’s star status began to fade
Andy Warhol was once the embodiment of sleazy-glitzy chic, but 30 years after his death his legacy is looking…
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Isabel Greenberg’s Glass Town: a vivid graphic novel following the Brontë family
Greenberg merges the biographical Brontë story with the landscape of their juvenalia: the “half-abandoned stories” of Glass Town.
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The shonky plots of Julian Fellowes’ Belgravia
In Fellowes' world, servants always love their employers; they would work 365 days a year for them if they…
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Catherine Deneuve’s The Truth blurs the line between life and art
Any similarities between Catherine Deneuve and Fabienne Dangeville, the veteran movie star she plays in Hirokazu Kore-eda’s film The…
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Radio 3’s Literary Pursuits understands the magic of In Cold Blood
This thoughtful documentary looks at Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood with a real curiosity and a lovely melancholy.’ says…
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Letter of the week: I never favoured the euro
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: This is the gravest crisis of our times
Having endured a decade of economic stagnation and political disruption, states are now confronted by their most elementary duty:…
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Fatima Bhutto Q&A: “I miss Damascus more than any place on Earth“
The writer on Syria, The Sopranos and memories of her father.
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For decades life has been bliss for football fans. What will we do now that the game has gone?
And yet, for about half of my life there was no regular football on TV. How did I cope?
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If anyone is prepared for self-isolation it’s me. I’ve been doing it for years
I have been so affected by the national mood that I even bought a cauliflower.
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Food-based fears are rarely rational, but there is a long and vibrant history of culinary boycotts
From sugar to “freedom fries”, eating - or not eating - can be a powerful form of political expression.
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When loneliness begins to take hold, my gang of Excellent Women know exactly what to do
To my surprise they each return quite speedily with the news that they will meet me in Soho at…
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How Hilary Mantel became a publishing phenomenon
On its launch her new novel The Mirror and the Light sold a copy every 2.7 seconds.
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Commons Confidential: Victory for London pubs
Your weekly dose of gossip from around Westminster.
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Government documents show no planning for ventilators in the event of a pandemic
After failing to prepare, the UK now faces a grave shortage of the machines that will keep critical patients alive.
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Matthew Engel’s Diary: Distractions in tough times, people in their seventies are not waiting to die, and sex and sewage
In 2020 many people will become involuntary slackers. Boredom, despair and loneliness kill too.
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Editor’s Note: Visiting JG Ballard at home, the example of the wartime generation, and news from Italy
None of us will emerge unchanged from the present crisis.
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The pattern of life might return to normality but the crisis will change our politics and culture forever
Even if the right choices are made and the economy is successfully preserved, different ways of living and organising…
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We inhabit a world that runs on rhythms and routines – and we crave the unifying power of sport
The evisceration of the calendar has been a weirdly disorienting disruption.
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Trump is not a president doing his best with a bad system. He is making a bad system worse
The US is trying to catch up with the rest of the world as the president continues to undercut experts.
By Editor’s Note: Visiting JG Ballard at home, the example of the wartime generation, and news from Italy
None of us will emerge unchanged from the present crisis.
By Domestic Fox Physiognomy
A new poem by Claudine Toutoungi.
By Isabel Greenberg’s Glass Town: a vivid graphic novel following the Brontë family
Greenberg merges the biographical Brontë story with the landscape of their juvenalia: the “half-abandoned stories” of Glass Town.
By Matthew Engel’s Diary: Distractions in tough times, people in their seventies are not waiting to die, and sex and sewage
In 2020 many people will become involuntary slackers. Boredom, despair and loneliness kill too.
By How Hilary Mantel became a publishing phenomenon
On its launch her new novel The Mirror and the Light sold a copy every 2.7 seconds.
By The shonky plots of Julian Fellowes’ Belgravia
In Fellowes' world, servants always love their employers; they would work 365 days a year for them if they…
By Radio 3’s Literary Pursuits understands the magic of In Cold Blood
This thoughtful documentary looks at Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood with a real curiosity and a lovely melancholy.’ says…
By Catherine Deneuve’s The Truth blurs the line between life and art
Any similarities between Catherine Deneuve and Fabienne Dangeville, the veteran movie star she plays in Hirokazu Kore-eda’s film The…
By Commons Confidential: Victory for London pubs
Your weekly dose of gossip from around Westminster.
By Food-based fears are rarely rational, but there is a long and vibrant history of culinary boycotts
From sugar to “freedom fries”, eating - or not eating - can be a powerful form of political expression.
By If anyone is prepared for self-isolation it’s me. I’ve been doing it for years
I have been so affected by the national mood that I even bought a cauliflower.
By Letter of the week: I never favoured the euro
A selection of the best letters received from our readers this week. Email letters@newstatesman.co.uk to have your thoughts voiced…
By When loneliness begins to take hold, my gang of Excellent Women know exactly what to do
To my surprise they each return quite speedily with the news that they will meet me in Soho at…
By For decades life has been bliss for football fans. What will we do now that the game has gone?
And yet, for about half of my life there was no regular football on TV. How did I cope?
By The pattern of life might return to normality but the crisis will change our politics and culture forever
Even if the right choices are made and the economy is successfully preserved, different ways of living and organising…
By Leader: This is the gravest crisis of our times
Having endured a decade of economic stagnation and political disruption, states are now confronted by their most elementary duty:…
By Fatima Bhutto Q&A: “I miss Damascus more than any place on Earth“
The writer on Syria, The Sopranos and memories of her father.
By We inhabit a world that runs on rhythms and routines – and we crave the unifying power of sport
The evisceration of the calendar has been a weirdly disorienting disruption.
By Trump is not a president doing his best with a bad system. He is making a bad system worse
The US is trying to catch up with the rest of the world as the president continues to undercut experts.
By Government documents show no planning for ventilators in the event of a pandemic
After failing to prepare, the UK now faces a grave shortage of the machines that will keep critical patients alive.
By