This week’s New Statesman is a special issue guest-edited by our greatest polymath, Melvyn Bragg, who recruited Tracey Emin (interviewed inside) to design our front cover.
The issue includes a remarkable and previously unpublished poem by Ted Hughes, “Last letter”, describing the days leading up to the suicide of his first wife, the poet Sylvia Plath. Its first line is: “What happened that night? Your final night.” — and the poem ends with the moment Hughes is informed of his wife’s death.
Elsewhere, Melyvn speaks to that grand old man of American letters, Gore Vidal, who warns that his homeland is heading for dictatorship, and we feature an exclusive short story by P D James, “The Part-Time Job”.
And there’s more. David Puttnam argues that the Tories’ decision to abolish the UK Film Council betrays their ignorance of history, we publish an exclusive new poem by the Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy, and Marcus du Sautoy explains why maths holds the key to secets of the universe.
All this, plus Mehdi Hasan on why the cult of Cameron is fading, David Blanchflower on why it’s too early for interest rates to rise and Alice Miles on why the coalition’s child benefit cuts will create a less equal society.
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