In this week’s New Statesman, we explain why the real economic pain has only just begun. In a special report, Gavin Kelly, chief executive of the Resolution Foundation, warns that Britain will suffer a “prolonged squeeze” as prices rise, wages fall and taxes increase. The result, he concludes, will be “growth without gain”.
Elsewhere, Andrew Brown says that Sweden only looks like a socialist utopia to those who’ve never lived there. In reality, social democracy has faltered, the economy has dived and tolerance of foreigners has vanished.
Also this week, Sophie Elmhirst talks to David Attenborough, who calls for the BBC to have its “sails trimmed”, Neil Clark reports from Belarus in the wake of the presidential election and Jon Bernstein meets New Zealand’s former prime minister Helen Clark.
In politics, Mehdi Hasan says that the issue of control orders has the potential to split and realign all three parties, David Blanchflower explains why David Cameron still needs to have a plan B at the ready and Laurie Penny condemns our taste for anorexia chic.