Pet Shop Boys: “Labour could do with an infusion of idealism”
The pop duo on Keir Starmer, the royals, Marvel and the word “queer”.
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The birth of the Blue Rider group
The first comprehensive exhibition of the group’s works in Britain since 1960 shows how Wassily Kandinsky, Gabriele Münter, Franz Marc,…
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Revisiting Richard and Linda Thompson’s folk-rock masterpiece
Fifty years on, I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight retains a spartan beauty – and a feeling of…
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Subscriber of the week: Chris Lawer
Please email zuzanna.lachendro@newstatesman.co.uk if you would like to be featured.
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Miranda July Q&A: “You have to feel the body’s needs as if you were a plant”
The American film-maker and author on avoiding “scarcity mindset” and how to be efficient (but not annoying).
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The unbendable rules of where to sit on buses
A pleasant journey is rendered suboptimal by other passengers. It is a situation for which the British are ill-prepared.
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The spectacle of runaway horses in London was eerily poignant
For a brief moment, animals that are otherwise trapped in lives of ceremony and discipline were free.
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Hofesh Shechter’s From England with Love questions national identity
The Southbank Centre dance production is a paean to Englishness, blending Purcell with rock and electronics.
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Disney’s Shardlake series is tediously anachronistic
Organic produce, everyday sexism, and cartoonish monks: I can’t take anything in this mist-shrouded adaptation seriously.
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Should romcoms be sincere or ironic?
The Fall Guy and The Idea of You offer two very different approaches to the genre – one playful, one…
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The NS Poem: Fast Music
A new poem by Hugo Williams.
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Should you lend money to Jeremy Hunt?
Investors are showing interest in government bonds at the moment – but there are pros and cons to taking on…
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When women fight back
Three accounts of women who met male brutality on its own terms reveal the limits of justice – both within…
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The rise of playlist politics
How digital choice has deepened the crisis of democracy.
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Joan Baez haunted by heartbreak
Poring over the lyrics to Taylor Swift’s new album, I’m reminded of another tortured muse.
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A raid on Russian assets would risk everything
Seizing Russia’s funds in Europe to arm Ukraine may be a tempting plan – but it could wreck the West’s…
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The wrench of standing down as an MP – my dream job since childhood
Also this week: Celebrating Harlow’s rebirth, and memories of being cared for by Nurse Nadine Dorries.
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Letter of the week: Context dependence
Write to letters@newstatesman.co.uk to have your thoughts voiced in the New Statesman magazine.
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Westminster parties engulfed by a cost-of-conference crisis
Your weekly dose of gossip from the corridors of power.
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This England: Rolling blunder
This column – which, though named after a line in Shakespeare’s “Richard II”, refers to the whole of Britain –…
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