A train to Oxford means either a broken heart or the middle class at its most benign
On the train to Oxford, and my heart is full of misgiving. I have only been to Oxford twice in…
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How English cricket disappeared
This year’s Wisden chronicles and fights back against the destruction of the summer game.
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In the gym, lifting weights, I am enthralled by how far a teabag can be thrown
In between sets a gym bro approached me and asked what I was laughing at so audibly. The answer: Taskmaster.
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From Caleb Azumah Nelson to the artists of Kettle’s Yard: new books reviewed in short
Also featuring a biography of Messalina and a story collection by Shalash the Iraqi.
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Britain must be pragmatic, but we can still pursue our vision of a better world
We should not abandon idealism nor our faltering international institutions, but new alliances are also needed.
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The plain-speaking philosophers
Nikhil Krishnan’s A Terribly Serious Adventure shows how Oxford’s “ordinary language” movement, pioneered by JL Austin and Gilbert Ryle, looked…
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Liberal internationalism has failed, but we can live in a multipolar world
A new era of great-power rivalry and resource competition need not end in ruin.
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Russell Tovey’s Q&A: “In another life, I’d run the Tate Modern”
The actor on Derek Jarman, the diaries of Keith Haring and why you should never apologise for enthusiasm.
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Soldiers in love
Men at War, Luke Turner’s tender account of servicemen’s transgressive private lives, transforms our understanding of the Second World War.
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The Eight Mountains is a rare portrait of male friendship
This moving film takes on a truly unusual subject: a durable, unstated, non-sexual relationship between two men.
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Is Substack the future of media?
Elon Musk’s ruin of Twitter has been a boon for the newsletter platform, which is reshaping the market for the…
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Plumbing the depths of Boris Johnson’s incompetence
Anthony Seldon’s account of Johnson’s time in Downing Street confirms he was hopelessly out of his depth.
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Subscriber of the week: Sue Jackson
Write to letters@newstatesman.co.uk to have your thoughts voiced in the New Statesman magazine.
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Letter of the week: The levelling-up lie
Write to letters@newstatesman.co.uk to have your thoughts voiced in the New Statesman magazine.
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Why is Rishi Sunak giving his career in high finance such a low profile?
Your weekly dose of gossip from around Westminster.
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Europe’s focus is on Ukraine and the east – but relations with Africa are as important
By 2050 two in every five children in the world are projected to born in Africa. It is the continent…
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Why China and its trading allies are well placed to topple the dollar
After decades meting out sanctions and financial coercion, the US may soon feel its grip on world trade beginning to…
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A visit to Edinburgh, judging the Winner of Winners, and a case of mistaken identity
My fellow Baillie Gifford judges are formidable close readers: diligent, erudite, passionate, smart, committed. They made my job very easy.
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The death of the groupie
The original mega-fan has shaped pop culture since the 1970s – but our ideas of sex, power and fame have…
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Consider the noble octopus
The Canary Islands will soon host the world’s first industrial octopus farm. But there is no humane way to slaughter…
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