The reluctant politician
A year ago, our writer stood for local election – and won by a landslide. But there was a catch: now he had to be a…
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Matthew Engel
Matthew Engel is a contributing writer to the New Statesman.
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The view from Switzerland, where big business rules
The streets are clean, the trains excellent, the politics consensual. But as the Credit Suisse bailout showed, Switzerland’s ruling…
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Notes on a mourning nation
On the streets of London after the Queen’s death, our writer found grief, apathy – and a startling sense…
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Sydney Smith, the irreverent reverend
How a cleric famous for his punchlines helped to shape liberal England.
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Lockdown’s fragile idyll, the 10’o’clock habit, and crossing the border for Waitrose
Although my NS series on Europe is having a long sleep, I have visited a foreign country six times since March:…
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Can the almanack survive in the digital age?
As we increasingly rely on the internet for instant information, the reference book begins to look like an artefact…
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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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The Lisbon lament: Britain’s oldest ally on the eve of Brexit
Once a backward country in the grip of a grim dictatorship, Portugal has become a hot spot for tech…
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The rise and fall of local newspapers
The local newspaper, which prized truth and accountability, was once the best training ground a journalist could possibly have.
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