The myths of meritocracy
Why would we want to live in a world split between smug winners and humiliated losers?
By
American chaos
JBS Haldane: the man who knew almost everything
The pioneering geneticist saw through problems in mathematics and science, but was less clear-sighted in his politics.
By
Why we are drawn to therapy
Christie Tate’s Group is the latest in a long line of enjoyable, absorbing therapy memoirs. But is their appeal…
By
NS Recommends: New books from Alec Marsh, Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason and Esther Woolfson
Marsh’s Enemy of the Raj, Kanneh-Mason’s House of Music, Woolfson’s Between Light and Storm, and Hag: Forgotten Folk Tales Retold.
By
The NS Poem: Mist on the Curragh
A new poem by Steven O’Brien.
By
The rules of racism
American racism is best understood as a caste system, argues an important but imperfect new book.
By
What sport teaches us about who we are and where we belong
Patriotism as most British people understand it is more like the old street football than belief in an ideology…
By
Boris Johnson’s crisis of statesmanship
How the Prime Minister blew his Churchillian moment.
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America’s test
With Donald Trump claiming to have won the US election even before all the votes had been counted, an…
By
Appreciating the magic of autumn’s seasonal milestones
Each year on my windy Fife ridge, I await the coming of the geese.
By
Simon’s strange pains had left us baffled. Time for the surgical sieve – a tool for facing the unknown
We work through the different categories of pathology – infection, malignancy, metabolic ect, – that underlie all disease.
By
The novelty of idle time has worn off. Life in a pandemic is repetitive, and I am bored
The sociologist Martin Doehlemann lays out four types of boredom, and I have experienced them all over lockdown.
By
An expired laptop is yet further proof that Fortune’s Wheel still has me in a spin
October has hit me with an array of misfortunes, yet with a happy development in my personal life, things…
ByEmail [email protected] if you would like to be the New Statesman‘s Subscriber of the Week.
By
Dolly Alderton Q&A: “Writing is professional neediness“
The writer discusses Dolly Parton, Victoria Woodhull and Carrie Bradshaw’s outfits.
By
Can we save the unique culture of the Arctic?
A new exhibition at the British Museum reveals the power – and the precariousness – of the Arctic.
By
Why Gaspar Noé’s Enter the Void is the perfect setting for natural-born provocatrice Paz de la Huerta
In Noé’s drugged-out three-hour riff on The Tibetan Book of the Dead, de la Huerta gives perhaps her best performance…
By
Commons Confidential: The PM who cried wolf
Your weekly dose of gossip from around Westminster.
By
Why it is time we put youth first – and let the old take care of themselves
The traumas of the Covid-19 lockdown are all too real. We must appreciate that survival is not only a…
By
Devi Sridhar: How the UK can avoid an endless cycle of lockdowns
The Edinburgh professor on why the government’s strategy failed and what it must learn from other countries to avoid future…
By
Letter of the Week: Taking the low road
A selection of the best letters received from our readers this week. Email [email protected] to have your thoughts voiced…
By
Leader: Locked down again
Boris Johnson’s fatal indecision flowed from a false divide between saving the economy and protecting public health.
By
Lewis Hamilton is a record-breaking champion – so why is he still so widely disliked?
Hamilton upends so many of the expectations we place on our sporting heroes: that they remain uncomplicated, diffident, bound…
By
How OnlyFans became the porn industry’s great lockdown winner – and at what cost
The Covid-19 crisis has accelerated the commercialisation of sexual intimacy, providing temporary relief not only from sexual frustration but also loneliness.
By
Can America really go green when its oil and gas industry employs ten million people?
For Republicans, energy is a matter of economic growth and geopolitical strength; for many Democrats, it is about climate…
By
Why Keir Starmer needs to crack Labour’s “business problem“
Labour has always had troubled relations with capital – but Starmer’s CBI speech to business leaders could herald a new…
By
From a young age Boris Johnson longed to be World King – but the gods are mocking him
The Prime Minister blusters, equivocates and flounders. At a time of crisis, he has failed to learn what it…
By
There are 45,000 reasons for Jeremy Corbyn’s suspension: one for each Jewish voter to abandon Labour
The estimated 60,000 British Jews who voted for Labour in 2015, most of whom did not do so in…
By
American voters want certainty. Instead they have doubt, division and a nation under threat
If Joe Biden had prevailed in Florida or Texas, we could have retired for the night. But we now…
By Why we are drawn to therapy
Christie Tate’s Group is the latest in a long line of enjoyable, absorbing therapy memoirs. But is their appeal…
By The NS Poem: Mist on the Curragh
A new poem by Steven O’Brien.
By Why Gaspar Noé’s Enter the Void is the perfect setting for natural-born provocatrice Paz de la Huerta
In Noé’s drugged-out three-hour riff on The Tibetan Book of the Dead, de la Huerta gives perhaps her best performance…
By NS Recommends: New books from Alec Marsh, Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason and Esther Woolfson
Marsh’s Enemy of the Raj, Kanneh-Mason’s House of Music, Woolfson’s Between Light and Storm, and Hag: Forgotten Folk Tales Retold.
By Can we save the unique culture of the Arctic?
A new exhibition at the British Museum reveals the power – and the precariousness – of the Arctic.
By Dolly Alderton Q&A: “Writing is professional neediness“
The writer discusses Dolly Parton, Victoria Woodhull and Carrie Bradshaw’s outfits.
By Commons Confidential: The PM who cried wolf
Your weekly dose of gossip from around Westminster.
By An expired laptop is yet further proof that Fortune’s Wheel still has me in a spin
October has hit me with an array of misfortunes, yet with a happy development in my personal life, things…
By Why it is time we put youth first – and let the old take care of themselves
The traumas of the Covid-19 lockdown are all too real. We must appreciate that survival is not only a…
By Lewis Hamilton is a record-breaking champion – so why is he still so widely disliked?
Hamilton upends so many of the expectations we place on our sporting heroes: that they remain uncomplicated, diffident, bound…
By How OnlyFans became the porn industry’s great lockdown winner – and at what cost
The Covid-19 crisis has accelerated the commercialisation of sexual intimacy, providing temporary relief not only from sexual frustration but also loneliness.
By The novelty of idle time has worn off. Life in a pandemic is repetitive, and I am bored
The sociologist Martin Doehlemann lays out four types of boredom, and I have experienced them all over lockdown.
By Can America really go green when its oil and gas industry employs ten million people?
For Republicans, energy is a matter of economic growth and geopolitical strength; for many Democrats, it is about climate…
By American voters want certainty. Instead they have doubt, division and a nation under threat
If Joe Biden had prevailed in Florida or Texas, we could have retired for the night. But we now…
By Why Keir Starmer needs to crack Labour’s “business problem“
Labour has always had troubled relations with capital – but Starmer’s CBI speech to business leaders could herald a new…
By Appreciating the magic of autumn’s seasonal milestones
Each year on my windy Fife ridge, I await the coming of the geese.
By Letter of the Week: Taking the low road
A selection of the best letters received from our readers this week. Email [email protected] to have your thoughts voiced…
By Simon’s strange pains had left us baffled. Time for the surgical sieve – a tool for facing the unknown
We work through the different categories of pathology – infection, malignancy, metabolic ect, – that underlie all disease.
ByEmail [email protected] if you would like to be the New Statesman‘s Subscriber of the Week.
By There are 45,000 reasons for Jeremy Corbyn’s suspension: one for each Jewish voter to abandon Labour
The estimated 60,000 British Jews who voted for Labour in 2015, most of whom did not do so in…
By From a young age Boris Johnson longed to be World King – but the gods are mocking him
The Prime Minister blusters, equivocates and flounders. At a time of crisis, he has failed to learn what it…
By Leader: Locked down again
Boris Johnson’s fatal indecision flowed from a false divide between saving the economy and protecting public health.
By Devi Sridhar: How the UK can avoid an endless cycle of lockdowns
The Edinburgh professor on why the government’s strategy failed and what it must learn from other countries to avoid future…
By The rules of racism
American racism is best understood as a caste system, argues an important but imperfect new book.
By