As the UK tires of career politicians, the soldiers are returning to parliament
It is hard to exaggerate how deeply the public prefer a former soldier, especially one who has seen active…
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Easter special
Leader: The dark power of Facebook
For all its spiel about “connecting the world”, the social network is an advertising business that has prospered by harvesting our data.
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Philomena Cunk now stars in her own parody history: Cunk on Britain
The success of Cunk as a character is not thanks to her general persona as an ill-informed pundit, but…
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William Boyd’s new short story collection showcases his leisurely confidence
In The Dreams of Bethany Bellmoth, perhaps Boyd has earned the right to take his foot off the gas.
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Kintu: a Ugandan novel of family and the long reach of history
Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi’s ambitious new novel has notes of Christos Tsiolkas’s The Slap and Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart.
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The A-list life of Richard Avedon – one of America’s great post-war photographers
As a portraitist and latterly a chronicler of the American persona, Avedon was a true visual shape-shifter.
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From ice queens to wild robots: the best new children’s books this Easter
The Beast from the East may have delayed spring, but at least we have great new kids’ stories from…
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Thrush
A new poem by Grey Gowrie.
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Deborah Levy’s memoir The Cost of Living shows freedom for a female writer isn’t easy – but it is possible
“Freedom is never free. Anyone who has struggled to be free knows how much it costs.”
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From murderer to minister: the strange story of the redemption of James Nelson
In 1969, Nelson was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of his own mother. When he was released, he…
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Girls’ schools and Gothic: inside the dark and dreamlike world of Swiss writer Fleur Jaeggy
Jaeggy writes powerfully of communities of adolescent girls: stagnant, hothouse worlds of spying and crushes.
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All The Men I Never Married, No 25
A new poem by Kim Moore.
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The original remainers: how 1975 produced a successful pro-Europe referendum campaign
Had the leaders of the wretched 2016 pro-EU referendum effort modelled themselves on the 1975 one, they might have…
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The protesters of 1968 changed the world – but not in the way they hoped
In some ways, the revolutionaries of 1968 helped capitalism flourish.
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Why 1932 was Picasso’s year of erotic torment
It was, for the artist, a year of intense and focused activity – even by his own standards.
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An inspired ode to Bob Dylan, Girl from the North Country turns pop into a work of art
Playwright and director Conor McPherson is always dancing with Dylan but never stepping on his toes.
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Americans are more likely to be attacked by far-right terrorists than Islamists
Trump says silent because “radical Islamic terrorists” aren’t part of his voting base – and “white supremacist terrorists” are.
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“I call him the Pope of Jamaica”: An encounter with Shaggy and Sting
Rock’s oddest couple on Trump, Brexit, privilege and the perils of the public laundromat.
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Foreign agendas have changed the shape of the war in Syria – but it’s not over yet
The US has tried to turn away from the Middle East, leaving Russia as the dominant foreign power.
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The fall of the dark angel: José Mourinho’s “anti-football” philosophy
He was once the bright, young innovator of the European game. Now Mourinho is a brooding presence who, in…
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What happens when millennials grow up? Will we be the snowflakes who finally settle?
There’s nothing to pull together a generation quite like another one rising up beneath you.
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Death Wish and beyond: the bloody history of vigilante movies
The typical movie vigilante shares traits with the Trump voter: a white, middle-aged, middle-class male who regards himself as…
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Dictator’s playground: inside Viktor Orbán’s Hungary
Once part of a great empire, Hungary has become used to standing alone. But as the prime minister prepares…
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Sound and fury: why Macbeth is having a resurgence in the age of Trump and Brexit
Five performances of Macbeth are on offer in Britain this spring: along with a ballet, a movie, and a…
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Hares are magical harbingers of spring when climate change has blurred the seasons
Those boxing hares by the A505 were a glorious sight, but a poignant one.
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When Dad died, the thing I missed most was arguing about politics – and everything else
Much has been written about the EU referendum’s damage to our political culture; little attention has been paid to…
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How Vivienne Westwood and the Slits changed the male face of punk
Punk’s inability to contain women, and their subsequent erasure, has been part of its hegemonic celebration by guys of…
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The wounded healer: how my father’s cancer led me to a life of helping others
Phil Whitaker draws on his experiences as a doctor to investigate how close we are to a cure for the…
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Devastatingly Milton: Ian McKellen’s thrilling, trippy retelling of Paradise Lost
John Milton dictated Paradise Lost to assistants. 350 years on, the poem still sounds like it was meant to…
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Media impartiality is a problem when ignorance is given the same weight as expertise
We live in an age in which veneration of dangerous stupidity has moved into the mainstream.
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The success of all-women shortlists risks masking the issues they were meant to solve
Without tackling the underlying issues, a gender quota will largely see the slots filled with white, privately educated Oxbridge women.
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The remarkable BBC film remembering Ireland’s unfathomably bloody Funeral Murders
Plus, a look at the broadcaster’s far less remarkable new drama, Come Home, starring Christopher Eccleston.
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Alison Phillips’ Diary: Why I don’t want to become the Mirror’s Margaret Thatcher
There’s no point in succeeding at the paper unless I also make it easier for other women to do the…
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Is McDonnell and Corbyn’s disagreement the beginning of a Blair and Brown-style split?
McDonnell was quick to declare Russia responsible for the attack on the Skripals, while Corbyn stopped short of assigning blame.
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How Sweden and the UK are leading the global shift towards a cashless economy
Sweden is forecast to become cashless by 2030.
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The queen of “quiet storm”: Tracey Thorn on the return of Sade
Sade mixed slick soul with social realism to create a unique sound. Now, after eight years, she’s back.
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One woman’s journey from an extreme survivalist childhood to studying at Cambridge
With no schooling, medical records or birth certificate, Tara Westover spent her youth preparing for the End of Days.
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Europe’s socialist success story: the strange rebirth of the Portuguese left
How a left-wing coalition government has functioned better than even its creators could have hoped.
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Last year, I ate 88 Easter eggs. This time, I’m abstaining – even from the unusual varieties
A look at the history behind Easter treats from around the globe.
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Commons confidential: Momentum’s Christine Shawcroft loses comrades with furious Whatsapp messages
Your weekly dose of gossip from Westminster.
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A harsh lesson from Amsterdam: there are better things to spend 21 euros on than tea
The Dutch city is not that pretty outside of the centre, and is punitively expensive everywhere.
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The football chant for an old Spurs hero that’s come back to life for a favourite Son
“Nice one, son” was once sung for Cyril Knowles. Now, with the arrival of Son Heung-min, the chant has been repurposed.
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Julian Barnes Q&A: “I might have made a useful priest, perhaps in rural France“
The novellist talks life at the New Statesman 1975-1980, the French diarist Jules Renard and Brexit.
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Russia might seem weakened, but we still need the security offered by Nato
After the Salisbury poisoning, Britain could rely on the unanimous support of France, Germany and the US in condemning the…
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Fighting back against Facebook, the search for the common good and life on John Gray’s desert island
Because they are fashionable and we like their products, these multinational companies have been grotesquely indulged.
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