Europe Alone

The end of the alliance

With Donald Trump threatening to rip up Europe’s post-Cold War security architecture, the continent’s leaders must assume responsibility for…

Letter of the week: Strictly speaking

Write to [email protected] to have your thoughts voiced in the New Statesman magazine.

The legacy of “pro-life” abortion bans is death

Infant mortality rates in the US have rapidly increased since Roe vs Wade was overturned in 2022.

The Thames and I, on and off the page

Also this week: London’s busted bridges, questionable public art and the assisted dying bill.

Jonathan Sumption: “Democracy is impossible for the state to satisfy”

The former judge on the limits of politics, the Chagos Islands and Trumpism.

JD Vance’s “free speech” hypocrisy

Also this week: a proliferation of new London media outlets, and another baby for Elon Musk.

Kemi Badenoch has strengths – just not those of an opposition leader

She is still struggling more than 100 days into the job.

Europe faces its fate as an American colony

From Trump’s Ukraine proposals to JD Vance’s Munich speech, it’s clear that the US wants to rule like an…

Penal populism has broken Britain’s prisons

Lazy “tough on crime” rhetoric has led to a crisis of overcrowding.

An ode to female friendships

From Elena Ferrante to Amandaland, the power of brilliant friends is rightly celebrated.

The inattention pandemic

The tyranny of social media has made us all minor celebrities: exhausted and narcissistic.

Shon Faye and the problem of love

In this memoir-cum-manifesto, the author explores the politicised nature of love – and why it seems to elude us.

Making China great again

The former Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd writes that Xi Jinping has embraced an assertive nationalism that aims to…

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s triumphant return

Dream Count, the Nigerian writer’s first novel in more than a decade, is a powerful exploration of misogyny, masculinity…

From Sophy Roberts to Bettina Anton: new books reviewed in short

Also featuring Eric Ravilious Through the Eyes of his Contemporaries introduced by Alan Powers and Humans: A Monstrous History…

Mickalene Thomas’s ode to Black joy

The American artist turns 19th-century paintings of women into celebrations of friends, family and lovers – with plenty of…

I’m Still Here: a powerful story of the human spirit under dictatorship

This Oscar-nominated film tells the true story of Brazil’s missing dissident former congressman.

Netflix’s Apple Cider Vinegar is a queasy look at the wellness industry

This series, based on a real-life fraud peddling diets to cure cancer, explores how social media makes fools of…

James Blunt live: a nostalgia karaoke

It is 20 years since Back to Bedlam – and its songs have ascended to anthemic status in the…

Why do so few wine-makers speak of love?

Romance is as important an ingredient as terroir.

AI in breast cancer screening may do more harm than good

The complexity of medical practice is at odds with politicians’ thirst for good headlines.

I watched Emilia Pérez with a fuming friend

Now we have nightmares about bums.

A new Led Zeppelin film complicates my feelings about Seventies rock

I saw the documentary in a spirit of curiosity rather than fandom – and was won over by the…

This England: Grituitous puns

This column – which, though named after a line in Shakespeare’s “Richard II”, refers to the whole of Britain…

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Lissa Evans: “Being in the sea is like being cradled by a benign goddess”

The author, TV director and producer on Father Ted and fan-girling on suffragettes.