Fog of War

Cutting through the fog of war

In an age of fake news, wartime leaders understand that they now have to fight against disinformation and conspiracies…

Letter of the week: World leaders must show the way forward

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

The Conservative ship is going down – save yourselves!

Your weekly dose of gossip from around Westminster.

Antony Blinken and the limits of American diplomacy

The US risks being drawn into a Middle East war it does not want to fight.

My role in the BBC’s Hamas controversy

Also this week: Margaret Thatcher’s candour and the loss of a wise friend.

Donna Ockenden: “Mothers were blamed for their own deaths”

The senior midwife on the UK’s failing maternity services.

Europe has made itself vulnerable by outsourcing its security

The continent is paying countries on its fringes, democratic and otherwise, to shield its core from all the chaos.

Sahra Wagenknecht’s new left-populist party should be taken seriously

This is not a bunch of Trots but a well-prepared team with a clear agenda.

John le Carré, the great deceiver

The duplicity that defined his spy novels also enabled his relentless pursuit of sexual pleasure.

Inside the mind of Hilary Mantel

The novelist’s collected non-fiction reveals her extraordinary range, depth and independence of thought.

From Naomi Alderman to Francis Spufford: new books reviewed in short

Also featuring The Revolutionary Temper by Richard Darnton and The Wisdom of Sheep by Rosamund Young.

What Daniel Dennett gets wrong

Is consciousness an illusion? Only a philosopher could convince himself of something as implausible.

How the centre right was lost

Shattered by Brexit, the Tory party has been captured by populist disrupters. Can true conservatives win it back?

How the Barclay brothers built and wrecked an empire

The twins accrued hotels, newspapers and a fortress on their own island – then their fortune vanished.

The NS Poem: Birds of the Arctic

A new poem by Simon Armitage.

The New Statesman’s best books of the academic presses

Our choice of the highlights from the universities in 2023.

Italo Calvino’s imaginary worlds

The Italian writer, born 100 years ago, first sought to reflect political reality – and then to redefine it.

Can Danny Boyle pull off a hip-hop dance version of The Matrix?

Free Your Mind is a spectacle – but for a show about man and machine, it lacks the human…

Cat Person is a lesson in how to ruin a great story

Susanna Fogel’s take on the viral New Yorker story reveals the dangers of lazy adaptation.

Three Little Birds is a clichéd take on Generation Windrush

The relentless racism in Lenny Henry’s incident-filled drama is all too believable; its saintly female characters less so.

Don Quixote brought to life

Carlos Acosta’s playful and fiery take on the 1869 ballet is a joyful marriage of movement and music.

When I met Bobby Charlton

Wearing a flat cap and ancient raincoat he was calm, quiet, unflashy – a gentleman player.

The internet man is coming and I am anxious

I woke at nine with a feeling of impending doom but thought, well, at least I have four hours…

This England: Dasher seeks Dancer

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

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