On the brink

Leader: Resolving the British dilemma

For too long politicians have promised European-style public services and US-style taxation.

Letter of the week: What Britain has lost

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

Sunak struggles and Labour goes Count Dooku

Your weekly dose of gossip from around Westminster.

Elon Musk’s mismanagement suggests a dark future for Twitter

The exodus of advertisers from the social media platform indicates that Musk has little understanding of its business model.

Phil Jones’s Diary: Climate change up close, the nightmares of history and working with my old friend Jeremy Vine

Dying trees on a trip to Germany are a reminder that politicians are doing too little to address the…

Inside the minds of serial killers – with the woman who treats them

The forensic psychologist Dr Rebecca Myers on working with the most notorious figures in the criminal justice system.

Under Rishi Sunak the Tories have a mountain to climb – but they have a plan

If the PM can stop his party from collapsing and reduce the cost of living, then perhaps the next…

Russia has forgotten history’s lessons about waging war in winter

The Russian president wants to draw this war out; the West must help Ukraine retain its current momentum.

In Qatar’s paranoid parallel universe, the World Cup is just a prop in a theatre of war

This is not just “sportswashing”: it’s very real power play.

The Mark Fisher generation

In 2009 Capitalist Realism sought to upend the status quo. As political paralysis returns, its message is as urgent…

PJ Harvey on superstition, dialect and poetry

At a live Q&A with Frank Skinner, the musician shared her knowledge of Dorset folklore and read from her…

Mary Lou McDonald: behind the respectable face of Sinn Féin

A new biography charts the rapid political rise – and moral compromises – of Sinn Féin’s leader.

Yiyun Li’s The Book of Goose: in the shadow of Elena Ferrante

This under-powered story of a morbid teenage friendship in rural France cannot avoid comparisons to the Neapolitan Quartet.

The tragedy of English football

The miracle of 1966 aside, Paul Hayward’s “biography” of England’s national team is a story of sorry failure.

From Yomi Sode to Jo van Gogh-Bonger: recent books reviewed in short

Also featuring Cleopatra’s Daughter by Jane Draycott and A Line in the World by Dorthe Nors.

Norman Wilkinson and the fine art of advertising

The British artist used his design skills to transform both battleships and railway posters.

Jafar Panahi’s No Bears shows the political power of filmmaking

Banned from making movies, the Iranian director has nevertheless created a formidable body of work – an uprising in…

When did The Crown get so boring?

The new series of the Netflix show is more Hello! magazine than history – and no more exciting for…

Why do humans kiss? Procrastinate? Take risks?

In a new radio series, the palaeoanthropologist Ella Al-Shamahi reveals how science can help us rethink our behaviour.

I am already worrying about re-entering the London rental market

Facing a perfect storm of rent rises, I contemplate leaving the capital.

I can survive without teaspoons – but find myself thwarted by an unshuttable window

There is a moral to this story, so bear with me.

This England: A potty situation

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

Email [email protected] if you would like to be the New Statesman’s subscriber of the week.

Kamila Shamsie Q&A: “Ali Smith’s books force me out of pessimism”

The author discusses her heroes, the cricketer Wasim Akram and Nelson Mandela, and her love of Wimbledon.