Over and Out

The fall of the unpopular populist

Boris Johnson refusal to face a potential by-election is a reflection of his diminished standing.

Letter of the week: The Treasury tyranny

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

The tug of war over Boris Johnson’s honours list is also a contest for favour from the Tory press

Your weekly dose of gossip from around Westminster.

How Silvio Berlusconi privatised democracy

Throughout his career, the Italian politician combined extravagance and offence with a fundamental hollowness.

My first days in charge of the Evening Standard prompt a return to office habits

Also this week: a word of warning for Sadiq Khan and reflecting on the new age of AI journalism.

Elise Loehnen: “Wellness as a concept needs to fracture”

The journalist and former chief content officer for Goop on learning not to be good.

Brexit has an upside: Britain could dominate in high-tech goods and services

The EU has slept through the digital revolution. The UK can capitalise on this, if it prioritises data over…

On the Trumpist front lines of the Saudi golf takeover

At Donald Trump’s golf club in Virginia, I watched new money hijack a venerable sport.

Annie Ernaux’s acts of revenge

The Nobel laureate on abortion, the “shame” of her upbringing and forging a new working-class literature.

Peter Turchin’s empty prophecies

The social scientist has made a career from predicting global instability. But in the new book End Times, his…

The NS Poem: maples

A new poem by Claudine Toutoungi.

Nick Drake’s dark places

The songwriter is revered as a tortured genius – but Richard Morton Jack’s new biography shows that behind the…

Too big to blame: the great Libor cover-up

Andy Verity’s Rigged reveals how a few City bankers became scapegoats for a national rates-rigging scandal.

Losing the Wager

In his gripping new book, David Grann reveals the imperial rivalry and hubris that lay behind an 18th-century mutiny.

From Ronnie O’Sullivan to a Ukrainian family memoir: new books reviewed in short

Also featuring Being Human by Lewis Dartnell and We All Go Into the Dark by Francisco Garcia.

How Michel Houellebecq diminished himself

Full of explicit depictions of bizarre, humiliating events, the French novelist’s new memoir reads like the ramblings of a…

How Pulp launched the second summer of Britpop

A Tory government in crisis, cargo trousers on trend and indie anthems everywhere – at the band’s joyous reunion…

How Pretty Red Dress explores black masculinity

This confident debut by Dionne Edwards, starring Alexandra Burke, uses clothing to ask questions about liberation and self-expression.

BBC One’s Best Interests captures the horror of parental grief

Michael Sheen and Sharon Horgan are magnificent as the father and mother of an unconscious disabled child.

The fake heiress is selling her story again: as a podcast

Anna Delvey’s show, recorded under house arrest, is distasteful and quickly unlistenable.

The RA Summer Exhibition 2023: from the bland to the bravura

Visitors should come prepared: wear comfortable shoes, stay hydrated, put an energy bar in the pocket, and keep hope…

I hate every minute of the “dream boys” stripshow, except, that is, for the ones I love

“I miss your normal body,” I later texted my boyfriend, having survived one of the most conflicting nights of…

I went to a party so magical it could have been a dream – and I didn’t disgrace myself

You know it’s going to be a cut above a standard summer barbecue when guests have a choice of…

This England: Get your ducks in a row

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

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EL James’ Q&A: “I’d love to sing the blues in a smoky Soho bar”

The author on Graham Greene’s Brighton Rock, living without TV and her hope of reversing Brexit.