Sturgeon’s Nuclear Dilemma

Leader: The Scottish Question

Though the SNP remains dominant, the prospect of an independence referendum in 2023 has become increasingly implausible.

Letter of the week: The law of thermodynamics

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Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover is about controlling attention

Musk’s unique ability to move markets relies on him remaining the world’s most recognisable businessperson.

Jess Phillips’ Diary: Saying goodbye to my mother-in-law, Angela Rayner’s right to cross her legs, and non-dom condoms

If women had all this sexual power to influence politics, we might have used our hypnotic knickers to solve…

Devi Sridhar on the next pandemic and why she abandoned “zero Covid”

The Edinburgh professor discusses her new book, Scottish independence and why she “leans towards” the lab leak theory.

The 1990s promised a new era of peace, but it was an illusion from the start

After the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, Europe was lulled into a false belief that the horrors of the…

You might support your local team – but don’t expect the same in return

The cost-of-living crisis is presenting football’s fans and finance chiefs with some difficult choices.

Trouble in the House of Windsor

New works by the journalists Tina Brown and Robert Hardman question whether the monarchy can survive without radical reform.

Julian Barnes’s baffling new novel attempts to imagine a world without Christianity

The ghost of a more interesting narrative hovers over Elizabeth Finch, which is a novel not of ideas but…

The best new books of 2022 so far

The New Statesman’s selection of good reads for this spring.

Are premonitions more than coincidence?

The Premonitions Bureau by Sam Knight is a propulsive but flawed examination of the rationality of chance.

The born-to-rule Oxford Tories

Simon Kuper’s book Chums tells the story of how one university taught the core of today’s Brexit government how…

The strange allure of the strongman leader

Authoritarians and autocrats continue to flourish despite a long parade of inadequacy. Can liberal democracy strike back?

Daisy Hildyard’s new novel reflects the ambivalence and violence of nature

The exhilarating narrative explores the complex boundaries between the natural and man-made world in rural life.

Ten years of Swimming Home

A decade on, the author returns to her Booker Prize-nominated novel, and finds conflict and mortal danger among the…

Laura Wandel’s Playground is a study on the cruelty of children

The writer-director’s first full-length film takes a close look at bullying in a Belgian primary school.

The launch of TalkTV was loud, furious and signified nothing

Rupert Murdoch’s take on GB News featured Piers Morgan’s best David Brent impression and Donald Trump’s “red button”.

The wild, quiet menace of David Tennant’s Macbeth

On BBC Radio 4, Tennant brings bitterness, resignation and almost-buried fury to Shakespeare’s most famous lines.

Ukraine’s culinary riches offer hope, and ensure that the war is not forgotten

The chef Olia Hercules has shared advice for refugee hosts wanting to cook familiar foods for their Ukrainian guests.

Covid might seem less lethal, but the pandemic is far from over

The dynamics of mutation and reinfection do not guarantee progressively weaker variants.

My new glasses darken in the sunlight and put my money worries in the shade

My mother’s nine millionth birthday celebration is at an intimidatingly expensive steak restaurant, but I’m playing it cool.

This England: Baby Driver

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

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Douglas Stuart Q&A: “I would gladly take off all my clothes for Jenny Saville”

The Booker Prize-winning author on Derry Girls, finding joy in a new city and the power of art to…