Summer Special

The birth of a new political era

Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak are not the choice this country deserves after three years of Boris Johnson. Britain…

Letter of the week: Creating climate resilience

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

Nadine Dorries and the earrings of power

Your weekly dose of gossip from around Westminster.

What summer in London taught me about loss

As a child newly arrived in the capital from Nigeria, the season seemed expansive and intoxicating. Now I realise…

Ian Hislop’s Diary: The talented Mr Pooter, Spike Milligan’s chaos, and heaven vs Lewisham

I considered starting this diary: “Very hot. Today was a day of annoyance. Boris Johnson has not left No…

Adrienne Buller: “Green capitalism is its own form of denial”

The Canadian author discusses her new book The Value of a Whale and why markets won’t save the world.

What Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss are getting wrong about Brexit

Editor’s Note: In their race to the right, the Conservative leadership candidates are misreading the times.

Chris Pilcher: An inspirational teacher

Editor’s Note: Sometimes you encounter someone, however fleetingly, who leaves a deep impression. Since meeting Mr Pilcher, I have…

If the Tory leadership race produces an Asian prime minister, we might have something to celebrate

In the troubled passage towards living together in a multicultural democracy, Rishi Sunak’s election would be a moment to…

The rules of the new politics are simple: say nothing of substance, do nothing at all

Our government has gone missing in action, though I use the term “action” loosely.

In the sleek, luxurious world of athleisure, aspiration hides something much darker

Brands that sanitise their image with New Age jargon have been getting away with hypocrisy for too long.

Intellectual snobbery is hobbling support for Ukraine

Commentators such as Jordan Peterson and Jürgen Habermas are ignoring the truth about Russia’s war.

No one has the honour in golf’s civil war

Players joining the Saudi-funded LIV Golf tour are revealing the avarice and elitism at the heart of their sport.

Philip Larkin at 100

Writers reflect on the poet’s life, work and legacy, a century after his birth.

Nietzsche before the breakdown

In the 1880s, the ailing philosopher prophesied the West’s violent decline – but not even he could prevent it.

The NS Poem: Kindertransport

A new poem by Craig Raine.

Nora Ephron and the art of self-narrative

The writer and film-maker poured her life into her journalism and romcoms. What can a new biography tell us…

The rise and fall of Lex Greensill

How David Cameron’s favourite banker became the focus of a billion-dollar scandal.

Reviewed in short: New books from Jonathan Freedland, Kate Molleson, Linda Villarosa and Benjamin Wood

The Escape Artist by Freedland, Sound Within Sound by Molleson, Under the Skin by Villarosa and The Young Accomplice…

The Lighthouse of Stalingrad: how Putin exploited a wartime myth

There are echoes of the invasion of Ukraine in the epic battle for Stalingrad, but this time Russia is…

The best children’s books for summer 2022

Magic and nature help children confront their fears in the best new books for young readers.

How the Lindisfarne Gospels became an emblem of Englishness

The spectacular 8th-century illuminated book is returning home to the north, after 500 years in London.

Édouard Louis: “I dream of a world without politics”

The French literary celebrity on shame, autobiography and why his family abandoned the far right.

The return of the road-trip movie

Hit the Road and Joyride both have a long-distance car ride at their centre – but one takes a…

The Newsreader: the authentic din of an 80s Aussie newsroom

This Australian drama, now on the BBC, is well-written, well-acted, and gorgeous to look at.

BBC Radio 4’s Party’s Over is a perfectly timed tale of a disgraced prime minister

Imagining the escapades of a fictional failed politician provides ample opportunity to comment on some real ones.

I have relinquished control of my garden – and what it has done is beautiful

I would have preferred the poppies to have returned rather than the tree spinach, but the pink hollyhocks are…

Swapping the sunshine for the dark fatalism of Kurt Vonnegut

In Unstuck in Time, a new documentary about the writer, Vonnegut says he prefers laughter to crying – and…

Here’s a tip to allay anxiety about the heatwave: receive a death threat

It is interesting having something to worry about other than money or not getting laid. It puts things into…

This England: Hot property

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

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Cold War Steve’s Q&A: “I still have a strong affection for the sound of a tent zip”

The artist discusses his hero Gary Shaw, living in the Regency era and wishing someone else could drive his…