“I’ve got a few of these stories”: An afternoon with Clive James, Tom Stoppard and Julian Barnes
A party at Clive James’s house turned into a symposium between three of our greatest writers and talkers. We…
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The fury of the Far Right
How the left enabled fascism
Ernst Thälmann, leader of Germany’s radical left in the last years of the Weimar Republic, thought the centre left…
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John Simpson: Even senior Communist Party members fear Xi Jinping is “sowing the seeds of chaos”
In February it became known that Xi was planning to abolish the rule that limited China’s president to two…
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Why national populism is here to stay
Those yearning for a new liberal centrist politics are going to be disappointed – but can they offer an alternative?
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The only people policing YouTubers are other YouTubers – with extremely mixed results
The site’s #MeToo moment came long before the rest of the world, so why is it still a haven…
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Why the novel matters in the age of anger
In the 2018 New Statesman / Goldsmiths Prize lecture, Elif Shafak explains why – in a world ruled by fear…
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My partner has responded to his mid-30s by growing a rugged beard – unfortunately, so have I
Getting older is a great liberation from the prison of other people’s expectations.
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Democracy Hacked: how big tech poisoned politics
The digital age was supposed to be democratic, but under Google, Facebook and Twitter it has become a quest…
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Meet the American congressman who’s a champion of European neo-Nazis
Steve King of Iowa shows that the Republican racism problem didn’t start with Donald Trump.
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Living in the shadow of Breivik: why 22 July could be the anti-fascist movie of our times
In Paul Greengrass’s new film, the Anders Breivik trial becomes a metaphor for how the far right today is…
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So you want to be a rock’n’roll star: how music shaped Alan Johnson and Mark Kermode
The former home secretary and the film critic are children of different generations, but their music memoirs both impress.
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WhatsApp’s reckoning is long overdue – but it may finally be here
The messaging app has enjoyed a near pristine reputation for the last decade. But users are beginning to desert…
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What pain looks like: the visceral art of Jusepe de Ribera
The Spanish baroque painter depicted the senses – and the senses are never more alive than when in extremis.
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German Left Party leader Katja Kipping: “As a Marxist, you can never be dogmatic”
The Corbyn ally on how to defeat the far right, the EU’s flaws and what she’s learned from Labour.
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Farther and Sun: A Dyslexic Road Trip was both charming and absorbing
Film-maker Richard Macer’s son Arthur was an amazingly confident boy, at ease whether in front of the camera or quizzing…
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How to undo the president: The Big Short writer Michael Lewis turns his attention to Trump
Lewis’s fifth book, The Fifth Risk, explores the hazards of entrusting a country to an administration that loathes government.
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Nicola Sturgeon’s dominance has created division within the SNP – so what’s next for the party?
Opponents talk of a govenment beginning to fray round the edges, while internally criticism is surfacing.
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Commons Confidential: The Tartan Tories turn on Boris
Your weekly dose of gossip from around Westminster.
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Lady Gaga shines in A Star is Born, but the script doesn’t care about her character
The template for Bradley Cooper’s musical film bestows all dramatic opportunities on to the male role.
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What’s worse, being jealous or crazy? This Cleopatra is both
The National’s Antony and Cleopatra is not Concept Shakespeare; news that many prospective audience members will greet with relief.
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Melania’s shovel is cause for reflections on our complicated relationship with gardening tools
I admit I am a bit perverse in the use of my spring-tine rake – it works much better upside…
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How a disembodied voice can be a lifeline between medics and terrified patients
Sylvia could have been anywhere in the world, but she gave hope to Hanna, lost in Britain and ashamed to…
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Tories have an identity crisis over whether they’re a party of free markets or of Leave
In Birmingham there was a palpable mood of discontent about the leadership and powerful concern about the party’s future.
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Melvyn Bragg Q&A: “When I was growing up, Wigton seemed like a paradise“
The broadcaster talks growing up in a northern market town, the previous government’s lies, and Keir Hardie.
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The Guardian vs the Canary, Tribune rises from the dead and sitting out the people’s march
The pro-Corbyn “alternative news” website the Canary backed a two-hour Twitterstorm under the hashtag BoycottTheGuardian.
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Sarah Perry on illness, horror and the power of the female villain
In 2016, just as The Essex Serpent was being published, novelist Sarah Perry was diagnosed with Graves’ disease. Now, she’s publishing…
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Leader: The Conservatives have lost control
Rather than resolving deep divisions over Brexit and austerity, the party’s conference in Birmingham only intensified them.
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Pearl: Two Fathers, Two Daughters and the heartbreak of the McCanns
Simon Armitage’s translation of a 600-year-old poem is intercut with clips of Madeleine McCann’s father, to devastating effect.
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