The Inflation Wars

Leader: The price of Conservative rule

For more than a decade the Tories have deployed fiscal policy in the service of political capital – and…

Letter of the week: The real class war

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

When Liz Truss asked a Lib Dem MP for Tory support

Your weekly dose of gossip from around Westminster.

What the murder of Darya Dugina means for Russia

If there’s one thing we know for sure, it’s that it will cause future violence.

James Rebanks’s Diary: Drought in England, sweat in Italy, and what Liz Truss gets wrong about farming

Somehow we have to feed everyone without trashing the landscapes our food comes from.

Mohsin Hamid: “After 9/11, I was treated as a potential terrorist”

The Booker-shortlisted author on race, America and his new novel, The Last White Man.

Why we need to scrap GCSEs

After decades of dithering, politicians must provide young people with the modern education they deserve.

Technology has eroded liberal democracy. But it could also be used to restore it

From using AI to inform legislature to strengthening online voting, institutions are increasingly looking to tech to help protect…

The “woke” may be dogmatic, but social progress owes a lot to religious fervour

Historically – from the abolition of slavery to gender equality – religious-based activism has been effective in enacting change.

Don’t blame Instagram for the popularity of plastic surgery; blame those who profit

From Botox to fillers, every time a new beauty treatment arrives on the market it seems to wash through…

British diplomacy in the dock

A former diplomat’s new book reveals that, for 25 years, UK foreign policy has left mainly harm and disorder…

The NS Poem: West Cork

A new poem by Kevin Cahill.

Reviewed in short: New books by Guy Standing, Stu Hennigan, Jessica Andrews and Don Paterson

The Blue Commons by Standing, Ghost Signs by Hennigan, Milk Teeth by Andrews and The Arctic by Paterson.

From spy to journalist to celebrated poet: the curious life of Basil Bunting

The letters of the Northumbrian modernist reveal an idiosyncratic career and an exacting critical mind.

Natalia Ginzburg’s small worlds

Years of anti-fascist struggle shaped the author’s intense portraits of family life in Mussolini’s Italy. Now, her books are…

The deep realism of Better Call Saul

This Breaking Bad spin-off was a high point in television drama: never has a series better conveyed the complexities…

Carl Blechen’s barren expanses let nature speak for itself

In his short life, the painter brought the mystical visions of German Romanticism back on to solid foundations.

Antonio Banderas and the art of self-parody

In Official Competition, a sharp satire of arthouse cinema, the actor plays a version of himself for laughs.

House of the Dragon: sex, violence and top notes of incest

This prequel is still Game of Thrones in all its bloody, deviant glory.

BBC Radio 4’s Torn takes a fresh look at fashion history

This documentary series explores the impact of fashion through the ages – from its role in slavery to driving…

In drought-struck England, I have a moment of connection with another living creature

At first, I didn’t see the deer – but then I saw it was looking straight at me.

The literal version of “hot girl summer” is no fun at all

This season is oppressive, and it’s not only the heat. Can we just skip to September?

Never mind hard-working families – what about occasionally working single people?

I wonder if I should count the cat as a cohabitee. Or what about the wasps?

After England’s joyous Lionesses, it’s back to the miserable men of the Prem

The England women seemed carefree, happy, in love with the game. Unlike the men, who are all moaning minnies,…

This England: You’re stuffed

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.

Dave Davies Q&A: “I like guitars but I haven’t got any left”

The Kinks’ guitarist on classic Sixties mystery shows and “cool” 17th-century fashion.