The New Iron Curtain

Leader: The age of deglobalisation

A utopian belief in market forces and endless progress left the West unprepared for the shocks of the last…

Letter of the week: Secret identities

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

Prince William’s Caribbean tour was always doomed to fail

It is nonsense to argue that the royal family is not political – William and Kate’s trip exposed to…

Yalda Hakim’s Diary: In the beautiful city of Lviv, Ukrainians steel themselves as the war moves further west

The station was chaotic as thousands jostled to board trains bound for Poland, while sons, husbands and fathers stood…

Francis Fukuyama: We could be facing the end of “the end of history”

The American political theorist discusses what the Ukraine war means for the future of liberal democracy.

It would be madness for Nato to try and topple Putin

The West should avoid a dangerous escalation of the kind threatened by Joe Biden.

The Tories’ privatisation of welfare is a catastrophe for the poorest

As the state relinquishes its duties to the vulnerable, charities are having to take its place as our country’s…

As the conflict in Ukraine grinds on, Putin escalates his information war at home

Under new censorship laws, Russian journalists face 15 years in prison if they report against the Kremlin’s version of…

Laugh at survivalists all you want, but maybe they have a point

Prepping for emergencies such as famines or nuclear war suddenly doesn’t seem so unhinged after all.

The cult of Stalin the intellectual

A valuable study of the dictator’s reading habits is absurdly revisionist about his capacity for cruelty.

The NS Poem: Ballad of Return

A new poem by Yuri Andrukhovych, translated by John Hennessy and Ostap Kin.

Reviewed in short: New books by Fernanda Melchor, Francis Young, Colin Barrett and Symeon Brown

Paradais by Melchor, Magic in Merlin’s Realm by Young, Homesickness by Barrett and Get Rich or Lie Trying by…

Margaret Atwood’s self-fulfilling prophecies

For a literary oracle, the novelist is not too interested in what lies ahead.

My family and the forgotten massacre of Chios

Eugène Delacroix’s great painting changed Western art and recorded an atrocity that still haunts the island today.

Harry Wootliff’s True Things is a lacklustre tale of erotic obsession

The film is visually compelling but its protagonists, played by Ruth Wilson and Tom Burke, lack depth and credibility.

Gary Oldman is gripping as a scrofulous spy leading a last chance saloon of M15 agents

Oldman’s performance as Jackson Lamb made me feel vaguely ill, but Slow Horses would be nothing without him.

Patented: History of Inventions is perfect fact-of-the-day fodder

In finding out the origin stories of the innovations that power our lives, this podcast also reveals the power…

The Greeks were right about wine: it is the definition of civilisation

To paraphrase a graffito uncovered at Pompeii: the man with whom I dine can never be a barbarian to…

Forget the millions and the Baby Bentley, a footballer’s life is one of stress and toil

From injuries to social media trolls, fans just don’t realise the strains of being a rich and pampered player.

My friends and I once moved through life in sync. Now, they speed ahead

I know it is childish but as my friends begin to buy houses, get married and have children, I…

I make sure I never run out of phone charge, so why do I run out of money?

I wonder if I became less reckless in my financial affairs I might stop dreaming about flying to Brazil…

This England: Eats shoots and leaves

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

What do you do? Right now, I “job-hunt”. Where do you live? Surbiton, south-west London. Do you vote? Without…

Annie Macmanus Q&A: “I’ve often been a woman in a man’s world”

The broadcaster discusses the legacy of John Hume, Channel 4 News and her love of dance music from the…