As the polls narrow, the Tories are haunted by lost majorities from elections they believed they’d win
The Conservatives are haunted by the ghosts of parliamentary majorities they failed to win. In the summer of 2017,…
ByNew Statesman Magazine
In this week’s magazine
What we want
Nick Robinson’s Diary: How to chair a leadership debate, BBC conspiracies and Boris Johnson vs Andrew Neil
I am not short of advice. In fact, it is coming in thick and fast. “Ask Boris Johnson why…
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The origins of our malaise go ba85833ck to the early 2000s and the complacency of liberal centrists
In retrospect, the centre of British politics came apart during the 2000s. The constitution rotted. Turnout fell. The SNP…
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This election is the latest chapter in the struggle over Britain’s semi-European identity
If you live on continental Europe, as I do, certain things stand out when you visit Britain. Many are…
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Why Nato is still essential for peace
There is nothing like the threat of nuclear Armageddon for focusing minds. That, at least, was true for Nato…
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Commons Confidential: Seumas gets his coat
Christmas is cancelled for Labour MEPs, with their Brussels beano the election’s latest victim. Southside Grinch Jeremy Corbyn’s party…
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Emily Thornberry: “It always comes back to your childhood”
Emily Thornberry was seven years old when she was made homeless. In 1967 her father deserted the family without…
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First Thoughts: The London Bridge attacks, redemption and the Daily Mail’s takeover of the i newspaper
The meaning of redemption has been on my mind since the attacks at London Bridge by Usman Khan, released…
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What we want: To end the Eton mess and start again
What do I want? Fewer, if any, Etonians. John le Carré, who taught at Eton for three years, recently…
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What we want: a focus on local politics
For ten years I’ve been knocking on doors – many thousands of doors – asking people what they want.…
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What we want: to prioritise tackling inequality
After a recent panel on “politics and literature”, a young man in the audience stood up and said, “Can…
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What we want: A second referendum
Labour to win, with a majority. It would change everything for the better. Many of the shadow cabinet (Angela…
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NS Recommends: new books from Nicholas Lezard, William Cash and Meena Kandasamy
It Gets Worse Nicholas Lezard Readers of this magazine will be aware that for Nicholas Lezard, author of the…
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Julian Barnes’s The Man in the Red Coat: gently rambling, lightly polemical non-fiction
This more-ish book is best, if inadequately, described as a biography of Samuel-Jean Pozzi, the French gynaecologist. Pozzi is…
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Dan Gretton’s I You We Them: the mass murderers who killed from behind a desk
As the rather elaborate title might indicate, I You We Them is a complex and exceptional book. It also strikes me…
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BBC Three’s Shrill is a warm, affirming comedy
When we first meet Annie (Aidy Bryant) in Shrill, she’s tiptoeing through life. When her not-quite-boyfriend encourages her to…
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The powerful slowness of Wang Xiaoshuai’s So Long, My Son
There is enough incident and drama during the three hours of Wang Xiaoshuai’s So Long, My Son to fill an…
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What’s the point of election debates?
On the day of the ITV election debate, Jeremy Corbyn was in Whitby, enjoying some chips at the town’s…
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Are general elections all the same?
In the early 1700s “prime minister” was a term of abuse. Hard to imagine, I know! But the title…
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Champagne owes its fame to women – and perhaps its future, too
As Christmas lights pierce the high street skies, beckoning us all – like unwise men – to follow, it…
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I never liked exercise – so how did I end up religiously lifting my body weight every Thursday?
It’s 7:30pm on a Thursday and 15 women are shouting at me to push. I’m in a borderline grimy…
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Watching my granddaughter play, I realise just how far women’s football has come
When our son was 15, he got a Saturday job in a local ice cream parlour, Marine Ices. He…
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Pete Townshend Q&A: “I look at my passport and think: will I outlast you?“
Pete Townshend was born in London in 1945. He is a co-founder of the Who and considered one of…
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