Labour’s politics of prevarication
The UK does not need another lengthy inquiry on care. What it does need is a government with the…
ByThe Magazine
In this week’s issue
The Great Power Gap
Letter of the week: The end of local government
Write to letters@newstatesman.co.uk to have your thoughts voiced in the New Statesman magazine.
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No-fear Keir sidesteps naming Musk
Your daily dose of gossip from around Westminster.
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Elon Musk’s secret weapon
BBC News is the key to the X owner’s fixation with British politics.
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The magic of seeing in the new year in Sydney
Also this week: leaving the BBC and why koala bears need a seat at the diplomatic table.
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Danny Sriskandarajah: “It is no wonder young people are losing hope”
The head of the New Economics Foundation on global disillusionment with democracy.
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How does Starmer solve a problem like Elon Musk?
This Labour government has become too ready to fall back on a strategy of silence.
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New Year, same American violence
The US’s acceptance of deadly crime and political bloodshed goes far deeper than its addiction to guns.
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Mark Zuckerberg leads the new oligarchs paying tribute to Donald Trump
Plus: Apple’s fluffed AI headlines and more Telegraph sale intrigue.
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The Syrian people yearn to take control of their own destiny
Bashar al-Assad has gone but, as elation begins to be edged out by anxiety, what comes after authoritarianism?
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The truth about the grooming scandal
The media did not ignore the gangs or the violence – but the victims still await justice.
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The edge of anarchy
Donald Trump’s second term will hasten American decline, at a time when Russia and China are also in crisis.
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The year ahead: Russia is on course to win the war in Ukraine
How did we get here?
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The year ahead: Will the Musk-Trump bromance endure?
Now the common enemy, the Democratic Party, has been vanquished, their interests may diverge.
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The year ahead: Are we on the verge of a new Middle East?
A democratic Syria and rising Turkey would ask different questions of Israel.
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The year ahead: How could Germany’s election shape the EU?
The February vote looks likely to result in another grand coalition – yet much of the country’s inertia is…
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The year ahead: Will US tariffs disrupt the global economy?
Donald Trump’s zero-sum economic thinking could make everything a lot more expensive for everyone.
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The year ahead: Can Labour escape decline in 2025?
Keir Starmer needs to prove he is more than a crisis manager.
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The year ahead: Can Kemi Badenoch rescue the Tories?
Labour has left her an open goal – her future depends on taking it.
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Lessons from the afterlife
In A Second Act, intensive care doctor Matt Morgan collects stories from patients who returned from death. Can they…
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Elsa Morante’s wild, compelling fiction
This vivid story of class and family by the rediscovered Italian novelist was where Elena Ferrante “discovered what literature…
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Did the Tories create modern Britain?
A revisionist history claims the postwar consensus was shaped by Conservative visions.
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25 books to read in 2025
From AI to the Beatles and from Pope Francis to Jung Chang, here are the new books to look…
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From Rochelle Gurstein to Philippa Found: new books reviewed in short
Also featuring Pub by Philip Howell and Runaway Horses by Carlo Fruttero and Franco Lucentini.
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The best art exhibitions to see in 2025
From 14th-century Siena to female modernists, the year’s most exciting exhibitions chart an evolving Western tradition.
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Jesse Eisenberg’s A Real Pain is a masterpiece
This story of cousins visiting a concentration camp addresses the question of “Holocaust tourism” with intelligence, humour and compassion.
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Playing Nice is good, clean, twisted fun
This series is yet more messy human drama set in an immaculate, expensive interiors; a superior cast in ridiculous…
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The BBC podcast In Dark Corners reveals a network of British predators
The journalist and survivor Alex Renton uncovers the “Paedophile Information Exchange”, a pro-paedophile group that campaigned throughout the 1970s
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Ethel Cain’s American Gothic
The singer found fame with her debut album in 2022 – but Perverts, a subversive horror movie of a…
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Walking is the soul’s preferred means of transport
Does doing something twice in two years count as a tradition? If so, we have a family tradition of…
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It will take more than cash to repair the NHS
Labour must make hard decisions on the future of social care.
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Somehow, I have earned the devotion of an ageing black Lab
He follows me everywhere, but slowly, on arthritic legs.
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New year, same me
If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the years, it’s that there's no point in making aspirational resolutions.
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This England: Barking up the wrong tree
This column – which, though named after a line in Shakespeare’s “Richard II”, refers to the whole of Britain…
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Subscriber of the week: Rohan McWilliam
Please email zuzanna.lachendro@newstatesman.co.uk if you would like to be featured.
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Sathnam Sanghera: “Of course we’re doomed. It’s what gives life its fizz”
The author on life before tearing a hamstring and and George Michael.
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