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Time for put-upon Sicily to put out its wines
The high-altitude vineyards of Italy’s largest island produce nectar for the gods, Greek or Roman. It was Diodorus of Sicily, a Greek historian in the 1st century BC, who wrote of the Gauls’...
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Autumn Statement 2015: whatever you hear, don't forget - there is an alternative
The goverment's programme of cuts is a choice, not a certainty, says Jolyon Maugham. Later today you will hear George Osborne say there is no alternative to his plan to slash a further £20bn from lean...
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We can't rush to war in Syria without a plan for peace
A recent visit to Iraq has left me doubtful that the Prime Minister's plan can suceed, says Liam Byrne. As shock of the Paris lifts and the fightback starts, all eyes are now the prime minister and,...
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Tetris and sleep deprivation: how we can help emergency workers cope with trauma
First responders are at serious risk of developing PTSD during events like the Paris attacks. Some people seem able to deal with anything. They save a stranger from bleeding out in a bombed...
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How "cultural terrorism" became a matter of international law
The destruction of manuscripts in Timbuktu became a landmark case for cultural terrorism. When Hegel said of Africa in Lectures on the Philosophy of History that it was “no historical part of the...
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Autumn Statement 2015: a test of competence as well as compassion
George Osborne's chickens may be coming home to roost. The debate will be political and polarized, as you’d expect, when the Chancellor sets out the results of the Spending Review tomorrow and how his...
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Why I’m thinking of joining the Labour Party
There’s a lot to admire in the direction Jeremy Corbyn is taking the party – perhaps it’s time to get involved.“Why I'm leaving Labour”, as Owen Hatherley remarked a few days ago, appears to be the...
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PMQs review: Jeremy Corbyn hammers David Cameron on green energy – but skips...
In a low-key exchange ahead of the Autumn Statement, the Labour leader covered two areas where the government is vulnerable: renewable energy and women's refuges. However, he failed to mention Syria...
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End of an orator: the ancient Roman machinations of Robert Harris's Dictator
Dictator, the final installment in the "Cicero trilogy", finds the great lawyer exiled from Rome. If ever a Roman was lucky enough to win a great military victory without losing too many of his men, he...
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A brimming bowl of frosted farce at the Cereal Killer Café
Kulturkampf wing of the class cleansing directed by Gauleiter Osborne et al they may be, but there's something compelling about the bearded cereal poltroons. To the Cereal Killer Café on Brick Lane in...
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The New Statesman Cover | Terror vs the State
A first look at this week's magazine. 27th November - 3rd December 2015 issueTerror vs the StateCover story Terror vs the State John Gray: The liberal order of “lazy certainties and idle hopes”...
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John McDonnell's Mao zinger spectacularly backfires
The shadow chancellor quoted from Mao's Little Red Book in his response to George Osborne's autumn statement. John McDonnell's response to George Osborne's autumn spending review has quoted from a...
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George Osborne's double U-turn allows him to change while remaining the same
The Chancellor abandoned cuts to tax credits and the police but stuck to his target of a £10bn budget surplus. The U-turn is an underrated manoeuvre in politics. At a stroke, it reduces opponents to...
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Leader: No sense of an ending to austerity
The UK is now committed to another five years of excessive and ill-directed austerity. In the Spending Review on 25 November, George Osborne again spoke of the hard choices he faces. Yet, to a large...
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George Osborne’s plan to spend the tampon tax on women’s charities is simply...
It makes us think that funds from other taxes – the government’s general pot of money not raised by a tax on tampons – is proper money. Men’s money. Money not to be channelled into women-only causes....
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Autumn Statement 2015: How we got here
The story of Britain's finances in six charts. Today George Osborne did two things. He gave his annual ‘Autumn Statement’, in which he’ll detailed how his estimates for growth, debt and the deficit...
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Dead cats and Ikea cabinets: Peter Wilby on Dan Hodges's One Minute to Ten
It is done. All done. The book. Written by him. Dan Hodges. Here is the review. It is done. All done. The book. Written by him. Dan Hodges. About the 2015 election. Published by an established firm,...
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Can Trident be hacked?
A former defence secretary has warned that Trident is vulnerable to cyber attacks. Is it? What if, in the event of a destructive nuclear war, the prime minister goes to press the red button and it...
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Despite the tax credits u-turn, the Chancellor did little to help working people
By Frances O’Grady, TUC General Secretary. The headlines on today’s Autumn Statement will be about the Chancellor’s spectacular u-turn on tax credit cuts. Millions of working people will be relieved...
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Why so-called lesbian films make me nervous
The upcoming Cate Blanchett vehicle, Carol, is already being feted as a lesbian blockbuster. I should be excited, and yet it just makes me feel sweaty. An odd thing has started to happen to me in the...
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