The New Statesman

Paddington The Musical escapes the uncanny valley Even a bear as tender as Paddington can see the emotional clutter we’ve learned to ignore

Paddington The Musical escapes the uncanny valley

Has Labour's soft left won? Keir Starmer’s U-turns mean all sides crave more ideological definition

Has Labour's soft left won?

📫 Today’s Morning Call, with @georgeeaton.bsky.social

My hero Tom Stoppard A man with more charm than anyone I have ever met, for whom freedom of thought was the pre-requisite for a decent society.

My hero Tom Stoppard

A man with more charm than anyone I have ever met

By Mark Damazer

Zarah Sultana triumphs at Your Party's first conference The conference has shown that the Coventry South MP is in the ascendancy

Zarah Sultana triumphs at Your Party’s first conference

The conference has shown that the Coventry South MP is in the ascendancy

By Megan Kenyon and Ethan Croft

In car-boot Britain, it’s every man for himself Robert Jenrick is wrong – the problem is organised crime

In car-boot Britain, “petty crime” has turned professional. Robert Jenrick is wrong – the problem is organised crime.

🖊️ @anooshc.bsky.social

Labour's conformism is crushing Britain Rachel Reeves is just the latest ambassador of a failed political elite

Labour’s conformism is crushing Britain

Rachel Reeves is just the latest ambassador of a failed political elite

By David Edgerton and Karel Williams

At Oxfordshire's waste mountain, a national monument to greed Ed Davey had to make do with expressing vigorous concern from a distance

At Oxfordshire's waste mountain, a national monument to greed

🖼️ @willdunn.bsky.social's sketch

In the autumn of Salman Rushdie The author’s late style in The Eleventh Hour, his latest collection of fiction, reveals a venerable writer displaced by time

It began with a name. The name was disembodied from its owner, a shadow devoid of a source. “Rushdie”.

📕 Culture editor Tanjil Rashid: In the autumn of Salman Rushdie

Can AI ever be cool? At Anthropic's brand event in Marylebone, the tech world's usual radioactive dorkiness is almost wholly absent

At Anthropic’s brand event in Marylebone, the tech world’s usual radioactive dorkiness is almost wholly absent

Josiah Gogarty: Can AI ever be cool?

The "witch hunt" at Your Party conference Zarah Sultana has boycotted the main hall, calling the evictions of attendees "indefensible"

The "witch hunt" at Your Party conference. Zarah Sultana has boycotted the main hall, calling the evictions of attendees “indefensible”. By Ethan Croft and Megan Kenyon

JD Vance has two obstacles to the White House One of them is Donald Trump

The heir apparent is trapped: Vance must show public fealty to Trump while also striking out on his own in order to win over voters in the primary.

🌎 Freddie Hayward: JD Vance has two obstacles to the White House

Union boss defends Labour's workers' rights U-turn Paul Nowak, secretary-general of the Trades Union Congres, called the row-back a necessary "compromise"

Union boss defends Labour's workers' rights U-turn

Your Party is not dead yet But this conference must have a simple message: stop doing stupid stuff

Your Party is not dead yet. But this conference must have a simple message: stop doing stupid stuff.

Andrew Murray's weekend essay

The Holocaust survivor who defended American Nazis At 88 years old, Aryeh Neier still believes freedom must mean freedom for the one who thinks differently

The Holocaust survivor who defended American Nazis

🗣️ Freddie Hayward meets Aryeh Neier, who at 88 years old still believes freedom must mean freedom for the one who thinks differently

The English have begun to hate The online anti-immigration movement has discovered a buried form of Anglo-Saxon nationalism

The English have begun to hate

Weekend Report: The rise of Anglo Saxon Nationalism

What Angela Rayner will do next on workers' rights Restive MPs – in a very febrile time for Keir Starmer’s leadership – are carefully considering what they do next

"Rayner is set to meet with her allies on Monday to discuss a response, and we could well hear from her soon."

Ailbhe Rea & Ethan Croft: What Angela Rayner will do next on workers' rights

Your Party's big weekend After its Liverpool conference, Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana's new party will have an agreed name, constitution and leadership structure

After its Liverpool conference, Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana’s new party will have an agreed name, constitution and leadership structure

📫 Today’s Morning Call, with @meganekenyon.bsky.social: Your Party's big weekend

British people’s support for Palestinians is growing New polling shows a divided country where everyone feels their own side is under threat

British people’s support for Palestinians is growing

📊 @bwalker.uk

Restricting jury trials puts cash before courtroom The government could have funded the justice system

Can we afford jury trials?

Blue Labour is bigger than ever Labour’s slow fracture is leaving space for organised insurgent factions

Blue Labour is fighting for its future

Labour’s slow fracture is leaving space for organised insurgent factions

🖊️ Ethan Croft

What we can learn from Beaujolais nouveau It’s not just the cold, dismal months of winter that can be lit up by this Hello Kitty wine

What we can learn from Beaujolais nouveau

It’s not just the cold, dismal months of winter that can be lit up by this Hello Kitty wine

🍽️ @finnmcredmond.bsky.social's Silver Spoon

Black Friday and the curse of crapflation Profit does not just come from making goods cheaper but from making them worse

Black Friday and the curse of crapflation

Profit does not just come from making goods cheaper but from making them worse

🖊️ @willdunn.bsky.social

The cruelty of Kemi Badenoch’s “Benefits Street” politics “Scroungers” are back, courtesy of the Conservative party and the right-wing press

The cruelty of Kemi Badenoch’s “Benefits Street” politics

“Scroungers” are back, courtesy of the Conservative party and the right-wing press

🖊️ @anooshc.bsky.social

Did Rachel Reeves do enough? The Chancellor desperately needs growth to offer more than austere social democracy

Did Rachel Reeves do enough?

The Chancellor desperately needs growth to offer more than austere social democracy

📫 Today’s Morning Call, with @georgeeaton.bsky.social

How the left misread Gramsci We are living in the Italian Marxist thinker's interregnum

Slavoj Žižek: How the left misread Gramsci

Did Jeremy Hunt write this Budget? It’s looking like fiscal drag forever

Did Jeremy Hunt write this Budget?

It’s looking like fiscal drag forever

🖊️ @willdunn.bsky.social

Rachel Reeves hits young graduates with a double stealth tax The Chancellor plans to raise as much money from freezing loan repayment thresholds as from the mansion tax

Rachel Reeves hits young graduates with a double stealth tax

The Chancellor plans to raise as much money from freezing loan repayment thresholds as from the mansion tax

🖊️ @RMCunliffe.bsky.social

"We were right": The two-child benefit rebels respond to the Budget More than a victory for the government, the removal of the two-child cap is a vindication for the left of the Labour party

“We were right”: The two-child benefit rebels respond to the Budget

More than a victory for the government, the removal of the two-child cap is a vindication for the left of the Labour Party

🖊️ Megan Kenyon

How parliament reacted to the Budget Tensions reached fever pitch when Reeves announced the abolition of the two-child benefit cap

How parliament reacted to the Budget

Tensions reached fever pitch when Reeves announced the abolition of the two-child benefit cap

🖊️ Ethan Croft

How Labour changed its mind on the two child benefit cap It was an emotional moment for so many people in the Labour movement

How Labour changed its mind on the two-child benefit cap

It was an emotional moment for so many people in the Labour movement

Ailbhe Rea