@anooshc.bsky.social
Britain editor, New Statesman. Lead host, New Statesman Podcast (Publisher Podcast Award winner '21-24) & co-host Westminster Reimagined with Armando Iannucci.
Read the whole investigation, done jointly with the BBC and leading its bulletins today, here:
12.02.2026 22:40 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
On the latest @newstatesman1913.bsky.social pod, I talk to Hannah Barnes about her investigation into devastating failings in maternity care - and what the government is and isn't doing about it:
12.02.2026 22:39 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
My column in this week's @newstatesman1913.bsky.social, on bad data used in bad faith.
FOI-ing the stats myself, I didn't find a great deal of difference in sex offending rates: 5 per 10,000 Afghan men, 7 per 10,000 UK men:
Terrific piece this. Something that Yvette Cooper said the government would do that seems to have fallen by the wayside is to release this data *themselves*, but instead they've seemingly quit the field leaving it only to bad actors (and now, thankfully, Anoosh)
12.02.2026 11:58 — 👍 160 🔁 70 💬 6 📌 0Thanks Stephen, very kind
12.02.2026 15:05 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0thank you!
12.02.2026 11:32 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
My column in this week's @newstatesman1913.bsky.social, on bad data used in bad faith.
FOI-ing the stats myself, I didn't find a great deal of difference in sex offending rates: 5 per 10,000 Afghan men, 7 per 10,000 UK men:
Very good report on a week of the PM on the precipice by @pronouncedalva.bsky.social who uncovers a deep frustration and dismay particularly among Labour women:
11.02.2026 10:38 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
“You are wrong. I will prove you wrong. I am going to fight.”
In his ace column in this week's @newstatesman1913.bsky.social, Andrew Marr bumps into Keir Starmer and tells him exactly what he thinks:
The end I think!
10.02.2026 15:33 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0Clever little site where you can read Mandelson/Streeting messages as whatsapps - shetlandj.github.io/w_text/
10.02.2026 15:20 — 👍 3 🔁 2 💬 1 📌 0Sure, I just thought the contrast with Rayner was interesting
10.02.2026 09:17 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
On the latest episode of the @newstatesman1913.bsky.social pod, @pronouncedalva.bsky.social and I discuss the latest following Morgan McSweeney and Tim Allan's resignations:
09.02.2026 16:20 — 👍 2 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
When I interviewed Anas Sarwar, he told me he'd warned Starmer: “I want to go into 2026 in the midterm of a popular Labour government, not the midterm of an unpopular”
Also warned: “I want us not to say, ‘Elect Labour so we can be better managers than the Tories or the SNP.’”
Inside Keir Starmer’s crisis speech to No 10 staff
The prime minister paid tribute to former chief of staff Morgan McSweeney
By Ailbhe Rea www.newstatesman.com/politi...
“There is not a vacancy, but I think Shabana Mahmood’s doing a bloody good job”.
Great interview with veteran of the Blair-Brown melodrama Jacqui Smith by Harry Clarke-Ezzidio:
That's lovely to hear, thank you for sticking with us! (And we never say no to a nice review if you ever have the time..!)
06.02.2026 13:20 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
On the latest episode of the @newstatesman1913.bsky.social podcast, @meganekenyon.bsky.social and I discuss how Labour MPs are feeling about the Mandelson affair, Angela Rayner's role re the release of documents, and what this could mean for the party:
06.02.2026 13:17 — 👍 3 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
Informative video on what's cooking in Parliament with the embattled PM.
The phrase "usual suspects" is used.
Good stuff.
@anooshc.bsky.social
youtu.be/dS5nsXhmWyo?...
Thanks for watching and sharing!
06.02.2026 13:15 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Revealing from @georgeeaton.bsky.social - voters are drawing a contrast between No 10's treatment of Mandelson versus Burnham:
05.02.2026 09:47 — 👍 16 🔁 2 💬 1 📌 1
On the latest @newstatesman1913.bsky.social podcast, @pronouncedalva.bsky.social and I discuss Mandelson's influence on No 10, Morgan McSweeney's position, and whether the Epstein files could be the downfall of Keir Starmer:
05.02.2026 09:22 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Great report by @pronouncedalva.bsky.social revealing the influence of Mandelson on this Labour operation:
04.02.2026 14:07 — 👍 11 🔁 4 💬 0 📌 1
"Mega-wealth so often erodes a moral compass. Epstein’s appeal was an insidious gift of permission. Girls, tax evasion, private places to play. An underground railway of upper-echelon decadence."
Devestating from Tina Brown
www.newstatesman.com/internationa...
“without a compass in a maze of realpolitik… justifying the means for ends you never achieve. Our government is stuck at the dead-end of this pragmatic political era, finding the “dirty hands” theory of leadership etched on its own palms.” Excellent on #Mandelson from @anooshc.bsky.social
03.02.2026 10:34 — 👍 2 🔁 2 💬 1 📌 0
"We no longer live under New Labour, and Starmer’s cabinet is very different from those in Mandelson’s day. But that impulse for pragmatism – voiced by many suffering nostalgia for the Blair years – still pulses through the political ether"
@anooshc.bsky.social
www.newstatesman.com/politics/202...
thanks for sharing Rachel!
03.02.2026 12:32 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Labour is lost in the twilight of this pragmatic political era, finding the “dirty hands” theory of leadership etched on its own palms:
03.02.2026 12:31 — 👍 4 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Missed this at the time but very interesting and revealing bit on Steve Reed's philosophy re council housing in this interview by @danielhewittitv.bsky.social - thinks it isn't aspirational and just for the neediest (with no aim to change that). Opposite of Rayner's "social housing revolution":
03.02.2026 11:32 — 👍 3 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 1Great piece by @georgeeaton.bsky.social on how Labour has been unable to quit Mandelson:
bsky.app/profile/news...
