This week’s New Statesman is a special issue devoted to politics and comedy. In our lead commentary, Chris Addison, one of the stars of The Thick of It, accuses the news media of trivialising politics and says Nick Robinson et al should leave the jokes to the comedians.
Elsewhere, to accompany our retrospective of political cartoons, Dominic Sandbrook explains why satire remains the one kind of hate speech that every society needs. Also, don’t miss our interview with the self-styled New Statesman himself, Alan B’Stard.
In politics, Mehdi Hasan explores why both the left and the right are attacking Ed Miliband as a far-left “Bennite”, James Macintyre interviews the new International Development Secretary, Andrew Mitchell, and Jon Cruddas argues that it’s time for England to have its own national Labour Party.
All this, plus Will Self on the psychic cult of Stieg Larsson, a new short story by Julie Myerson and the comedian Mark Watson’s preview of the Edinburgh Festival.
The issue is on sale now, or you can subscribe through the website.