From Our Archive
Articles in From our archive
Results 101 to 110 of 136
Politics
Thatcherism, logic and the law
- 11 September 2006
Taken from the New Statesman archive, 22 February 1980. When he wrote this, Tony Blair (for it is he) was a lawyer of 26 and still three years away from becoming an MP. It was one of several articles he contributed on legal themes around this time. The Prior he mentions is Jim, Margaret Thatcher's first employment secretary, and the MacShane is Denis, who was then president of the NUJ and whom you may read on page 17. The ISTC is the Iron and Steel Trades Confederation, now called Community. Selected by Brian Cathcart
World Affairs
The Iranian Connection
- 04 September 2006
Taken from the New Statesman archive, 10 December 1976. This is Robin Cook at his troublemaking best, just two years into his parliamentary career, reducing to a mockery a policy of his own government. He may not have foreseen the ayatollahs but he knew that arming Savak and the Shah was both bad and mad. And 30 years on, Iranian forgiveness is still a very long way off. Cook contributed to the New Statesman over many years. He died last summer. Selected by Brian Cathcart
Culture
Why Picasso?
- 28 August 2006
Taken from the New Statesman archive, 15 May 1954. It was at the New Statesman that Berger made his reputation, contributing his first article in 1951 at the age of 24 and writing regularly thereafter, as the magazine's art critic and occasionally as a commentator on wider matters, for ten years. Later he wrote for New Society. Selected by Brian Cathcart
Society
Holiday-making abroad
- 21 August 2006
Taken from the New Statesman archive, 13 February 1926. Little doubt here that Clifford Sharp, the founding editor of the New Statesman, was a man to take his holidays abroad. This exchange, besides painting a picture of the English seaside hotel that anticipates Fawlty Towers by half a century and more, shows the great popularity of Switzerland as a holiday destination between the wars. In time prices there would outstrip even those of England's south coast. Selected by Brian Cathcart
Society
34 things every sociologist knows
- 14 August 2006
Taken from the New Statesman archive, 1 May 1970. How many of these might you hear today? Number 2 and number 12, certainly, and perhaps number 34, which like a few others at least ought to be true. Whatever the reality was in 1970, I wonder how many modern Hull bridegrooms have met their wives at public dances. Alan Brien, critic, columnist and wit, was a regular contributor to the magazine in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Selected by Brian Cathcart
Society
Britain's tin red line
- 07 August 2006
Taken from the New Statesman archive, 26 May 1951. This visit to a factory floor in Walthamstow is also, I guess, a return to the nursery floor of the writer's childhood. Aylmer Vallance (1892-1955), a Scot, was a long-time deputy editor of the New Statesman. He had been a real soldier himself, serving in both world wars, though not in a bright uniform but in military intelligence. As for Britains, the brand survives in US ownership, selling soldiers made in China mainly to collectors. Selected by Brian Cathcart
World Affairs
Arab land carved up
- 31 July 2006
Taken from the New Statesman archive, 11 June 1982. Sometimes it seems that only the names change. For PLO read Hezbollah; for President Sarkis read the hapless Lebanese leadership of today. Edward Mortimer, too, has moved on: today he is director of communications for the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan. Selected by Brian Cathcart
World Affairs
The Third Afghan War
- 17 July 2006
Taken from the New Statesman archive, 16 August 1919. This conflict was over in just three months, concluding very much to Britain’s advantage. The Afghans, however, had issued a reminder that they were formidable adversaries. Sidebotham (1872-1940) was one of the leading military reporters of his day, much admired by Lloyd George, among others. This article, like many in the magazine’s early days, was unsigned, but the writer’s name appears in our contributors’ file. (It is worth remembering that the "Indian Government" he refers to was a distant limb of the imperial government in London.) Selected by Brian Cathcart
Society
A Rethinking Sermon
- 17 July 2006
Taken from the New Statesman archive, 7 November 1959. Even today, when it seems depressingly prescient, this is a bracing read; in 1959 it must have been a shocker. Miliband (1924-94), a political theorist, was only an occasional contributor to the New Statesman. His two sons, David and Ed, are ministers in the present Labour government. Selected by Brian Cathcart
Society
The war in East London
- 10 July 2006
Taken from the New Statesman archive, 21 September 1940. This article, so out of tune with the defiant, take-it-on-the-chin tone of much of the rest of the early coverage of the Blitz, caused a sensation when it appeared, and set in motion a campaign for better organisation of the official response to German bombing. It was one of many articles contributed to the New Statesman over more than 20 years by the Scottish journalist and author Ritchie Calder (1906-82), who became Lord Ritchie-Calder. This month is the centenary of his birth. Selected by Brian Cathcart
