New Statesman -

The French revolution

Paul Johnson — Thu, 08 May 2008 12:00:00 GMT

In May '68, Paul Johnson, the then editor of the New Statesman, extolled Parisian student power in an impassioned article, abridged here, entitled "The new spectre haunting Europe"

A spectre is haunting Europe - the spectre of student power. As in 1848, each outbreak in each European capital contains the seeds of another elsewhere, as students gain courage from the success and audacity of their foreign brethren, and learn from their mistakes. With each outbreak, the students raise their objectives and widen their horizons. Anyone who is fascinated by political processes and public philosophies should make every effort [...]

America's Suez?

Paul Johnson — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 12:00:00 GMT

Taken from the New Statesman, 9 February 1968

Forty years ago this month, the Vietcong�s Tet Offensive shattered American optimism about the Vietnam War. Although the US military beat off the attack, it was the beginning of what eventually proved

to be a humiliating defeat for the world�s greatest military power.

Paul Johnson, then editor of the New Statesman and a man of the left, wrote this trenchant article in February 1968, predicting accurately what was [...]

Sex, snobbery and sadism

Paul Johnson — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 12:00:00 GMT

The New Statesman 5 April 1958
Ian Fleming invented his hero James Bond just over 50 years ago. Agent 007 rapidly became one of the icons of his age � a suave, handsome, amoral, patriotic intelligence officer. Today�s commercial success of the new Bond film, Casino Royale, suggests he retains enormous popularity. But as the then left-wing journalist Paul Johnson argued in 1958, Bond was always little more than a crypto-fascist.
Selected by Robert Taylor

I have just finished what is without a doubt the nastiest book I have ever read. It is a new novel entitled Dr. No and the author is Mr. Ian Fleming. Echoes of Mr Fleming's fame had reached me before, and I had been repeatedly urged to read his books by literary friends whose judgement I normally respect. When his new novel appeared, therefore, I obtained a copy and started [...]

Back to Anarchy

Paul Johnson — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 14:03:00 GMT

Taken from the New Statesman archive, 18 June 1921
This article, which gives such a strong flavour of the anger, anxiety and disillusionment caused by the twin crises of Suez and Hungary, was unsigned when it appeared, but Johnson is credited in the contributors' file. Then aged 28, he had recently returned from a spell as the New Statesman's Paris correspondent; he went on to be one of its most distinguished and flamboyant writers and was editor from
1965-70. In the 1970s he became a Conservative.
Selected by Brian Cathcart

When Eden served his brutal and illegal ultimatum on President Nasser, a shocked and horrified world began desperately to count the consequences. By Wednesday of last week, when Anglo-French bombs began to rain on Egyptian territory, they were seen to be three-fold. The first consequence � which seemed to world opinion the most serious � was that Eden's action had struck a body-blow against the United Nations, and had shaken, [...]

1968 - The new spectre haunting Europe

Paul Johnson — Mon, 06 Dec 1999 12:00:00 GMT

A spectre is haunting Europe - the spectre of student power. As in 1848, each outbreak in each European capital contains the seeds of another elsewhere, as students gain courage from the success and audacity of their foreign brethren, and learn from their mistakes. With each outbreak, the students raise their objectives and widen their horizons. There is no need to speak of a Students' International, for this implies a [...]

Obituary - Tom Baistow

Paul Johnson — Fri, 12 Mar 1999 12:00:00 GMT

Tom Baistow, who has died aged 85, was deputy editor and anchorman of the New Statesman for much of the 1960s and 1970s.

He was Glaswegian by birth, and a proud Scot who spoke Gaelic (as well as four other languages), though his Scottishness was never obtrusive. He cut his journalistic teeth on the Scottish Daily Express as a copy boy, and climbed steadily up the editorial ladder until [...]