“It’s like Russian roulette”: On the road with the First Minister of Wales Carwyn Jones
The only Labour politician in power (above a local level) in the UK discusses his plan to save steelmaking, leadership advice…
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The Tories at war
Thirteen unlucky reasons why Spurs have failed to win the League – again
A rubbish league, the Southern media, and. . . Mourinho?
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The band as brand: the Rolling Stones at the Saatchi Gallery
Exhibitionism: the Rolling Stones is upfront about one of the Stones' biggest innovations: the way they sold themselves.
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The revolutionary science of eighteenth century France
Steve Jones' new book is an ingenious tour of scientific innovation in the age of the guillotine.
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Escape fantasies are common, but few of us actually leave – in How to Measure a Cow, someone does
Margaret Forster's posthumous novel has much to admire – from its tragicomic opening chapters to the authenticity of its unusual…
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Commons confidential: Sajid Javid, man of steel
Down-to-earth coffee, anti-semitism in Labour and Javid steels himself.
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Why Turkey’s president fears a Kurdish rebellion from the east
President Erdogan sees the Kurdish east in terms of a rebellion Ottoman province.
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Transport’s favourite myth: why we will never own driverless cars
It is often claimed the driverless car revolution is imminent. But all the hype obscures more urgent problems.
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Jeremy Corbyn’s confident response to the steel crisis shows he’s settling in for the long haul
If he wants to be, Corbyn is safe until the next election. That means he's confident enough to use…
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Why doctors’ mental health should be a concern for us all
When medical students enter university, their mental health is no different from that of the rest of the population.…
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Even celebrity women have to live in patriarchy
They, too, compromising to survive, and working within a system whose rules they did not choose.
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Ethereum: the competitor to Bitcoin which could transform entire industries
With Ethereum being taken up by everyone from Microsoft to singer Imogen Heap, could this new cryptocurrency enjoy top-down…
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The fascist architecture still hosting Italy’s sporting events
Untroubled by history, Rome’s sportsmen and women play their games in Mussolini’s stadiums.
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No vaping at Pizza Express – apparently it’s company policy
It's my policy, though, to argue about it. Or at least ask for "Hitler" on my coffee cup.
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Why do white working class people turn to the far right?
Hsiao-Hung Pai's Angry White People asks what draws people to organisations such as the English Defence League - and finds a…
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Why it’s time for pop music to stop wallowing in nostalgia
While fans’ eyes are fixed on the songs of the past, artists eye the future - and who can blame…
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Terry Christian: What the most hated man in television did next
As the star of trashy but impossible-to-ignore The Word, Christian has almost become a symbol of the 1990s. Now, he…
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Salman Rushdie: how Cervantes and Shakespeare wrote the modern literary rule book
It is 400 years since Shakespeare and Cervantes died. Together, they defy boundaries of time, and the conventions that…
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The haunted Albania of Ismail Kadare’s A Girl in Exile
Kadare's story of a detective in a dictatorship is a ghost story twice over.
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Why the moving story of Jacques Audiard’s Dheepan eventually falls flat
The first two thirds of Audiard's latest film are set up well - so why does it morph into Death…
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What the short stories of Helen Simpson and Ali Smith say about social equality
Both writers were benificiaries of the post-war consensus. Now, Cockfosters and Public Library both make the case - in different ways -…
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As the plane descends, I’m reminded that humanity won’t always rule this patchwork land
There have been times when I’ve felt sick to the stomach at what is being done worldwide by “people” -…
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From a Tudor queen in Bromley to “Game of Gnomes”: a week in history
Plus: welcome to the world of 17th-century feminist sci-fi.
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Peter Moffat’s gripping new drama tackles the question of undercover policing
Undercover is a pleasingly intriguing addition to the BBC's line-up. Plus: Workers or Shirkers? reviewed.
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At last, I’ve located the source of all the travails that afflict me: I’m a victim of black magic
Oh look, there’s the latest edition of the New Statesman, and I dutifully buy my weekly copy. It is the…
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Understanding the boy who became Islamic State’s chief executioner – and his victims
British-born "Jihadi John" became one of the most iconic figures in Islamic State's propaganda output. But how did he…
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What happens when radio has pictures?
The Global Philosopher gave new meaning to the phrase "a face for radio". But isn't this how we all watch, now?
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For Two Thousand Years is an incendiary confrontation of politics in interwar Europe
Today's reader of Mihail Sebastian's disturbing, existential exploration of alienation and self-loathing might benefit from footnotes - but the book…
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Joan Collins shot me an anxious look and demanded: “Tell me what to say”
It hadn’t dawned on me that some actors expect their every public utterance to be scripted, and I felt a…
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