This week’s New Statesman is a special Easter double issue, with 100 pages of the finest writing. Inside, David Attenborough writes about the dangers of overpopulation, Martin Rees explains why he accepted the Templeton Prize, and the shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, talks to Sophie Elmhirst about life with Ed Balls, being flatmates with Ed Miliband and why she has no plans to run for Labour leader – yet.
Elsewhere, Mehdi Hasan tells supporters of “Blue Labour” to tone down the nostalgia, John Pilger decries Australia’s role as the world’s deputy sheriff, David Blanchflower warns that wage inequality is rising fast, and Alice Miles says no cap or control system will keep determined immigrants out.
Also this week, we publish a new poem by Clive James on mortality, Helen Lewis-Hasteley talks to the comedian Russell Howard, Maurice Walsh reports from Ireland on the years of austerity that the country now faces, and Will Self dines at Browns.