Middle East A tragedy in Beirut comes at a moment of crisis for Lebanon The city has been rocked by a massive blast as it contends with economic and public health crises. By Ido Vock
Europe How Silvio Berlusconi became Italy’s kingmaker The former prime minister now holds the keys to a new pro-European government in Rome. By David Broder
Middle East “We're way beyond demonstrations”: why Lebanon is on the brink of collapse The country once hailed as the “Switzerland of the Middle East” now faces the prospects of bankruptcy and chaos as never before. By Jim Muir
Economy No wealth but life: the conservative origins of English socialism How our writer was prompted to reflect on the ideology’s beginnings, after the experience of life in lockdown exposed the legacy of the old liberal order. By Jonathan Rutherford
UK “John Hume protected us from the worst of Brexit”: SDLP’s Claire Hanna MP Claire Hanna, the SDLP MP for South Belfast and a family friend of John Hume, discusses the Nobel laureate’s legacy and argues that he created the “toolkit” that prevented a hard Brexit. By Ailbhe Rea
Health Where next for local lockdown? Use our tracker to find out We're using the latest data on Covid-19 cases across Britain to track and predict local lockdowns. By Patrick Scott
Music & Theatre The final curtain call: How Covid-19 has left Britain’s theatres in crisis Despite the government’s £1.57bn support package, theatres across the UK are being forced to make redundancies – or even to close for good. By Ellen Peirson-Hagger
UK What it’s like to be locked down in Leicester The city has knuckled down. Many feel bamboozled by the figures. People can’t know whether they’ve been picked on or picked out by the government, but they accept it for now. By Robert Colls
An Italian journey Our writer travels from Berlin to Naples by train and discovers that the pandemic has brought out the best and the worst of the beautiful country. By Jeremy Cliffe
Film Why Children of Men haunts the present moment How Alfonso Cuarón’s 2006 dystopian masterpiece became the cultural exemplum of apocalypse, and a cardinal citation in the time of coronavirus. By Gavin Jacobson
Culture How we live now Deborah Levy, Ben Okri, Ahdaf Soueif and more explore how their lives have changed since the beginning of the pandemic. By New Statesman
Devolution Podcast: John Hume remembered Anoosh Chakelian and Ailbhe Rae are joined on the New Statesman podcast by Claire Hanna MP. By NS Podcasts
Economy Britain's governments have less time than they think to make a decision on schools By Stephen Bush
The Staggers In the age of coronavirus, we should look again at how Britain was rebuilt after 1945 Shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds on Ernest Bevin and Labour's postwar achievements. By Nick Thomas-Symonds
UK Chris Whitty offers a quietly different public health message to Boris Johnson The Prime Minister's press conference saw the germ of a parallel message from the Chief Medical Officer. By Ailbhe Rea
Health Who benefits if over-40’s pick up the tab for social care? The government just might apply the political logic of the triple lock pension to the UK’s underfunded social care system. By Jonn Elledge
Health British Muslims are being scapegoated for the government's coronavirus failures A Conservative MP has claimed that ethnic minority Britons, particularly Muslims, are not taking the coronavirus seriously. But the evidence is thin at best. By Stephen Bush
Why Bertrand Russell's argument for idleness is more relevant than ever Russell's observations on the value of leisure were made in an era of mass unemployment – and they are just as pertinent today. By Max Hayward
Games How I fell in love with a fake football team – and learned to love myself My lockdown habit of watching virtual Arsenal fixtures on Football Manager is insane. But so is watching Arsenal in real life. By Stephen Bush
Music & Theatre The many Beethoven myths That the composer, whose 250th anniversary is being celebrated this year, overcame deafness to write the greatest music of all time is a familiar story. But what does it leave out? By Emily Bootle
Film Why Children of Men haunts the present moment How Alfonso Cuarón’s 2006 dystopian masterpiece became the cultural exemplum of apocalypse, and a cardinal citation in the time of coronavirus. By Gavin Jacobson
Q&A Ali Smith Q&A: “Heroism is a daily and communal matter” The author talks Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Amelia Gentleman’s The Windrush Betrayal, and incompetent governance. By New Statesman
Coronavirus Why England was hit harder by Covid-19 than any other country in Europe The findings of the ONS show how a wider spread of infection, and less severe or timely measures to respond to it, are factors in the deaths of many thousands of people. By Michael Goodier
Social Media Is TikTok really as much of a security threat as Huawei? The social media app is the latest target of parliament's China hawks, but are their concerns backed up by evidence? By Oscar Williams
Books Sex Robots & Vegan Meat: when technology seeks to replace biology Midway through Jenny Kleeman’s entertaining survey of the latest advances in life sciences, I began to worry. By Johanna Thomas-Corr
Social Media How anti-vaxxers capitalised on coronavirus conspiracy theories Global susceptibility to misinformation and a pandemic-induced fear of the unknown have given anti-vaccination activists a new lease of life. By Sarah Manavis
Europe The State of European Politics: Special Series As coronavirus shakes Europe, the fates of leaders across the continent hang in the balance. By New Statesman
North America "Tough on China": how Trump and Biden differ over Beijing The US president's past relationship with his Chinese counterpart could come back to bite him. By Emily Tamkin
North America US election swing states: Virginia is for… Democrats? The story of how the former Confederacy capital turned blue is one of demographic shifts, a Democratic political machine and Donald Trump. By Emily Tamkin
Donald Trump’s degradation of US intelligence is another victory in his war against facts It should worry not just Americans but also their international allies that the president’s relationship with intelligence agencies is bad and getting worse. By Emily Tamkin
An Italian journey Our writer travels from Berlin to Naples by train and discovers that the pandemic has brought out the best and the worst of the beautiful country. By Jeremy Cliffe
Art & Design Erasing histories: why Turkey’s Hagia Sophia should remain a museum President Erdogan’s decision to reconvert the building into a mosque is a further move against religious pluralism. By Elif Shafak
Cricket’s bright strangers 31 May 1963: What is the point of cricket, if not to entertain? By JPW Mallalieu
De Gaulle becomes awkward 1 December 1951: How Charles de Gaulle read the mood of France and dug in his heels. By Alexander Werth
Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms reviewed 30 November 1929: The two principal characters of A Farewell to Arms simply emerge from the war, as they might come up out of the water after swimming. By ES
Famine in Bengal 2 October 1943: The terrible reality of starvation and death witnessed first-hand in British India. By An anonymous British Army officer
Nelson Mandela at large 19 January 1990: On the release of Nelson Mandela, awaited like a second coming. By Ivor Powell
JK Rowling in the US 1 November 1999: Theories and misconceptions were already beginning to surround the Harry Potter author. By Andrew Stephen
