The Staggers Keir Starmer’s sacking of Angela Rayner is self-destructive, stupid and wrong The Labour leader’s decision has raised questions about his position – and more importantly about his judgement. By Stephen Bush
The Staggers Nicola Sturgeon wants a second Scottish referendum – but will she get one? The First Minister faces two obstacles to a fresh vote: Boris Johnson and the Scottish people’s own caution. By Chris Deerin
UK Why we need a new global concert of powers The UN’s permanent security council and the G7 no longer represent the world, so there is a gap in the system for something else. By Jeremy Cliffe
Economy The Tories’ Hartlepool triumph owes more to cash than culture wars The Conservatives’ by-election victory was built on a new brand of red-green Toryism. By James Meadway
UK How Keir Starmer laid the groundwork for Labour’s defeat in Hartlepool Signs of the party’s decline have been clear to see for years. But the Labour leader ignored the red flags. By Harry Lambert
UK “Keir Starmer should not lurch to the right”: Laura Pidcock and the Labour left speak out The ex-MP for North West Durham, and a socialist voice on the Labour left, knows what it’s like to lose a historic seat. She reacts to Labour’s defeat in Hartlepool and beyond. By Anoosh Chakelian
Nature My lockdown nostalgia How I miss the sunny lockdown mornings of late spring last year, when I frogmarched my two children to the park to watch the goslings in the pond. By Sophie McBain
Asia The punishment of history A century after its formation, the Chinese Communist Party – and Xi Jinping – seem unassailable and increasingly hostile to the West By John Simpson
Feminism The sex recession: How our love lives are stunted by hyper-sexualisation It is wrong to assume that publicly talking about sex will necessarily lead to people having better sex lives. By Louise Perry
Books Rachel Cusk and the art of the midlife crisis How the 54-year-old novelist has made a career out of destruction and reinvention. By Johanna Thomas-Corr
Elections Why did Labour do so badly in the Hartlepool by-election? The Tories benefited from a vaccine bounce but Keir Starmer bungled the choices that were his to make. By Stephen Bush
Elections Labour is too weak to win and too strong to die The Hartlepool by-election shows Labour is rudderless in an era in which cultural values, not class, shape voting patterns. By Philip Collins
Scotland Scottish independence poll tracker: will Scotland vote to leave the UK? The New Statesman's Scottish election forecast model. By Ben Walker
UK Keir Starmer cannot blame Labour’s loss of Hartlepool on Corbyn – he must own this defeat Voters have smelt Starmer’s hypocrisy and the lack of confidence in his party’s purpose. By Deborah Hermanns
Elections 2021 English local election results: ward-by-ward 5,000 English council seats are up for grabs on 6 May. See how they voted. By Ben Walker
8519, 8523 Why oil money is still essential to Scotland's political future Can the SNP, once the party of "Scotland's oil", wean the country off the revenues of the North Sea?
8519, 8520, 8300, 8362, 8302, 8415, 8493, 8495, 8496, 8457, 8459 Facebook's Oversight Board refuses to give the company an easy answer on banning Trump The company's Oversight Board has called on Facebook executives to decide for themselves whether to permanently ban the former president from the platform.
8519, 8268, 8275, 8269 Business has become divorced from everyday life – and the lost vowels of “Abrdn” prove it Underneath Standard Life Aberdeen’s silly new name there is clear thinking, but it is dangerous for those of us who don’t speak “business”.
8519, 8520, 8300, 8302 The £2bn question: How did Fujitsu emerge unscathed from the Post Office scandal? Despite its involvement in one of the worst miscarriages of justice in British history, the Japanese tech giant has reaped £2bn from the public sector over the last five years.
8519, 8520 CEOs are hugely expensive – why not automate them? If a single role is as expensive as thousands of workers, it is surely the prime candidate for robot-induced redundancy.
8519, 8520 Super League: for once, the government has shown some teeth on a cross-border deal Was the government's response to the European Super League a one-off, or is it a sign that future interventions on foreign deals are more likely?
Music & Theatre Peggy Seeger: “Ageing is a process of watching yourself decompose slowly” The 85-year-old folk legend reflects on a life in music and why she feels “invisible”. By Ellen Peirson-Hagger
Books The men who reinvented warfare Malcolm Gladwell’s new book The Bomber Mafia and the visionaries who wanted to make conflict “clean”. By Simon Kuper
Books Rachel Cusk and the art of the midlife crisis How the 54-year-old novelist has made a career out of destruction and reinvention. By Johanna Thomas-Corr
TV & Radio Jane Garvey’s Life Changing and the human voice Her guests reveal so much of themselves, as they speak with audible ambivalence, pain or shame about life-altering experiences. By Anna Leszkiewicz
TV & Radio Johnny Vegas: Carry on Glamping is a loopy, joyful series I’ve always had weirdly tender feelings for Vegas. Inside the grotty T-shirt lurks a passionate aesthete. By Rachel Cooke
Social Media A new lawsuit against TikTok continues the backlash against Big Tech’s plans for children The hugely popular social network is one of several tech firms facing legal scrutiny for monetising children's internet usage. By Oscar Williams
Coronavirus Global Covid vaccine tracker: how long will lockdown last? Use the New Statesman's trackers to monitor the state of the global effort to vaccinate the world against Covid-19. By Michael Gooder, Georges Corbineau and Josh Rayman
Social Media How dating apps are reshaping our desires for the worse Apps formalise arbitrary preferences and even discrimination against “unattractive” demographics. By James Bloodworth
Social Media Why social media boycotts never work The Premier League, English Football League and Women’s Super League will boycott social media this weekend. But when has online silence ever resulted in effective change? By Sarah Manavis
Sport Hashtags can’t hide social media’s failures to rule racism offside Social media platforms’ moderation policies enable racism to thrive. Now football is staging a boycott. By Sunder Katwala
Asia “Total helplessness”: the accountability crisis behind India’s Covid-19 surge Oxygen shortages are pushing Indian hospitals to breaking point, and raising questions over the response of Narendra Modi’s government. By Patralekha Chatterjee
North America Will Joe Biden’s support for Covid-19 patent waivers inoculate the world? Waiving patents will not alone vaccinate developing nations – but the financial and moral incentives for doing so are huge. By Ido Vock
Asia The punishment of history A century after its formation, the Chinese Communist Party – and Xi Jinping – seem unassailable and increasingly hostile to the West By John Simpson
Europe Spain’s lockdown-sceptic right storms to victory in Madrid election Isabel Díaz Ayuso is likely to harness the support of the far-right Vox to govern. By Jeremy Cliffe
Europe Will the threat of a military putsch strengthen France's far-right? A letter signed by retired military officers warning of “civil war” may be a hindrance to Marine Le Pen. By Ido Vock
Just the poet to make us yawn again 24 May 1999: Ted Hughes made the Poet Laureateship seem exciting. But for his successor New Labour has gone to a tired, old, Oxbridge voice. By Michael Glover
Extreme environment 12 February 1965: Rooms floored with water are difficult to deal with at the best of times. By Reyner Banham
Mr Chamberlain’s fiasco 7 April 1917: A call for volunteers, but volunteering for what? By New Statesman
Man and his environment 12 March 1949: Humankind is destroying his resources with reckless prodigality. By CEM Joad
