The New Statesman Podcast, Subscriber Only Edition

The inevitability of the Peter Mandelson scandal, Jacob Rees-Mogg's live show, and the rising cost of condoms… Will Dunn and Anoosh Chakelian round up the stories of the week. READ: https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-politics/2026/04/whos-afraid-of-olly-robbins https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/the-sketch/2026/04/jacob-rees-mogg-relishes-the-limelight  

The Resistible rise of Arturo Ui, Bertolt Brecht's darkly comic allegory of authoritarianism is a play that straddles past and present. Written in 1941, it was conceived as a warning; a grotesque gangster-inflected retelling of the rise of Adolf Hitler. It holds out the warning that such a rise is not, in fact, inevitable – it can be resisted.   In a new production, Mark Gatiss steps into the role...

The Mandelson affair has become less about Peter Mandelson's alleged wrongdoing, and all about Keir Starmer's ability to run the country. This week Olly Robbins, former chief civil servant at the Foreign Office, insisted the Prime Minister pressured him into clearing Peter Mandelson for the US ambassador post. Yesterday, Starmer was forced to admit his former spin doctor Matthew Doyle, who was sus...

Anthony Seldon, historian, educator and one of Britain's leading political biographers, has been for a long walk.   His new book, The Path of Light, recounts his extraordinary 1300 kilometre passage to Auschwitz.   Tracing stories of courage, resistance and moral clarity across a continent once consumed by darkness - it's a journey that speaks not only to the past, but powerfully to the world we'r...

Does Keir Starmer deserve more credit for keeping us out of a third Gulf war? Is Farage's relationship with Trump hurting Reform's polling? And who are the bright young things in British politics?   Anoosh Chakelian is joined by Tom McTague and Ailbhe Rea to answer your questions.

Criticism of Labour's response to the global threat, Trump's AI Jesus and parliament's "summer of sex". Will Dunn and Anoosh Chakelian round up this week's stories. Any suggestions for next week's categories, please comment below. 📚 READ: https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/the-sketch/2026/04/at-a-defence-conference-tech-execs-haggle-over-reducing-the-cost-to-kill

Or has the term lost its meaning?   It's a label that's everywhere now: used by political commentators, thrown around on social media, and increasingly a part of everyday conversation. In recent months it's been used to describe matters including Indian cricket, Sainsbury's use of facial recognition, the 'Dubai Dream'.   But what did George Orwell actually warn us about, and how closely does our m...

For years, we have wrung our hands about the manosphere: the misogynist influencers like Andrew Tate exploiting a generation of disillusioned and impressionable lost boys. But what about radicalised young women? New, exclusive polling for the New Statesman has uncovered a huge difference in the political, economic and social outlook of women and men under 30 in Britain, created largely by women tu...

Fatima Bhutto was born into exile - and into one of the most powerful political dynasties in South Asia.   Her life has been shaped by both privilege and profound personal tragedy.   Born in Afghanistan, she spent her early years displaced, after her grandfather, former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was executed under General Zia-ul-Haq's military regime.   Her childhood was marked by instab...

Last night, the Artemis II crew splashed down in the Pacific Ocean after a 10-day mission to space and a lunar flyby. The voyage, which included the first woman and a non-US citizen to take part in a lunar mission, is part of a program to place humans once again on the Moon by 2028, a return after 56 years apart.   But why do we bother? Where does this fascination come from?   Can the moon teach u...

AI is embedded in the machinery of the British state: drafting legislation, shaping spending decisions, informing interest rate policy and writing speeches delivered in parliament.   Has Britain handed over political power without ever really deciding to, and without fully understanding to whom?   Tom McTague is joined by Will Dunn to discuss.

For decades, George Saunders was known for his short stories. In 2013, in a Time Magazine 100 most influential people listing, he was described as "the best short-story writer in English".   In 2017, he released his first novel, Lincoln in the Bardo, a reimagining of President Abraham Lincoln's grief in the aftermath of his son Willie's death. It's a genre-defying piece of literature, narrated by...

It's almost impossible to separate how we think about modern life from the phenomenon that is capitalism, and to think, what would life look like without it? Tanjil Rashid is joined by Sven Beckert, Professor of History at Harvard University and author of Capitalism: A Global History, to trace the long emergence of capitalism, and to ask what the world looked like before it took hold.

The pollution of Britain's waterways is well known, but the full extent of the carelessness and vandalism of Britain's biggest water company, Thames Water, is a catalogue of wrongdoing on an industrial scale.   Will Dunn speaks to the MP with the dubious honour of representing the constituency that is worst affected by sewage spills - Liberal Democrat MP, Charlie Maynard.

As the war in Iran enters its second month, President Trump has delivered a prime time address promising, simultaneously, that the conflict will be over "very shortly" and that the United States is preparing to hit Iran "extremely hard". Thousands more US troops have arrived in the region in recent days, including a marine expeditionary unit as the president is reportedly weighing options for a po...

Keir Starmer delivered one of his routine updates on the war in Iran in a press conference from Number 10 this morning - but this one was a little meatier than usual.   Will Lloyd is joined by Ailbhe Rea to discuss

Last week Yanis Varoufakis, the former Greek finance minister and darling of the European left, turned 65.   He celebrated his birthday on stage in London, gathering figures from across the left together. Zack Polanski was there, so was Jeremy Corbyn.   Varoufakis' mission? To explore what resistance means today across the left.   In this episode of The Exchange Oli Dugmore sits down with Varoufak...

Green Party support is surging after its by-election victory in Gorton and Denton last month.   But is Zack Polanski's party leaving its environmental principles behind?    Anoosh Chakelian is joined by Megan Kenyon to discuss.

As ministers and backbenchers criticise Shabana Mahmood's immigration plans, is Labour about to water them down? And what is behind the splits over the policy? Anoosh Chakelian and Ailbhe Rea go behind the scenes of Labour's battle over immigration reform.

Morgan McSweeney's stolen phone, Kemi Badenoch's council tax claims and the UAE defence attache, Group Captain Sandy Sandilands.    Will Dunn and Anoosh Chakelian round up their stories of the week.

Michael Pollan, a writer best known for his work on the effect of psychedelics, has taken a journey into the inner mind.   For much of modern history, we've understood the mind in comparison to our most advanced machines. Once it was clockwork, then looms, now computers. Each metaphor promises clarity - the ability to be mapped and modelled - but each, in its own way, falls short.   Drawing on phi...

What does the Instagram and YouTube verdict mean for the UK's proposed social media ban?   A California jury has found Meta and Google liable in a case that accused them of building intentionally addictive platforms.   Here in the UK, the government is consulting on whether to ban children from using social media. Australia and Spain have already implemented similar bans, and France has backed a b...

Ed Miliband, everyone would agree, is a central part of the Labour government. The ex-Labour leader is a hugely popular figure within the party.   Is his power and influence greater than we realise?   Anoosh Chakelian is joined by Will Lloyd to discuss.

Since leaving politics, Rory Stewart has become one of Britain's most prominent political commentators.   In this episode, the former diplomat and cabinet minister reflects on his upbringing, his unconventional path into politics, and what he learned from Westminster. He also discusses the Middle East, arguing that Western countries continue to misunderstand the region's history and dynamics.   Th...

Donald Trump is grappling with the consequences of staging a military intervention in Iran without a clear plan. Modern conflicts are often driven less by coherent national interest than by the instincts and ambitions of powerful leaders. From the Strait of Hormuz, to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, to the tension between China and Taiwan - miscalculation, overconfidence, and the enduring unpredicta...