Podcast Episodes

The trappings of Western hyper-liberalism | Conversation

Can liberalism survive the horrors of our modern world?

Will Lloyd is joined by John Gray political philosopher and author of The New Leviathans: Thou…

2 years, 4 months ago

Summer of Light: a new short story by Jonathan Coe | Audio Long Read

In the summer of 1924, a highly regarded painter falls – or is he pushed? – into the canal while celebrating his exhibition at the Venice Biennale. T…

2 years, 4 months ago

You Ask Us: if you're a centrist politician, how do you choose one party over another?

Rory Stewart, Tony Blair, Alastair Campbell: a listener writes in to ask why centrist politicians align themselves with one party over another?

But be…

2 years, 4 months ago

Ben Wallace and Nadine Dorries, the long goodbye

“History will not remember you kindly” Nadine Dorries’ wrote this weekend in her resignation letter to Rishi Sunak. But this is not the only departur…

2 years, 4 months ago

Escaping Eden: life after the Plymouth Brethren | Audio Long Reads

For those who leave the ultra-conservative Christian sect, separation comes at great personal cost.

The New Statesman’s assistant editor Pippa Bailey…

2 years, 4 months ago

You Ask Us: will Labour stop the culture wars, and does the government control what journalists report?

The Conservatives seem intent on fighting the next election on "culture wars" issues. A listener asks, would a Labour government put an end to all th…

2 years, 4 months ago

Have Conservatives forgotten education?

GCSE and A Level results are out, and the proportion of top grades have dipped since the pandemic years. It's an opportunity for the government and t…

2 years, 4 months ago

Russia’s war on the future | Conversation

After spending several days reporting in Pokrovsk, a small city in eastern Ukraine and the recent target of two missile strikes, Katie Stallard descr…

2 years, 4 months ago

In defence of counterfactual history | Audio Long Read

What if the rush to war in 1914 had been averted? What if the Berlin Crisis of 1961 had led to nuclear war? What if the liberal revolution of 1848 ha…

2 years, 4 months ago

You Ask Us: Should it be easier to recall MPs, and how do Rishi Sunak and John Major compare?

Various MPs, including Nadine Dorries, have been accused of not doing their jobs. Should there be a standard of work all MPs must meet? Anoosh and Fr…

2 years, 4 months ago