New Statesman

The Green Party’s annual conference in Brighton begins as it inevitably must, with a two-hour LGBTQ+ networking brunch.

The novelist and former Conservative MP Jeffrey Archer, who died on 5 October, led a public life coloured by both great success as an author and successive scandals.

Jeremy Clarkson has emerged as the star attraction of Conservative Party conference after he made a surprise appearance in Birmingham. 

It’s the kind of video you couldn’t imagine just a few short years ago but that today seems to make perfect sense: Jacob Rees-Mogg calmly and patiently trying to convince a suspicious American that Hitler was actually bad.

At the Green Party conference, members backed a motion to describe Zionism as racism.

At the Green Party conference, members backed a motion to describe Zionism as racism.

The former leader of the Green Party, Adrian Ramsay, has said he is “deeply upset” that the Greens have adopted a motion describing Zionism as racism.

Who would voters choose in a two-horse race?

Green Party members backed a motion to describe Zionism as racism on Sunday (4 October), with 1022 votes for and 813 votes against.

At what age is a person no longer considered the responsibility of their parents?

At what age is a person no longer considered the responsibility of their parents?

“He’s sort of talking.

“He’s sort of talking.

In the final moments of a person’s life, you might hope to take one last look at the people closest to you – friends, family, lovers.

In the final moments of a person’s life, you might hope to take one last look at the people closest to you – friends, family, lovers.

Green Party members descended on Brighton on Friday (2 October) for the party’s annual conference.

Green Party members descended on Brighton on Friday (2 October) for the party’s annual conference.

Zack Polanski only spent a few hours at his second party conference as leader before hopping on the train back to London to campaign in Holborn and St Pancras.

Zack Polanski only spent a few hours at his second party conference as leader before hopping on the train back to London to campaign in Holborn and St Pancras.

This week, the author and academic Katherine Rundell was interviewed by our culture editor Tanjil Rashid on the New Statesman‘s weekly culture podcast The New Society.

This week, the author and academic Katherine Rundell was interviewed by our culture editor Tanjil Rashid on the New Statesman‘s weekly culture podcast The New Society.

The views from Southwark Bridge are something to behold: St Paul’s Cathedral, majestic city skyscrapers, the Tate Modern’s soaring chimney… and the sheep.

Television used to hold a mirror up to the nation.

Twelve hours into my first Labour conference, and I have the curious sensation of having gone back in time a few decades, to my first day of secondary school.

It’s the announcement that may just kill off the Labour Party as we know it – a national commission on electoral reform.

David Hastings, the retired corporate executive protagonist of Switzy, Emma Cline’s new, Booker Prize longlisted novel, always carries a small leather notebook in his jacket pocket.

In March 1978, the minority Labour government’s pact with David Steel’s Liberals, which was helping keep it in office, was strained.

As with everything that happened before 1980, we can blame God.

“This is the full butthole horse,” Patricia Lockwood says, pointing to a painting of a stallion’s flared behind.

With some surprise, I recently discovered that I have acquired something quite remarkable: status.

Republicans in Washington often speak with a wistful air about Donald Trump’s first term.

A black silk crepe dress, measuring a petite 78cm at the bust, 74cm at the waist and 82cm at the hip, with a pleated bodice, off-the-shoulder neckline and chiffon train.

It has been a slow news week in this column; all I have done is go back and forth from Brighton to East Finchley, with daily trips to the Whittington to check on my mother, and hourly visits to the kitchen cupboard to pour Sheba into the cat’s bowl.

How soothing it is to hear Barack Obama’s rousing yet dulcet tones again.

How soothing it is to hear Barack Obama’s rousing yet dulcet tones again.

One summer day in 1849, Edgar Allan Poe arrived on the Philadelphia doorstep of a friend and former colleague named John Sartain.

One summer day in 1849, Edgar Allan Poe arrived on the Philadelphia doorstep of a friend and former colleague named John Sartain.

There are 472 pubs in Britain called the Royal Oak, and each claims to have sheltered Charles II on his flight from the New Model Army.

There are 472 pubs in Britain called the Royal Oak, and each claims to have sheltered Charles II on his flight from the New Model Army.

Tom Cruise is 64.

There’s a bit in The Hobbit where Bilbo watches as his dwarf companions narrowly escape becoming dinner for three ugly trolls.

There’s a bit in The Hobbit where Bilbo watches as his dwarf companions narrowly escape becoming dinner for three ugly trolls.

Does Dominic West ever tire of being cast as charming, remorseless, Etonian shaggers?

Does Dominic West ever tire of being cast as charming, remorseless, Etonian shaggers?

It’s sentimentality, of course, to laud the people of one place or another – “there’s nobody like the Glaswegians” or “Geordies are special” or blah, blah, blah.

I write this on the train home from the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool, riddled with whatever bug it is that has ripped through the halls and fringe events like one of those cabin coughs that manage to bring down whole cruise liners.

A curator stages a scene.

It is a case of déjà vu.

It is a case of déjà vu.

At around 9pm on Tuesday 22 September, a WhatsApp message pinged into Green Party members’  inboxes.