A recurring criticism of Rachel Cusk’s fiction is of its relentless misery, and the gilded circumstances said misery is attached to. Even her most passionate readers will sometimes point out this quality, perhaps in order to avoid having it pointed out to them: they know it might be deemed obscene to dedicate such space and attention to the unhappiness of wealthy, successful, intellectual artists and academics. The critic Johanna Thomas-Corr, in a cutting Times review of Cusk’s latest novel, Parade, highlighted this as one of the book’s major failings, writing: “I have admired, sometimes ..read more

In 1976 J Doyne Farmer walked into a casino in Las Vegas and committed a robbery of sorts. Nobody noticed him doing it: to anyone else it would have seemed as though the lanky 24-year-old was simply playing a little roulette. Casinos watch carefully for cheating at card tables, but the spinning roulette wheel is effectively a random number generator for which the only strategy was to take a lucky guess. Farmer had found a way to beat the odds. As the wheel span and the ball clattered, he began pressing switches hidden in his shoes, following a pattern he had spent hours practising at home. A c ..read more

As the final whistle blew on a sunny afternoon in Doncaster, signalling the end of the Rugby League Challenge Cup semi-final, my initial euphoria as Wigan Warriors’ chief executive swiftly turned into a realisation of the monumental task ahead. The responsibility of mobilising more than 10,000 Wiganers to our capital city for the cup final on 8 June fell squarely on my shoulders. Tickets, trains, dress codes, hotels, merchandise, guest invitations – the list seemed endless. Not to mention ensuring my wife had a new dress for the occasion. With just two weeks to orchestrate this, the workload w ..read more

The telling thing was the sip of the drink. “Compared to what you’ve done for pensioners,” Newsnight’s Victoria Derbyshire told Mark Harper on 28 May, “look at what you’ve done for young people.” As she launched into a list of ways in which the Tory government has made life harder for the young, the visibly uncomfortable Transport Secretary squirmed in his seat before taking a big sip from a coffee mug. He knew he had a while before he’d need to answer the question. He knew he’d be listening for some time yet. The government’s war on the young has played an increasingly prominent role in Briti ..read more

There is an argument that breaks out from time to time between the critics of global capitalism (often represented by left-leaning NGOs) and economists. It starts with the former comparing the size of multinational corporations to that of national economies. So, for example, Microsoft’s market capitalisation is now larger than the GDP of France. At this point an economist is guaranteed to show up to rubbish such comparisons on the basis that they compare a corporation’s “stock” (market capitalisation) with a country’s “flow” (output over the course of a year). The former represents a quoted as ..read more

Could the Conservatives become the third party? Is Ed Davey being too frivolous? Has Rishi Sunak made a huge mistake? And why do we still talk about older people like they’re the Second World War generation? Rachel Cunliffe, associate political editor, and Freddie Hayward, political correspondent, answer listener questions and give their campaign highlights thus far. Sign up to the New Statesman’s daily politics newsletter: Morning Call Submit a question for a future episode: You Ask Us Subscribers to the New Statesman can listen ad-free in our app. Download it on iOS  ..read more

John Burnside, the acclaimed Scottish poet, novelist and memoirist, has died aged 69. In 2011, the year that he won both the TS Eliot Prize and the Forward Poetry Prize for his collection Black Cat Bone, he began writing a regular nature column for the New Statesman – alongside poems, reviews and occasional essays. Whether describing the plight of the Sámi people in Norway or reflecting on his encounters with wildlife in his native Fife, John’s writing was lyrical, finely observed, deeply compassionate and often stridently political in his arguments for the value of the natural world. Her ..read more

One week down, five to go. The Diane Abbott row continues to be a tricky thorn in Keir Starmer’s side, and in the past 24 hours there have been more reports that candidates and MPs have been barred from standing. Is this a purge on the left of the party? Hannah Barnes, associate editor, and Rachel Cunliffe, associate political editor, also discuss the launch of the Green Party’s campaign, who are hoping to win four seats, and today’s announcements on VAT and the economy. Submit a question for our weekly listener questions episode, “You Ask Us” Subscribers to the New Statesman ca ..read more

Why is he always grinning? There is something manic and unsettling about the relentless good cheer with which Ed Davey is waging his election campaign. This week, the leader of the Liberal Democrats has embarked on a series of increasingly perilous stunts. On Tuesday he went paddle-boarding on Lake Windermere, during which he fell off said paddle board five times in 15 minutes. Images of Davey bobbing about in the water with his life jacket riding over his chin was a low point in the lofty history of British liberalism. On Wednesday he cycled down a steep road in the Welsh town of Knighton, gi ..read more

First announced by then chancellor George Osborne in 2015, the Apprenticeship Levy requires bigger businesses (those with an annual pay bill of £3m or more) to set aside 0.5 per cent of their payroll for apprenticeships. It was officially rolled out in 2017 by then education secretary Justine Greening, and since 2018 has seen 28,003 apprenticeship places transferred from larger to smaller businesses via levy transfers. Since its inception, however, the levy has been widely criticised by businesses, employers, and training providers. Critics have called for the levy to be reformed in light of i ..read more