71-73 Carter Lane London EC4V 5EQ Tel 020 7936 6400

Contents Free thinking since 1913

Editor-in-chief Jason Cowley Deputy Editor Helen Lewis Head of Books & Features Tom Gatti Political Editor George Eaton Digital Editor Jasper Jackson Creative Editor Gerry Brakus Arts Editor Kate Mossman Reviews Editor Michael Prodger Deputy Culture Editor Anna Leszkiewicz Special Correspondent Stephen Bush Political Correspondent Patrick Maguire Contributing Editors Mehdi Hasan Laurie Penny Jemima Goldsmith Head of Production Peter Williams Deputy Head of Production Lizzie Palmer Commercial Designer Leon Parks Editorial Assistant India Bourke

Newstatesman.com Julia Rampen Anoosh Chakelian Pauline Bock Indra Warnes

New Statesman America Nicky Woolf Sophie McBain

4 | NEW STATESMAN | 11-17 MAY 2018

Head of Podcasts Caroline Crampton

CityMetric Editor Jonn Elledge

Contributing Writers John Bew Martin Fletcher John Gray Shiraz Maher Paul Mason Xan Rice Leo Robson Brendan Simms Ed Smith Amelia Tait Erica Wagner Rowan Williams

Special Projects Editor Will Dunn

Box clever: Helen Lewis interviews Russell T Davies 30 Show of force: the threat of war between Iran and Israel 22

Up Front

3 Leader 10 Correspondence

Columns

7 Peter Wilby on free schools, Trump and the porn star, and knife crime in the shires 9 George Eaton on why the Tories are wrong to assume we’ve hit peak Corbyn 20 Henry Marsh writes this week’s Diary 21 Dolly Alderton on why we love vulnerability in men but can’t stomach it in women 27 Paul Mason on how the left should respond to tension between Iran, Israel and Saudi Arabia 38 Simon Kuper on why England manager Gareth Southgate is the perfect loser

Observations

12 In the Picture 13 Crumbling Britain: Anoosh Chakelian The fight to save public libraries in Northamptonshire 14 Commons Confidential: Kevin Maguire The pick of the best gossip from Westminster 16 Ideas: George Eaton How John McDonnell is leading the revival of British Marxism 17 Trends: Sophie McBain The struggle over the police’s use of private DNA 19 Newsmaker: Patrick Maguire How Speaker John Bercow is defying allegations of bullying

Articles

22 John Jenkins on the coming “war between wars” in the Middle East 26 Michael Axworthy on Donald Trump and the Iran nuclear deal 30 Helen Lewis meets the television writer Russell T Davies

The Critics: Books

40 John Gray on David Runciman’s new book, How Democracy Ends 43 Melanie McDonagh on the life of Astrid Lindgren, creator of Pippi Longstocking 44 John Harris examines the experimental German band Can – and their legacy 45 David Wootton reviews Michael Brooks’s mixture of quantum physics and the historical novel 46 Brendan Simms considers the underrated career of the pragmatic Lord Liverpool 47 Tim Martin on Nathaniel Rich’s jazz age detective story King Zeno 48 Yo Zushi takes issue with a scholarly guide to the graphic novel 49 Alice O’Keeffe on Aminatta Forna’s latest novel, Happiness 50 David Bellos recalls the once-celebrated French novelist and war hero Romain Gary

Commercial Director Peter Coombs 020 3096 2267

The paper in this magazine originates from timber that is sourced from sustainable forests, responsibly managed to strict environmental, social and economic standards. The manufacturing mills have both FSC and PEFC certification and also ISO9001 and ISO14001 accreditation.