US 2020 election update: Both a Trump win and Biden landslide are within the margin of error On the eve of the first presidential debate, nine states are within a three-point margin of error for the leading candidate. With less than six weeks to go until the US presidential election, the New Statesman is launching a weekly series of data-based insights, rounding up what you need to know about the race for the White […]

When Chinese influence fails How the rise and fall of a Chinese corporate giant turned the Czech Republic against Beijing. In 2015, Chinese president Xi Jinping invited his Czech counterpart, the ostentatiously pro-China Milos Zeman, to a military parade in Beijing commemorating the end of the Second World War. Both leaders watched as thousands of troops from the elite units of […]

Boris Johnson is looking for political gain in a crisis he helped to create The prime minister's hollow promises of “skilling up” are aimed at the very people whose jobs are imperilled by the government's choices. At the end of October, the Job Retention Scheme gives way to the much-reduced Job Support Scheme, which only protects “viable jobs”. While other countries such as France, Germany and Ireland are extending […]

From the NS archive: Portrait of a provincial intellectual 5 October 1957: People suspect you of taking the Guardian or the Times for effect, but they know that you take the Telegraph because you like it, and if you like it you're obviously a superior person. This 1957 satirical piece by the novelist John Braine can be read either as a short story or an imagined profile. Braine (1922-1986) is […]

Why Boris Johnson's offer of free college is not as generous as it looks This government makes a habit of announcing money it's already spent on policies it was already planning. Boris Johnson will deliver a major speech this morning, announcing a series of new policies designed to revamp the skills and retraining opportunities available to adults, in preparation for the huge economic changes expected in the wake of coronavirus. […]

How Donald Kendall, as PepsiCo’s boss, sparked the cola wars The legacy of the legendary salesman lives on

Why the TikTok deal is like Schrödinger’s cat To understand the video-app saga, think of quantum mechanics