We’re launching our new culture and society podcast here at the New Statesman: The New Society.

Tanjil Rashid, the New Statesman's culture editor, discusses his interview with Salman Rushdie, Rushdie's latest work as a reflection of his life, and also what listeners can expect to hear on future episodes of this new podcast.

You can find the full interview via the links below.

Follow The New Society on Spotify

Follow The New Society on Apple Podcasts

Watch The New Society on YouTube

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Labour is splitting.

Earlier this week we reported that the government is now THIRD in the opinion polls behind Reform and the Tories.

Now, as they barrel inexorably towards testing local elections in May, rifts are emerging within the Labour party. 

This week, Preet Kaur Gill – a personal private secretary to Home Secretary Shabhana Mahmood – announced in the Telegraph, of all places, that she (Preet Kaur Gill) is “Blue Labour”.

The intervention sparked fierce debate among MPs, with divisions down ideological lines.

Can the party hold it together?

Oli Dugmore is joined by Ethan Croft, who has been speaking to Labour MPs this week, and Megan Kenyon.

LISTEN NEXT: It's official – Labour are in third place

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Keir Starmer is planning on developing a “closer relationship” with the single market.

The PM wants to realign with the EU in three key areas to help the free flow of trade: food and farm exports, electricity and emissions trading.

But what will this mean for Britain, and how is it going down in Westminster?

Anoosh Chakelian is joined by associate political editor, Rachel Cunliffe.

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Christmas polling has revealed that the Tories have edged past Labour into second place in the polls.

Nigel Farage’s Reform UK are still sitting pretty in the top spot, with Zack Polanski’s insurgent Greens chasing Labour’s tail.

With elections in May incoming, this is the last thing Labour need.

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In 2019, according to a deposition, Russia signalled that they could ease off their support for Venezuela if Washington were to ease its own position in Ukraine. 

The testimony was delivered by Fiona Hill, a former senior director on the US’s national security council during the first Trump administration.

Fiona Hill joins Megan Gibson to discuss that Russian proposal, as well as the US’s strike on Venezuela – and what this means for the global order.

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Emily Thornberry MP joins us to discuss the US's actions in Venezuela, the legality, and the international response.

In the second half of the podcast, the Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee reflects on Starmer's moves to a closer relationship with the EU.

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It’s New Year’s celebrations, part 2!

Anoosh Chakelian is joined by Ben Walker to discuss the political climate of 2026. 

From the 10 year anniversary of Brexit and the UK’s relationship with the US, to our ageing population and SEND Reforms, here’s what to expect from next year. 

If you missed part one of our “Look ahead”, where we discussed the May elections and what’s in store for our political parties, you can find that in the previous episode on your feed.

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Happy New Year from the New Statesman podcast!

What will 2026 have in store? Will Labour flop in the May elections? Will the Greens make gains? And will Reform overtake the ailing Conservatives?

Anoosh Chakelian is joined by Ben Walker to make their political predictions.

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As 2025 draws to a close Anoosh Chakelian joined by the New Statesman's associate political editor Rachel Cunliffe, and editor in chief Tom McTague to discuss the biggest domestic and international stories of the year.

Daily Politics will return on 1 January 2026.

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How did Trump's tariffs affect the price of Labubus? Which bear was voiced by Volodymyr Zelensky? And what, crucially, did Katy Perry describe California girls as?

Join the New Statesman team for our quiz of the year!

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Months before 9/11, a passenger seized control of a Boeing 747 and nearly crashed it into the Sahara.

Everyone survived - including a curious ensemble of famous passengers - but no one quite recovered.

Kate Mossman tells the story of Flight 2069 to Oli Dugmore.

READ: The strange fate of Flight 2069

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Is the New Statesman too soft on Wes Streeting? Are the Lib Dems an unserious party?

Plus our journalists make their predictions for what will happen in 2026, and listen back to their guesses from last year…

Oli Dugmore is joined by Anoosh Chakelian and Rachel Cunliffe.

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After being pushed back not once, not twice, but three times, the government's long-awaited strategy to halve violence against women and girls has been revealed.

Measures include training teachers to spot signs of misogyny in the classroom and police forces introducing specialist rape and sexual offence investigation teams.

But do they go far enough?

Rachel Cunliffe joins Luke O'Reilly.

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Jimmy Lai, Hong Kong’s most famous media tycoon and a British citizen, could be sentenced to life in prison.

What does his case say about the political climate in Hong Kong, and how might it affect relations between the East and West?

Oli Dugmore is joined by Katie Stallard.

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Speculation surrounding a leadership challenge to Keir Starmer is rife.

Andy Burnham, Manchester Mayor, is in the mix as a challenger. But can he find the necessary seat in parliament, and what hurdles does he face?

Anoosh Chakelian is joined by Ethan Croft and George Eaton to discuss.

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The "evil" mass shooting at Bondi Beach was the latest in a rising number of antisemitic attacks.

16 people died in the attack in Sydney, Australia. They were Jews who had gathered to celebrate the first night of Chanukah. Among them, a holocaust survivor and a ten-year old girl.

Antisemitic attacks are on the rise. In this year to September, Australia recorded 1654 anti-semitic incidents. That's three times higher than any year before the war in Gaza.

Here in the UK, Jews faced over 1,500 attacks in the first half of 2025, according to data from the Community Security Trust. That’s the second-highest total in the first half of any year on record, and includes the terrorist attack on a synagogue in Manchester in which two people died. In July, a report authored by Lord John Mann & Penny Mordaunt found “widespread failures to address anti-jewish discrimination in NHS, education, arts and policing”. 

Oli Dugmore is joined by Rachel Cunliffe and Hannah Barnes to ask: are Jews safe?

READ: The Bondi Beach shooting was an attack on Jews.

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Journalist Peter Oborne claims both Labour and Conservatives have fallen short on their response to Israel's war in Gaza.

--

Peter Oborne is a journalist, author and commentator. He was the political editor of The Spectator, a commentator for the Daily Telegraph and now writes for Middle East Eye.

A long-time conservative, Oborne joins Oli Dugmore to explain why he believes the Conservative Party have abandoned their principles, and to discuss the role that successive British governments have played - or failed to play - in dealing with genocides around the world.

Peter Oborne's book "Complicit: Britain's role in the destruction of Gaza" is out now.

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In this week’s episode of You Ask Us, one listener wonders, is the media infatuated with Zack Polanski?

And another challenges our journalists to listen to the Liz Truss podcast.

You ask, we deliver. 

Anoosh Chakelian is joined by Rachel Cunliffe.

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Wes Streeting denied plotting to oust Keir Starmer.

Ailbhe Rea met the Health Secretary to learn what he's really thinking.

***

Ailbhe writes:

Labour is in danger of presenting itself as the “maintenance department for the country”, he says. “The problem with that kind of practical, technocratic approach is that if someone else comes along and says, ‘Well, I’ve got a maintenance company too, and mine’s cheaper,’ why wouldn’t people go, ‘OK, well, we’ll give that maintenance team a try’?” He doesn’t name Starmer, but the critique of the Prime Minister’s “practical, technocratic” leadership is clear.

Streeting has denied plotting against the Labour leader. But when we speak, he strikes me as someone planning for what may lie ahead. I meet a cabinet minister ranging beyond his brief, thinking seriously about what his party needs to do to win the next election – and beginning to outline an alternative to that “maintenance department” approach.

***

Ailbhe Rea joins Anoosh Chakelian on Daily Politics from the New Statesman to discuss her interview with Wes Streeting, including the behind-the-scenes parts she couldn't reveal in her article.

📚 READ

Wes Streeting: "I'm pretty frustrated, to be honest"

https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-politics/2025/12/wes-streeting-im-pretty-frustrated

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If you are raped in London today, you could be waiting until 2030 for a trial. 

Justice secretary David Lammy has stated that 60 per cent of rape victims drop their cases whilst waiting for the trial. Rape Crisis estimates 1 in 6 women go to the police.

Oli Dugmore is joined by Labour MP Natalie Fleet, who has written for the New Statesman on the fight for justice for victims of rape.

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