The New Statesman | UK politics and culture

In today's Spring Statement Labour are having to make cuts - and welfare has been hit hard. Last week the health secretary Wes Streeting said that too many people were being written off work due to overdiagnosis. A statement which received considerable backlash.But what do we really mean by overdiagnosis? And how is it affecting public health?Hannah Barnes is joined by neurologist and author Suzanne O’Sullivan about her increasing fears of overdiagnosis and the impact it can have on both physical and mental health; what she thinks about those comments from Wes Streeting (and the reaction to them); and the relationship between public policy and health.This conversation was recorded in partnership with the Cambridge Literary Festival.If you’d like to register for tickets for the upcoming festival from 23-27 April please follow the link: cambridgeliteraryfestival.com

Kazuo Ishiguro's most popular novel is as relevant today as when it was published 20 years ago.--When it was published in 2005, Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel Never Let Me Go was acclaimed by critics and shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Twenty years on – having been adapted for stage and screen and adopted as a set text for schools – it is Ishiguro’s most read work, and is considered a modern classic.Why does this profoundly settling book continue to absorb us? And what does it tell us about the role novels play in helping us grapple with the ethical dilemmas created by advances in science and technology?The critic David Sexton has been re-reading Never Let Me Go and joins Tom Gatti on the Culture from the New Statesman to discuss the impact of Ishiguro's most popular work.RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODE: Winner of the 2025 Booker Prize, Samantha Harvey, on her novel Orbital - and how "political choices are sculpting the surface of the earth"https://www.newstatesman.com/podcasts/culture-podcast/2024/11/booker-prize-winner-samantha-harvey-political-choices-are-sculpting-the-surface-of-the-earthREADDavid's essay: Kazuo Ishiguro's everyday dystopiahttps://www.newstatesman.com/culture/books/book-of-the-day/2025/03/kazuo-ishiguro-never-let-me-go-everyday-dystopiaGO AD-FREESubscribers can listen to all episodes ad-free in the New Statesman app: iOS: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/new-statesman-magazine/id610498525Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.progressivemediagroup.newstatesman&hl=en_GB&gl=US&pli=1SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTERGet the best of our reporting direct to your inbox every weekend with The Saturday Read.Sign up at saturdayread.substack.comBECOME A SUBSCRIBERFull access from £8.99 per month: https://secure.newstatesman.com/offer

Are Labour on track for their target of 1.5million homes? What is NHS England? Why can't the Green's electrify the left in the same way that Reform has done for the right? What will the consequences be of cutting international aid?Hannah Barnes answers listener questions with the New Statesman's political editor, Andrew Marr, and associate political editor, Rachel Cunliffe.Read: Labour’s housing slumpSign up to the New Statesman's daily politics newsletter: Morning Call Submit a question for a future episode: You Ask Us

The prospect of peace in Ukraine, Liz Kendall's welfare cut announcements, and while Kemi Badenoch flails as Conservative leader ... who's waiting around the corner for her job?Hannah Barnes is joined by Andrew Marr and Rachel Cunliffe to discuss this week in Westminster and beyond.Read: A Labour welfare revolt is still brewing, Diane Abbott rails against Keir Starmer, What went wrong for Kemi Badenoch?, Who could succeed Kemi Badenoch?Sign up to the New Statesman's daily politics newsletter: Morning Call Submit a question for a future episode: You Ask Us

Since Nato’s inception in 1949, the US has always formed a central part of the alliance and been the biggest contributor to its defensive strength.However, since his second term began, President Donald Trump has shifted the US’s allegiances towards Vladimir Putin’s Russia and away from Nato. Simultaneously, the US President has repeatedly criticised Europe’s defence spending and the continent’s reliance on the US.This radical shift from the Nato status quo has brought the alliance’s future into question.Katie Stallard is joined by David Reynolds and Max Bergmann.

A fateful meeting at a village fête "tilted" the 20th Century "on its axis"So argues Ian Leslie in his new book, John and Paul: A Love Story in Songs.In the book, Leslie argues that The Beatles didn't just dominate pop culture - they redefined how we see ourselves.He reframes the relationship between John Lennon and Paul McCartney as a kind of love story, which shaped the second half of the 20th Century and continues to influence us today.Leslie joins Kate Mossman on Culture from the New Statesman to discuss the book, The Beatles and their legacy.John & Paul: A Love Story in Songs is available from March 27 in book shops and online. Pre-order it here*The author Deborah Levy has reviewed the book for New Statesman. Her review is available to read online now, and will appear in the March 20 issue of the New Statesman magazine.Get full access to all the New Statesman's cultural reviews - as well as our leading politics and global affairs reporting - by becoming a subscriber from just £8.99 per month. Visit www.newstatesman.com/offer.Get the best of the New Statesman direct to your inbox every weekend for FREE by signing up to our newsletter, The Saturday Read. Visit saturdayread.substack.com.*Purchasing a book may earn the New Statesman a commission from Bookshop.org, who support independent bookshops.

Given the Rupert Lowe drama, what does the future looks like for Reform and Farage?Hannah Barnes is joined by Andrew Marr and George Eaton to answer listener questions about trouble in Reform land and where to watch in the upcoming local elections.Read: Inside the Reform civil war, Will the Farage-Lowe saga hurt Reform at the polls?, A Reform Labour showdown looms in the Runcorn by-electionSign up to the New Statesman's daily politics newsletter: Morning Call Submit a question for a future episode: You Ask Us

This morning the PM announced that the state is overstretched and unfocused. The solution? NHS England has been scrapped, quangos are to be slashed, and the civil service shrunk. Do we finally have a vision of Starmerism?Hannah Barnes is joined by the New Statesman's political editor Andrew Marr, and later in the episode by business editor Will Dunn to discuss Britain's work and benefits problem.Read: Why Britain isn’t workingListen: Why Britain isn't working - with Alison McGovern, Minister of State for EmploymentSign up to the New Statesman's daily politics newsletter: Morning Call Submit a question for a future episode: You Ask Us

In recent weeks President Trump’s foreign policy pronouncements have been loud and abrasive. American allies watched in barely concealed dismay as the US president shouted at Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval office. Since then Trump has halted military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine and embarked on trade wars with Canada, Mexico, China - and perhaps next, the EU.In this episode Katie Stallard reports on America First - the Trumpian turn in US foreign policy and the end of the world as we knew it.