Ed Miliband must trust his instincts and stand up for real change
If Ed Miliband is to seize the initiative in 2012, this has to be a year of surprises. He should jettison Labour orthodoxy, reach out to people and grasp the ideas that will reverse the national decline.
The coalition’s dance of danger
As Britain enters 2012, Labour MPs are caught between frustration and despair with Ed Miliband, while David Cameron — for the moment — “feels his sails filled with the wind of public opinion” since his Brussels veto. And the Lib Dems are holding tight.
All gloom on the growth front
There seems scant hope of an economic revival in the year ahead.
It was not the Daily Mail wot won the Stephen Lawrence case
The newspaper's triumphalism undermines the tireless efforts of those who fought to keep the case at the top of the political agenda for 18 years.
Sing of the new invasion
Ralph Fiennes’s upcoming film adaptation of Shakespeare’s Coriolanus shows its versatility – and proves it is a better play than Hamlet.
Web Only: the best of the blogs
The five must-read blogs from today, including Boris's questionable response to the Macpherson report.
Glasman said what many in Labour are thinking about Ed Miliband
Anxiety in the party about the leader's strategy of creeping up on the coalition is building into a crisis.
When Ed called Diane
The moment Miliband called Abbott while she was being interviewed live on Sky News.
Let's not pretend that Diane Abbott's comments were genuine racism
The MP was stupid to refer to "white people", but her tweet has been taken out of context.
In this week's New Statesman: Forget Obama
Top US lefties | Maurice Glasman on Miliband's leadership | Douglas Hurd on The Iron Lady
Clegg's hopes of a mansion tax fade
Lib Dem leader is doubtful that a mansion tax will ever be introduced.
Michele Bachmann suspends her campaign
The candidate described by Rolling Stone as "late-stage Kim Jong-Il crazy" withdraws after poor result in Iowa.
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Stephen Lawrence's killers found guilty
Gary Dobson and David Norris, two of the original suspects in the racist murder, finally found guilty after 18 years.
Full transcript | Nick Clegg | Speech on the "open society" | Westminster, London | 19 December 2011
"Liberals pay people the compliment that they know what is good for them, without ideological instruction."
Full transcript | David Cameron | Speech on troubled families | Sandwell Christian Centre, Oldbury | 15 December 2011
"We will not fix these problems without a revolution in responsibility... personal, parental, social and civic"
Full transcript | George Osborne | Autumn Forecast Statement | House of Commons, London | 29 November 2011
"If the rest of Europe heads into recession, it may prove hard to avoid one here in the UK."
Welfare reform? You can’t force people into jobs that don’t exist
There is only so long the Tories can blame the length of the dole queue on the people standing in it.
Ed Miliband must trust his instincts and stand up for real change
If Ed Miliband is to seize the initiative in 2012, this has to be a year of surprises.
Cameron meets the Godfather
The PM was was frightened into European isolation by Paul Dacre.
Leader: Labour must be much more imaginative about welfare
A commitment to universalism need not imply unconditional support for all universal benefits.
Green Philosophy: How to Think Seriously About the Planet
The limits of Roger Scruton’s love of the land.
Out of the Ashes: Britain After the Riots
Who speaks for England?
Books interview: Noo Saro-Wiwa
Paper Promises: Money, Debt and the New World Order
The paper money system is a matter of faith.
A necessary fudge?
Assisted suicide should be illegal but tacitly permitted -- not legal under certain rigorously-enforced conditions.
In the Critics this week
Douglas Hurd on Margaret Thatcher, Mark Greif on Thomas Frank and Roger Scruton interviewed.
10 things you didn't know about Rick Santorum...
...but might like to know in the wake of his Iowa surge.
Your Democracy
Everything you want to know about your MP, the Lords and the UK’s main political parties. Plus, browse debates from 1803 to the present day.
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Osborne called it wrong on private sector employment
New figures show that the private sector isn't making up for public sector job losses.
Who are Standard and Poor's and why should we care?
The credit ratings agency has warned it could downgrade all 15 eurozone countries. Why does this matter?
The destruction of animal spirits
Osborne's plan to galvanise the economy through austerity has failed.
So who pays?
When forced to find new resources, the coalition's instinct is to take them from low-to-middle income families.
Osborne to borrow more than Labour was projected to
Chancellor forecast to borrow £19bn more than the Brown government was expected to.
The last picture show
The likes of Fassbinder, Godard, Pasolini, Tarkovsky, Wajda and Visconti were once seen as essential to our culture — it wasn’t unusual to be passionate about rep cinema. David Flusfeder, a projectionist in the 1980s heyday of art-house film, recalls the highs and lows of a distant time.
“If music can be art, why can’t food?”
Nathan Myhrvold was Stephen Hawking's researcher and Bill Gates's right-hand man at Microsoft. Now, he's written a £395 cookbook
Black Mirror (Channel 4)
Rachel Cooke has a nauseous reaction to a joke-free satire.
Forget Obama
All you need to know
Fisting on trial
The NS years
On Rick Santorum
2012 highlights
Back to Beveridge?
An Indian spring?
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Can the UK achieve it’s commitment to carbon reduction targets by 2020?
