Hannah Barnes: We need a culture change in maternity services There is something bigger going on than just staff shortages, low morale or lack of funding. @hannahsbee.bsky.social

The Health Secretary has vowed to overhaul the NHS’s most scandalous service. 🖊️ @hannahsbee.bsky.social: Wes Streeting’s maternity revolution

The cover: Why George Osborne still runs Britain By @willdunn.bsky.social ydunn Also inside: 🔴 Kate Mossman meets Gordon Brown 🔴 @hannahsbee.bsky.social on birth trauma 🔴 @georgeeaton.bsky.social: How Labour learned to love immigration control 🔴 Tom Cruise's ego trip 🔴 The end of privacy

Hannah Barnes: The assisted dying impact assessment resolves nothing The government’s review promises to address concerns about the bill – but only raises new ones. 🖊️ @hannahsbee.bsky.social

"Giving birth in England is not safe. Half of all maternity units are rated either inadequate or requiring improvement." 🖊️ @hannahsbee.bsky.social: The birth trauma taboo

Essential reading from @hannahsbee.bsky.social www.newstatesman.com/comment/2025...

NEW: Labour MP Naz Shah tells me: “The assisted dying bill is not fit for purpose”. Having been through the legislation line-by-line, Shah says it contains many ‘loopholes’, harms women, fails to provide a safety net & is weaker now than at Second Reading www.newstatesman.com/politics/soc...

So the Telegraph has a feature on the Exclusive Brethren which seems to borrow rather a lot from this (outstanding, in my view) New Statesman cover story by my amazing colleague Pippa Bailey. If you fancy reading the original (and much better) source material... www.newstatesman.com/long-reads/2...

Me and the ever perspicacious Andrew Marr and @hannahsbee.bsky.social on the @newstatesman.com Politics podcast, discussing the resignation of NHS England CEO Amanda Pritchard, and what it tells us about the way out of the NHS crisis. From 16.00mins open.spotify.com/episode/5hma...

Our overdiagnosis epidemic “The line between mental disorder and normal diversity has become increasingly blurred.” 🖊️ @hannahsbee.bsky.social

Lovely piece by @hannahsbee.bsky.social on the value of female friends - that’s you @katrinamurraymp.bsky.social @anicerioja.bsky.social ❤️

An ode to female friendships, by @hannahsbee.bsky.social

“Any remaining doubts of the barbarity that underpins Hamas were dispelled by the events of 20 February.” Me on the horror of Hamas’s parade of hostage coffins for @newstatesman.com www.newstatesman.com/comment/2025...

The Do No Harm dilemma What happens when a drug that can save lives could also ruin them? By @hannahsbee.bsky.social

This week's cover: The new Gods of AI China, the US and the battle to control the future. 🖊️ @brunomacaes.bsky.social Inside: 🪖 Andrew Marr on defenceless Britain 🩺 @hannahsbee.bsky.social on healthcare’s risk problem 🍿 Tanya Gold on Bridget Jones’s empty feminism

Honoured to be among the great and good of political podcasting. Thanks so much!

"Each of the four main factions—Turkish-backed Sunni rebels in the north-west, Kurds in the north and east, Jordanian-backed rebels in the south, and the remaining loyalists from Mr Assad’s Alawite sect in the west—has its own army." www.economist.com/middle-east-...

The revenge of the middle-class, middle-aged women The response to Gregg Wallace’s comments marks a turning point. @hannahsbee.bsky.social on Gregg Wallace www.newstatesman.com/comment/2024...

Making sense of the missions with @hannahsbee.bsky.social and me on the @newstatesman.com podcast: former Blair advisor Peter Hyman, who helped Keir Starmer come up with them and had some fascinating things to say about how Whitehall is(n’t) working www.newstatesman.com/podcasts/pol...

Haven't seen very much discussion here on last week's Supreme Court case brought by For Women Scotland but @hannahsbee.bsky.social gives a useful commentary in @newstatesman.com on the core arguments from the applicants and the Scottish Govt: www.newstatesman.com/comment/2024...

Kingmakers of the album charts How Banquet became the UK's most influential record store. By @hannahsbee.bsky.social www.newstatesman.com/culture/musi...

Jason Cowley gave me my first role in print journalism in January. He’s afforded me enormous freedom and unstinting support, for which I’m forever grateful. Sixteen years ain’t a bad innings! pressgazette.co.uk/the-wire/med...

This week's cover: Combat Zone How the Trump-Putin relationship will decide the Ukraine war Also, David Lammy: Why Putin must fail for the international order to survive

My latest: Assisted dying advocates have much to learn from the legalisation of abortion www.newstatesman.com/comment/2024...

Results out of the Guardian & Observer NUJ’s postal ballot on strike action on the proposed sale of the Observer to Tortoise & its impact on staff. 75% turnout, 92.8% in favour of strike action.

Why Gisèle Pelicot is a hero The horror of the mass rape trial in France has shaken the world. By Hannah Barnes www.newstatesman.com/comment/2024...

American public life is an extension of the nation’s most sordid sport. In light of Linda McMahon's appointment by Trump as education secretary: www.newstatesman.com/the-weekend-...

Gisele Pelicot tells a French court, "It felt like a death sentence." She thought she was ill; when she was actually being drugged by her ex-husband. "There'll forever be 51 people who have defiled me and I will have to live with this for the rest of my life". www.newstatesman.com/comment/2024...

‘Why is it unfair that some farmers - some farmers - will have to pay half the inheritance tax of everyone else?’ ‘We’re making 0.5% return on producing this country’s food’ NFU President Tom Bradshaw on #Newsnight

This week’s Supermoon (the last of 2024) rising at Glastonbury Tor. Taken from a mile away on an 800mm lens to get this perspective. #photography

Do you ever get the feeling the world’s gone crazy? With this in mind, I play the Flintstones theme in the style of the Russian classics.

Had the pleasure of having dinner with Marcus du Sautoy at the Budleigh Salterton literary festival earlier in the year. Brilliant man, and great company. Maths is everywhere, as Rachel discovers!

After Trump’s win, expect a shift in Labour’s priorities There are giant undulations from the US already rippling through British politics. By Andrew Marr www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

This week's cover: Trump World How the new president will shape this age of conflict Would America fight for Taiwan? Will Putin win Ukraine? What now for Britain and Europe? Is war with Iran inevitable?

Did WrestleMania win Sadiq Khan his third London mayoral election? Things I learnt from the London Mayor on the High Performance podcast www.newstatesman.com/culture/2024...

You couldn’t make it up: The Onion buys Alex Jones's Infowars at auction www.bbc.com/news/article...

First King Charles note I’ve seen

Breaking News: Elon Musk, a top adviser to President-elect Donald Trump, met with Iran’s UN ambassador to discuss defusing Iranian-U.S. tensions during the next Trump term, two Iranian officials said.

Today’s @newstatesman.com podcast - with Andrew Marr and @georgeeaton.bsky.social: Return of the Blairites podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...

It’s impossible to overstate how much I admire and respect this woman. Her bravery is beyond words. Why Gisèle Pelicot is a hero - me for the @newstatesman.com www.newstatesman.com/comment/2024...

Questions remain over NHS youth gender care, despite Cass Review. A (now changed) job advert for a new service providing care for children and young people who started on puberty blockers or hormones at GIDS prompts a number of questions. My latest. www.newstatesman.com/politics/hea...

Caution should prevail on the Assisted Dying Bill It is far easier to give the right to an assisted death than to take it away. By Hannah Barnes www.newstatesman.com/comment/2024...

Liam Payne was a victim of the pop pin-up machine The dream that One Direction represented now seems an obvious nightmare. By Anna Leszkiewicz www.newstatesman.com/culture/musi...

Sinwar’s death won’t save Gaza Vengeance for 7 October is not the same as victory – or peace. By Rajan Menon www.newstatesman.com/internationa...