New Statesman

This article is about the British magazine. For other uses, see New Statesman (disambiguation).

New Statesman
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Cover of the 14–20 April 2023 issue celebrating the magazine's 110th anniversary
EditorJason Cowley
CategoriesPolitics, geopolitics, books and culture and foreign affairs
FrequencyWeekly
Total circulation
(2023)		43,230[1]
Founder
Founded1913; 111 years ago (1913)
First issue 12 April 1913 (12 April 1913-month)
CompanyNew Statesman Media Group
CountryUnited Kingdom
Based inLondon
LanguageEnglish
Websitewww.newstatesman.com
ISSN1364-7431
OCLC4588945

The New Statesman (known from 1931 to 1964 as the New Statesman and Nation) is a British political and cultural news magazine published in London.[2] Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney and Beatrice Webb and other leading members of the socialist Fabian Society, such as George Bernard Shaw, who was a founding director. The longest-serving editor was Kingsley Martin (1930–1960), and the current editor is Jason Cowley, who assumed the post in 2008.

Today, the magazine is a print–digital hybrid. According to its present self-description, it has a liberal and progressive political position.[3] Jason Cowley, the magazine's editor, has described the New Statesman as a publication "of the left, for the left"[4] but also as "a political and literary magazine" with "sceptical" politics.

The magazine has recognised and published new writers and critics, as well as encouraging major careers. Its contributors have included John Maynard Keynes, Bertrand Russell, Virginia Woolf, Christopher Hitchens, and Paul Johnson. Historically, the magazine was jocularly referred to as The Staggers – an example of Oxford "-er" undergraduate slang. The nickname is now used as the title of its rolling politics blog.[5]

Circulation was at its highest in the mid-1960s at 93,000.[6] The magazine encountered substantial difficulties in the following decades as readership fell, but it was growing again by the mid-2010s.[7] In 2020, the certified average circulation was 36,591.[1] Traffic to the magazine's website that year reached a new high with 27 million page views and four million distinct users.[8] Associated websites have included CityMetric (now defunct), Spotlight and NewStatesman Tech.[9] In 2018, New Statesman America was launched.

  1. ^ a b "New Statesman". ABC. 11 February 2021. Archived from the original on 30 March 2023. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
  2. ^ "New Statesman | British magazine". Encyclopedia Britannica. Archived from the original on 15 May 2023. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
  3. ^ "About New Statesman". New Statesman. Archived from the original on 9 March 2021. Retrieved 13 February 2017.
  4. ^ Burrell, Ian (29 November 2015). "Why the left-wing New Statesman is stubbornly resisting the lure of Corbynmania". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 18 June 2022. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
  5. ^ "The Staggers". Newstatesman.com. Archived from the original on 16 May 2024. Retrieved 16 May 2024.
  6. ^ Smith, Adrian (1995). The New Statesman: Portrait of a Political Weekly, 1913-1931. Portland, OR: F. Cass. p. 2. ISBN 9780714641690.
  7. ^ "New Statesman reaching more readers than ever" Archived 9 March 2021 at the Wayback Machine, New Statesman, 12 February 2015.
  8. ^ "Record traffic for the New Statesman website in June 2016". New Statesman. 5 July 2016. Archived from the original on 9 March 2021. Retrieved 18 November 2016.
  9. ^ Albeanu, Catalina (18 September 2014). "How data is central to the New Statesman's digital 'spin-offs'". www.journalism.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2 July 2023. Retrieved 18 July 2018.