“This will be a big choice election,” Brown says. “You’ve got to ask yourself: which is the party that is going to lead the growth and prosperity that we need to go into the future? Which is the party most likely to build a fairer and stronger society? It’s not going to be the small issues that other people want to be the focus of the election, and I think the country will know that by the time the election comes.”
This week the New Statesman also showcases a redesign, with new sections, new contributors and expanded online content, reflecting a more authoritative style. The typography is much stronger and clearer and there is a fresh focus on portrait and issues photography with the appointment of the magazine’s first-ever Picture Editor, Rebecca McClelland, who joins from Wallpaper* magazine.
New columnists include novelist and raconteur Will Self on strange social phenomena and high street food; the comedian Mark Watson on ethical dilemmas; Professor of Economics David Blanchflower on economics; and Phillip Blond, director of the think tank ResPublica, on political ideas.
New front section The Intelligence is a concise, smartly presented alternative view of the week. The middle section is given over to longer and more reflective narrative reports and essays. Another new section, The Issues, covers social affairs, the environment, health, science and campaigns, while The Critics offers a stylish and considered view of arts, books and culture, says the publisher.
Jason Cowley, Editor, says "The New Statesman has been completely rethought and restructured, with new, coherent sections, improved signposting, more creative use of photography and illustration, and new, award-winning writers and columnists. The magazine will remain true to its political heritage, but will be more nuanced in tone, more plural, sceptical and unpredictable. We are independent of all political parties and beholden to no one individual or group. But we will continue to campaign for fairness and greater equality, to challenge and provoke as well as amuse and entertain. We shall remain at the forefront of political commentary and analysis; on the staff we have the best two young political journalists in Britain, Mehdi Hasan and James Macintyre. In recent months alone we have had a series of exclusives on conflicts within the MPC of the Bank of England, on Rowan Williams and disestablishment of the Church of England and on Charles Clarke's revelation that Tony Blair wanted to make him foreign secretary.
"We are, also, in the process of a major expansion of our online operation. Newstatesman.com has been stylishly redesigned and we have launched our popular blogs, Free Speech. Over the next few months, we will be rolling out a series of exciting digital projects which will utterly transform our online presence as the New Statesman seeks to become the world's leading progressive voice."
