Anoosh Chakelian
Verified
Is this you? As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.
Claim your profile
Articles by Anoosh Chakelian
The Saturday Read: Starmer puts his fists up
Good morning, and welcome to the Saturday Read, the best of the New Statesman, in print and online this week. This is Finn with Nicholas and George. Bad morning to be Keir Starmer. The Prime Minister’s greatest irritant – Andy Burnham – is back. He apparently has a plan to return to Westminster “within weeks”, when he will lay out his “radical” vision for government, and finally put Starmer out of his misery.
Why ‘grifter’ has become the go-to political insult of 2025
Our world is full of grifters. Or so it seems, considering how often that word is thrown around in public life these days. This year alone, Zarah Sultana, the former Labour MP and founder of a new left party with Jeremy Corbyn, called the Reform UK leader, Nigel Farage, a “billionaire-backed grifter” (perhaps borrowing from the language of Coutts staff who referred to him as a “disingenuous grifter” when his bank account was closed two years ago).
La brutta accoglienza della Bibby Stockholm
Sull’autobus proveniente dal porto la prima cosa che vedono i richiedenti asilo della Bibby Stockholm è un carro armato rivolto contro i loro finestrini oscurati. Il tragitto verso la città è disseminato di rottami di navi: ancore, un cannone, una mina navale.
“Security”: the inside story of Labour’s new buzzword
Privacy Preference Center When you visit any website, it may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. This information might be about you, your preferences or your device and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to. The information does not usually directly identify you, but it can give you a more personalized web experience. Because we respect your right to privacy, you can choose not to allow some types of cookies.
Is universal basic income possible here?
What would you do with an extra £1,600 a month? In Jarrow, a town on the south bank of the Tyne in northeast England, 15 residents are about to find out. Select and enter your email address The Saturday Read Your weekly guide to the best writing on ideas, politics, books and culture every Saturday - from the New Statesman. Morning Call The New Statesman's quick and essential guide to the news and politics of the day. Events and Offers Stay up to date with NS events, subscription offers & updates.
Why are Brits on £180k so sad?
Privacy Preference Center When you visit any website, it may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. This information might be about you, your preferences or your device and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to. The information does not usually directly identify you, but it can give you a more personalized web experience. Because we respect your right to privacy, you can choose not to allow some types of cookies.
“I’m feeling gently told off”: Wes Streeting and Dr Phil Whitaker in conversation
In January, Dr Phil Whitaker made an open offer to politicians on the New Statesman Podcast: “Come and spend a day with me in my practice.” The health service was overwhelmed: ambulances were fatally delayed, patients were crammed into hospital corridors, and millions were waiting weeks for an appointment at their local surgeries. Whitaker, a GP since the mid-Nineties, argued that those tasked with fixing the NHS should see the crisis up close.
The curious case of Jacob Rees-Mogg’s disappearing bus route
Privacy Preference Center When you visit any website, it may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. This information might be about you, your preferences or your device and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to. The information does not usually directly identify you, but it can give you a more personalized web experience. Because we respect your right to privacy, you can choose not to allow some types of cookies.
'But how will you pay for it?' Social security and the role of wealth taxes
Anyone making proposals for progressive change is likely to have experienced a response of ‘but how are you going to pay for it?’ A persuasive answer is needed to get ideas heard. Increasing attention is being given to taxing excess wealth as a way to raise very large amounts of revenue while also tackling gross economic inequality.
Future of Healthcare
Dr Habib Naqvi is Director of the NHS Race and Health Observatory, which works to identify and tackle ethnic inequalities in health and care by facilitating research, making health policy recommendations and enabling long-term transformational change. Habib joined the NHS in 2001, managing large public health research programmes in the South West of England.
Labour Party Conference
Karen Buck was re-elected as the Member of Parliament for Westminster North at the General Election on 12 December 2019 with a majority of 10,759. Karen has served as the Member of Parliament for Westminster North since 2010, and was previously MP for Regent’s Park and Kensington North from 1997 to 2010 when the boundaries changed. She is currently Shadow Minister for Social Security and has held a number of other jobs in Government and in Opposition.
Marvelous! Gay Wedding For X-Man
Marvel When Obama made his groundbreaking public announcement advocating gay marriage, he probably didn’t expect his earth-shattering liberal legacy to extend first and foremost to fictional characters. But love moves in mysterious ways, and in this case dons a cape and some lycra. Marvel Comics’ only openly gay X-Man, Northstar, is proposing to his boyfriend. (MORE: Are Superheroes Too Big For Television?) This all happens in the “Astonishing X-Men” issue out this week.
Understanding #Moggmentum
Understanding #Moggmentum “Floccinaucinihilipilification,” said Jacob Rees-Mogg in 2012. And the nation swooned. Read Full Article »
Café Britannia: the Norwich café run by prisoners now under threat from the government
Cafe Britannia. Image: Anoosh Chakelian. Early on a sunny Friday morning in Norwich, customers headed as usual to Café Britannia, a café run by prisoners and ex-offenders on the grand redbrick premises of HMP Norwich. But there wasn’t even any milk left for a cup of tea. After wrangling with the social enterprise running the café, the Ministry of Justice had ordered its closure.
We’ve toured Winston Churchill’s secret base on the Piccadilly Line
Before it became crucial to winning the Second World War, Down Street tube station was a bit useless. A stop on the Piccadilly Line (back when the line was known as the Great Northern Piccadilly and Brompton Railway), it was in the heart of Mayfair, and opened in 1907. But it lasted only 25 years. Down Street was between Green Park and Hyde Park Corner – two stops which are quite close together anyway, about a ten-minute walk. It was also set back quite far from the main thoroughfare, Piccadilly.
So the government choose Brexit debate day to quietly finalise its council cuts
Yesterday, while everyone was distracted by the chaos surrounding Brexit – again – the government sneaked out some remarkably crappy financial news for councils. Again. In some ways, this was not the best timing, as the Centre for Cities had just published the latest edition of Cities Outlook, its annual report of the state of Britain’s cities, and well, the news is, hmmm.
After a decade of austerity, Hartepool is looking to Preston for a new economic model
Since the Lancashire city of Preston was named “most improved urban area” last November, the “Preston Model” has been attracting excitement in the Labour party and local government circles. Before this accolade, The Economist had reported from the city in October – labelling it “Jeremy Corbyn’s model town” and an “unlikely laboratory for Corbynomics”.
How should we tax property?
A ‘mansion tax’ will not solve the problem of how to tax wealth, but there may be another solution, writes Michael Edenborough It has been suggested that a mansion tax might be introduced for high value properties based upon a comprehensive revaluation of the entire housing stock. There are at least four manifestly adverse consequences.
House music: Which MPs are rock 'n' roll?
Westminster Hall. The oldest of parliament’s buildings. Tranquil. Ghostly. Oak and stone. But for one day only, its mighty hammer-beam roof – left for 900 years to peer disdainfully down at Westminster’s ephemeral inhabitants – is shaking. Dust is spilling in clouds from the beams and lurid shafts of flashing light illuminate its 11th-century walls. No, it’s not a bomb. It’s a rock band. The only rock band ever to play in Westminster Hall.
Anna Soubry on Tory 'twattery' & refusing to be nanny
This article is from the May 2013 issue of Total Politics bellows a big yellow road sign. It squats among prowling JCBs and incipient construction sites preparing to build a new tramline, as you trundle up the high road to Anna Soubry’s constituency office in Beeston, Nottinghamshire. “Fucking useless, those signs,” snipes a rambunctious Soubry, shooting an icy glance out of the window at the street below, lamenting how the building work closing the road for a year will threaten local businesses.
The manifesto wot won it
Anoosh Chakelian hit the general election campaign trail to find out what was behind the late Labour surge A few weeks before the general election, I was out reporting on the campaign trail with a Labour candidate whose marginal seat – going by the polling – looked pretty doomed. But they were surprisingly upbeat. ‘There’s something in it for everyone!’ they beamed, when describing the manifesto.
The Tory housing benefit cuts will make more young people homeless
One morning, when Catherine Geddes was 16, her mother dropped her off at college, informed her that she’d changed all the locks, and told her daughter she would never be allowed to return home. Catherine, who grew up in Huddersfield, had a volatile family life. Her violent father would drag her up the stairs by the hair, and lock her out of the kitchen. Catherine developed mental health problems and self-harmed.
Naz Shah, and the antisemitism row engulfing Labour
Yesterday, Naz Shah was suspended from the Labour party for expressing antisemitic views – but only after considerable chaos. Anoosh Chakelian looks on at the unfolding shambles “Full stop, they’re out.” This was shadow chancellor John McDonnell’s line on anyone expressing antisemitic views in the Labour party back in March. But a month on, and it appears this full stop was only ever a vague smudge.
We've toured Winston Churchill's secret base on the Piccadilly Line
Before it became crucial to winning the Second World War, Down Street tube station was a bit useless. A stop on the Piccadilly Line (back when the line was known as the Great Northern Piccadilly and Brompton Railway), it was in the heart of Mayfair, and opened in 1907. But it lasted only 25 years. Down Street was between Green Park and Hyde Park Corner – two stops which are quite close together anyway, about a ten-minute walk. It was also set back quite far from the main thoroughfare, Piccadilly.
Jeremy Corbyn Is Labour's 'Scorched Earth Policy'
Anoosh Chakelian is deputy web editor for the New Statesman Congratulations, comrades! Jeremy Corbyn is Labour leader, in the best decision the Labour party could have made in its current state. But before unfurling the red flag over the Palace of Westminster, Corbyn isn’t a good pick for any of the reasons his supporters would give.
Prepare for government!
Anoosh Chakelian investigates the mysterious limbo when opposition politicians and civil service officials begin to make secret contact before the next election, discovering a tangle of convention and improvisation that blurs the lines of democracy. Illustrations by Miles Cole This article is from the February 2014 issue.
6 reasons why private renting sucks
Yesterday, Britain's Department for Communities & Local Government released the results of its annual English Housing Survey, drawn from interviews with households and data from lots of other statistical bodies. As you might expect, the survey found that the number of people living in private rental accommodation is still on the up. Over the past decade, in fact, the proportion of the general population renting privately has almost doubled.
"The others see it as a career move": Christian Wolmar, the outsider in London's mayoral contest
Christian Wolmar remembers the doubts he had, two and half years ago, when first considering running to be the next London mayor: “Will I make a total fool of myself if I go for this?” Wolmar is the transport policy expert and party outsider attempting to be Labour’s successor to Boris Johnson.
Spa Wars: Soaking up the battle for Bath
With Don Foster, its commanding Lib Dem MP, standing down, the cosy tourist town of Bath has become a fierce election fight. Golden Georgian boulevards ooze like dribbles of honey through the town centre. Roman statues of robed figures placidly stand sentinel along the viewing walkways above the baths. Gentle ripples of sandy Bath stone houses line the surrounding hills, overlooking majestic crescent terraces unique to this top tourist spot. But then there are the politicians.
Bristol West: Painting the town Green
Stokes Croft, a road running through Bristol, is a raggedy festival of pop-up shops, fixie bikes and inventive graffiti. The dishevelled tattoo parlours and music dives give off the same jovial grunge you find in the centre of Brighton, or on the fringes of East London. I am meeting the Green Party’s candidate for Bristol West, Darren Hall, at The Canteen.
Rochester & Strood: Madness in Medway as Reckless reigns
We take the temperature of this by-election battleground, where immigration dominates and Ukip prepare to seize a historic town. This article was originally published on May2015 on November 4. The morning’s first, crisp rays of sunlight bounce off Rochester Cathedral’s small cluster of spires. Compact and rather squat, it looks modestly over the town’s cobbled high street, as people begin to go about their day. It’s a sleepy, sunny half-term Tuesday in this Medway town.
Holborn & St Pancras: Can Natalie Bennett and the Greens seize power in Camden?
This central London seat has been held by Labour’s Frank Dobson for 34 years. As he’s standing down in the next election, we look closer at the constituency and at who could be next to represent it. It’s a Monday morning. A barge sails placidly past me from which a man wearing a shark onesie waves a jolly greeting.
Survival of the Fittest
Anoosh Chakelian talks to Harriet Harman about her party’s chances in the next election, her leader’s performance and her views now on all-women shortlists Harriet Harman, now the longest-serving woman in the Commons, is a survivor. Elected for Peckham in 1982, she was around before all-women shortlists, before the New Labour years, and definitely before the coalition era polluted the clear-blue waters of our two-party system.
Thurrock: Ground Zero for Labour’s Ukip crisis
Ukip has more support in Thurrock than any other seat in the country. The party’s rise starts here – and is the first in our series on the seats that will decide the next election. The first pale rays of September sunlight glance upon a quiet stir of activity outside the station. Stall owners are setting up for Grays Market, talking little as they hoist awnings across the short thoroughfare that makes up this town’s high street.
Movement for Change: From David to Ed
Should the other parties fear Labour’s grassroots community organising – or is it less Obama, and more old hat? Anoosh Chakelian discovers how Movement for Change has progressed since 2011 This article is from the July 2013 issue of Total Politics "If the other main parties aren't concerned, then they probably should be." Kathryn Perera is warning, behind a slight smile, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats against complacency.
House music: Which MPs are rock 'n' roll?
Middle-aged men in suits may not seem like the most obvious rock gods, but there are more musical members of parliament than you might think, as Anoosh Chakelian discovers Westminster Hall. The oldest of parliament’s buildings. Tranquil. Ghostly. Oak and stone. But for one day only, its mighty hammer-beam roof – left for 900 years to peer disdainfully down at Westminster’s ephemeral inhabitants – is shaking.
Armenia's Chess Dominance | New Republic
Last month, the former president of education union the Association of Teachers and Lecturers Hank Roberts said Britain should make chess compulsory in all state primary schools. He wants children to learn a game that is so much more than “kings, queens, rooks etc.” He complained that the UK was behind many other European countries in failing to recognise the game as a sport.
Lunch with... Baroness Worthington
The environmentalist chews over fossil fuels, fracking and joining the House of Lords, with Anoosh Chakelian. Photo by Jack Lawson Who? Bryony Worthington is an environmental campaigner and Labour life peer. She entered the House of Lords in 2011, where she became Baroness Worthington of Cambridge. When working in government, she helped draft the Climate Change Bill.
Sajid Javid: Labour, racism, & being 'completely nuts'
Family man, tough boss, city boy, responsible capitalist: The new financial secretary to the Treasury is an enigma. Anoosh Chakelian meets the much-promoted Conservative minister who reveals his sympathy for Labour ideas, bankers and people who face prejudice. Photos by Josh Kearns This interview was conducted on Tuesday, 10 September 2013.
Kwasi Kwarteng: 'Let's be the same as New Labour'
Written by on 27 September 2013 in Interview Tuesday’s child is full of grace. Thursday’s child has far to go. Saturday’s child works hard for a living... all appropriate days of the week for a future politician to be born then, surely? But Kwasi Kwarteng – whose first name is a word given to someone born on a Sunday in the Ghanaian language Akan – actually came into the world on a Monday. Ever the contrarian.
11 Year Old Sam Lesser Files A Dispute To Cancel His Facebook Shares
Sam Lesser isn’t old enough to go on Facebook without his parents’ help. But he may be the youngest victim yet of the social networking site’s turbulent IPO. Lesser, an 11-year-old investor and business prodigy, tried to buy 300 shares of Facebook stock during the company’s initial public offering last week with more than $10,000 saved up from a small company he set up selling skateboards and bracelets.
Man Attempts Fist-Pumping World Record
Share Read Later Getty Victorious fist-pumping action UPDATE: Peterson’s record has apparently already been broken by an assistant producer on an Austin, Tex. radio show. Seriously, people, let’s not make this a thing. — Put your hands in the air for James Peterson. While some people climb mountains, run long distances, save lives or launch companies that make billions of dollars, the 34-year-old Ohio man has made his mark for posterity by creating and setting a world record for fist-pumping.
Me Against the Music: Britney to Judge X Factor
And the wheels of Simon Cowell’s X-Factor machine grind ever onward. In the latest — and by our lights, biggest — hiring news from the mogul’s turbulent franchise, saucy schoolgirl-turned-femme fatale Britney Spears has reportedly signed a deal to judge X Factor U.S.A. “The contract is signed,” an excitable “source close to the star” said in an exclusive from E! Online. “There’s been a lot of back and forth over the past few weeks as they negotiated the small details, but she’s on.
Urban Outfitters “Holocaust T-Shirt” Under Fire
Fashion retailer Urban Outfitters is facing outcry from Jewish groups over a t-shirt critics say is an offensive reference to the Holocaust. The yellow shirt features an embroidered, six-pointed star over the breast pocket, and bears unfortunate overtones of the yellow badge Jewish people were forced to wear under the Nazi regime.
DogTV: A New Breed Of Television For Dogs
With a new channel aimed at canine viewers, television has finally gone to the dogs. Yeah, we said it. Cable executives have high hopes for a new channel targeted directly at a panting, drooling audience — and no, we’re not talking about an adult network. It’s DogTV — an on-demand cable channel featuring content specifically tailored for canine audiences. After a successful rollout in California earlier this year, the new channel is now available online and hopes to soon have national distribution.
'Stillborn' Baby Found Alive - After 12 Hours in Nailed Coffin
[youtube=http://youtu.be/_XHzyXqznEs] Luz Milagros (a name that translates to “Miracle’s Light”) was born three months premature. After being examined by a selection of obstetricians, gynecologists and a neonatologist, she was unanimously announced as stillborn.
Show More
loading
Actions
Get in touch with Anoosh
Contact Anoosh, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.
Learn more about Muck Rack