🧵 The powerful closing paragraphs of @Anoosh_C's story, Bust Britain. 🧵 “Collapsing councils are a microcosm of the British state’s failings: austerity, short-termism, Treasury myopia and decades of failure to solve the so-called wicked problems of policymaking, such as council tax, planning and our broken social care model. Every block in the Jenga tower appears to be wobbling.

The two earthquakes that hit Turkey’s south-east region on 6 February were only one part of an unfolding tragedy.

@ETemelkuran explains why.

Thread ⬇️
newstatesman.com/world/2023/02/… The people of Turkey are torn between the pain caused by a natural disaster and their rightful anger at the shamelessness of a corrupt regime.

Is it last orders for the Great British curry house?

@sajeraj reveals how workforce shortages are hurting the UK's Indian restaurants.

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newstatesman.com/spotlight/skil… Today the £4.2bn industry as a whole is in labour crisis.

In recent decades, the children and grandchildren of pioneering Bengali restaurateurs have opted not to join the family business, going instead into professional jobs supported by access to university.

Rishi Sunak’s reshuffle won’t revive his political fortunes.

@REWearmouth explains why.

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newstatesman.com/politics/conse… What does the reshuffle tell us about the Prime Minister?

Sunak’s hand was forced as he could no longer delay the appointment of a new party chairman.

Ukraine’s national security adviser, @OleksiyDanilov, speaks to @MacaesBruno about German betrayal, the coming Russian onslaught and why the West is scared.

Read more ⬇️ Danilov shared his thoughts on Germany’s refusal to send Leopard 2 battle tanks to Kyiv, who might eventually replace Vladimir Putin and why Russia wants a ­“Korean solution” to end the war.

"Yet another vital service on its knees after 13 years of Tory government" - Keir Starmer

Follow this thread for video updates from #PMQs "Is he starting to wonder that this job is just too big for him?"

Keir Starmer accuses Rishi Sunak of being "hopelessly weak" in #PMQs.

During his time in No 10, Boris Johnson registered more meetings with Richard Sharp, a former Goldman Sachs banker, than any other non-editorial media executive.

Thread ⬇️
newstatesman.com/politics/media… To close observers of the Cabinet Office’s occasionally-updated transparency data, news this week of Boris Johnson’s close relationship with Richard Sharp, the BBC chairman, will have come as no surprise.

How many times did they meet, though?

Can Nadhim Zahawi survive the tax row and how damaging is it for the government?

@REWearmouth analyses the fallout of this scandal ⬇️
newstatesman.com/politics/conse… The Tory chairman Nadhim Zahawi remains in post despite widespread reports that he paid HMRC a penalty when settling a tax dispute – while serving as chancellor.

The economist who predicted the 2008 crash warns that a combination of uncontrolled inflation and ballooning debt will push the world economy into ruin.

@willydunn speaks to @Nouriel.
newstatesman.com/economy/2022/1… If Roubini is right in his assessment of the world economy, the next decade will contain mass unemployment, mass personal bankruptcy and business insolvency, a severe, protracted recession, and a wave of financial crises and defaults in countries around the world.

With unemployment levels at a 50-year low, why for the first time are there more vacancies than workers available to fill them in the UK?

@Anoosh_C and @GiacomoBosc explore where all the workers have gone.
newstatesman.com/politics/healt… The answer goes beyond EU workers lost to Brexit, pandemic labour supply issues, or the discredited Big Quit theory – that we woke up to our meaningless 9-5 lives during lockdown and decided to resign en masse.

Rishi Sunak cannot save the housing market

@willydunn explains why.
newstatesman.com/business/2022/… In his first speech as Prime Minister outside 10 Downing Street, Rishi Sunak said of his predecessor that “mistakes were made”.

This is a form of speech often used by people trying to say that the smoking ruins they’re standing in front of was not their fault.

Suella Braverman’s resignation and prompt reappointment as Home Secretary is a bit of a conundrum.

@SirJJKC explains why.

Free to read 🔓
newstatesman.com/quickfire/2022… On 19 October (after only 6 weeks in the job) she stood down for what she described as the “mistake” of sending an official document from her personal email.

This week's cover: State of Disorder

A special issue on Britain's political crisis.

Featuring @AndrewMarr9, John Gray, @edsmithwriter, @MPWife_, and @Kevin_Maguire.

More details below ⬇️ @AndrewMarr9 @edsmithwriter @MPWife_ @Kevin_Maguire The new Prime Minister has shown he is willing to discard people and policies to secure his advancement, writes @AndrewMarr9.

newstatesman.com/politics/uk-po…

Lisa Nandy has written to Michael Gove asking for an independent investigation to establish which funding formulas were changed by the Prime Minister to take money from “deprived urban areas”.

@freddiejh8 reports:
newstatesman.com/politics/uk-po… Labour has called for an investigation into Rishi Sunak’s comments on funnelling public money out of “deprived urban areas”, which were exclusively revealed by the New Statesman.

While Rishi Sunak was being formally invited to form a government by the King, Labour’s shadow cabinet was working on its strategy to take on the new Tory prime minister.

@REWearmouth shares the details of that plan:
newstatesman.com/politics/labou… The 1992 general election, at which Labour’s Neil Kinnock was roundly defeated by John Major despite the divisiveness of Margaret Thatcher, looms large in Keir Starmer’s mind.

"He's so weak, he's done a grubby deal, trading national security" - Keir Starmer

The Labour Leader criticises the appointment of Suella Braverman after she resigned last week for a reported security breach.

Follow this thread for video updates of #PMQs "He pretends to be on the side of working people, but in private he says something very different"

Starmer raises the New Statesman's exclusive leaked video of Rishi Sunak, where he speaks of funnelling public money out of “deprived urban areas.” #PMQs

newstatesman.com/politics/uk-po…

"I am sorry" - Liz Truss

PMQs opens with Truss admitting that she "has made mistakes", as she pledges to "get on with the job."

Follow this thread for video updates of #PMQs Why are spending cuts on the table? Because the Conservatives "crashed the economy", argues Keir Starmer.

Liz Truss claims that Labour needs to reflect on "economic reality". #PMQs

newstatesman.com/politics/conse…

“We have truth on our side, we have morality on our side, and we have science on our side.”

As guest editor for the New Statesman this week, @GretaThunberg speaks to @bjork about tackling the climate crisis. @GretaThunberg @bjork “The climate emergency is clearer now. It’s also very generational. I have kids, both a millennial kid and a Gen-Z kid, who are telling me off,” says @bjork.

The government made perhaps the biggest retreat in economic history yesterday. newstatesman.com/politics/uk-po… Jeremy Hunt, the Chancellor, scrapped nearly all of last month’s mini-Budget and went further by cancelling the Boris Johnson administration’s planned cut in the basic rate of income tax.

The timeline for the Prime Minister being ejected from office has now been sped up.

@freddiejh8 explains how Jeremy Hunt has hastened Liz Truss's downfall.
newstatesman.com/politics/uk-po… The government’s mini-Budget has essentially been scrapped by the new chancellor, Jeremy Hunt.

In addition, the energy price guarantee will end in April as opposed to lasting for two years.

“He remains the patron saint of pub singers, the guardian angel of the end of the night – and the man who, without doubt, puts the ‘Brit’ in ‘celebrity’.”

@hiyalauren on why Robbie Williams is better off without the approval of the US.
newstatesman.com/culture/music-… In 2002, Stoke-on-Trent-born Robbie Williams struck with EMI the biggest record deal in British history at the time – £80m for six albums.

A figure like that, Alexis Petridis wrote for the Guardian at the time, “can’t be recouped – unless Williams achieves success in the US”.