Peter Wilby
New Statesman
United Kingdom
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Past articles by Peter:
The long shadows over English cricket
The latest Wisden reflects a turbulent year in which the sport has been forced to confront racism and incompetence. → Read More
First Thoughts: The classroom culture wars, GB News founders, and cricket gets an update
Boris Johnson’s government has opened a new front in its culture wars. Many Tories argue that “woke” university lecturers brainwash schoolteachers during initial training. When he was education secretary under David Cameron, Michael Gove described academics as the “enemies of promise”, guilty of “valuing Marxism… and fighting excellence”. Now, concealed beneath 55 pages of → Read More
First Thoughts: Shirley Williams, the SDP’s lost leader, and what the Duke of Edinburgh knew
As a politician, Shirley Williams was a trailblazer, engaging and popular with the public; if only her SDP co-founders, and Williams herself, had recognised that. → Read More
First Thoughts: The DUP’s reunited Ireland, Andrew Neil’s revenge channel, and academic espionage
Andrew Neil needs GB News to get even with Rupert Murdoch and the Beeb. Nobody else does. → Read More
How Robert Maxwell bullied his way into the establishment
A new biography ventures inside the monstrous ego of the robber baron of Fleet Street. → Read More
First thoughts: The GameStop frenzy, Kate Bingham’s nous, and why the PM needs an atlas
Financial markets aren't democratic, and the GameStop affair cannot be seen as another example of “the excluded” destabilising the metropolitan elite. → Read More
Peter Wilby: Murdoch calls time on Trump, why the polls were wrong, and Wigan Warriors are back
Fox News called Arizona for Joe Biden before almost anyone else, told the president to accept defeat graciously, and cut away from a Trump campaign press conference. → Read More
First Thoughts: Why I fear Biden won’t win, my friend Jeffrey Archer, and the Daily Mail after Dacre
Despite leading in the polls by double digits, Biden still may not get a landslide. Then an even dirtier battle for the White House will begin. → Read More
The scandal that changed cricket
Nick Greenslade's The Thin White Line offers the inside story of the 2010 Pakistani cricket betting scam. → Read More
Why Harold Evans will be remembered for his flair and courage
The late Sunday Times editor was a relentless foe of abuse of power and injustice. → Read More
First Thoughts: The charm of the right, the party of phwoar and order, and our current Blitz
The lewd character of a Tory MP never changes, despite what a spin doctor might say. → Read More
First Thoughts: The commuting and coffee economy, a British Fox News and damning Starkey
Local businesses in my suburb report sharply increased custom, after years of struggle. New jobs will emerge, often closer to workers’ homes. → Read More
First Thoughts: Public Health England, catastrophe bonds, and the Last Night of the Proms
Matt Hancock says the replacement for the disgraced Public Health England will be “world-renowned”. Renowned in the same way as King Harold's performance in 1066? → Read More
First Thoughts: Vaccine refuseniks, Britain’s trade deal with Japan and a crisis at the Evening Standard
Only 30 per cent of Britons are certain they’d have a coronavirus vaccine, if one was discovered. → Read More
First Thoughts: A crisis at the Guardian, Lord Botham, and Boris Johnson’s mistaken nuclear deterrent
The Guardian is the latest newspaper to reveal its wounds from Covid-19. It plans to cut 12 per cent of its workforce and shut four sections from its Saturday edition, but crucial issues remain unresolved. → Read More
First Thoughts: Murdoch’s new radio station, traditional classroom seating and taking a DNA test
With Times Radio, Rupert Murdoch hopes to entice listeners to subscribe to the Times. And he can pursue his vendetta against the BBC. → Read More
First Thoughts: Trade deals after Brexit, Vera Lynn’s bluebirds, and the know-nothing right
International Trade Secretary Liz Truss says talks with Australia and New Zealand will pave the way for “a global Britain”. → Read More
First Thoughts: The New York Times debacle, and why the NHS has been overwhelmed
The paper was right to publish an article by the Republican senator Tom Cotton, but journalism is now so partisan I might be the only leftist on the planet who holds such views. → Read More
First Thoughts: The Cummings affair, declining circulations and the elusive track and trace system
Emboldened by a referendum victory followed by an election triumph, the government is now making elementary errors in press and public relations. → Read More
First Thoughts: Johnson talks while Ardern acts, ads in the air, and the FT’s media hacker
New Zealand has had only 19 deaths among its 4.8 million population. → Read More