Ahead of his guest-edited issue of the New Statesman, the actor and campaigner Michael Sheen speaks to Anoosh Chakelian for a special episode of the New Statesman podcast. Titled "A Dream of Britain", the magazine explores what British identity means in 2022.   They discuss why he wanted to tackle the idea of our national story, how widening inequality and the British obsession with class limits diversity in the arts, why he thinks Tony Blair and Jeremy Corbyn have more in common than either might like, and what it means to be a "not-for-profit" actor.   The special edition of the New Statesman will be on newsstands on Thursday 24 March and podcast listeners can subscribe now for just £12 for 12 weeks at newstatesman.com/podcastoffer 
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Bonus episode: Michael Sheen on class, culture and Britishness

Politics and ideas from Britain's leading progressive political magazine.
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News & Politics

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In March, Charles Spencer, the 9th Earl Spencer, published his memoir - A Very Private School. This recounted, in devastating detail, the abuse, both mental and physical, that he had been subjected to at his elite prep boarding school. The brutality is laid bare. 
For centuries in the UK, a private education has been the pathway to opportunity. Today those who attended private schools are five times more likely to hold top jobs in politics, the judiciary, media, and business. 
Boarding school boys in particular, who represent less than 1% of the population, have been in charge of the country for most of the past 14 years. But at what cost? For both the survivors of these institutions and for the whole country.
Read: A boyhood built on fear, The price of private education Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Boarding school boys rule Britain, at what cost?

This episode was recorded on the 18th of April, prior to Israel's missile strikes on Iran.
Tensions in the Middle East have heightened further after Iran launched a missile attack on Israel last week. This was in response to Israel’s strike on the Iranian embassy in Damascus, Syria - which killed 16 people. Western leaders came to Israel’s defence and condemned Iran’s attack, but prior to this David Cameron - the UK foreign secretary - had warned that the UK’s support for Israel was ‘not unconditional’. 
So how have these latest developments divided the government’s stance on Israel’s conflict? And how are Labour planning to act should they come into government amid this war?
Anoosh Chakelian, Britian editor at the New Statesman, is joined by Freddie Hayward, political correspondent, and George Eaton, senior editor.
Read: The new Tory divide on Israel
Sign up to the New Statesman's daily politics email Morning Call 
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How Iran and Israel are dividing British politics

This week Liz Truss has embarked on the press tour of a lifetime with her new book, Ten Years to Save the West: Lessons from the only conservative in the room. She's been casting blame from the UN to the Bank of England for the failure of her time in office, but does she really believe what she's saying? And how might this affect her standing in the next general election?
Anoosh and Rachel also ask Freddie about his recent trip to the National Conservatism conference in Brussels with the likes of Nigel Farage, Suella Braverman, Éric Zemmour, Viktor Orbán, and the Belgian police. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Does Liz Truss believe what she's saying?

People up and down the country have been struggling to get NHS dental appointments for the past few years, forcing some to pay inflated prices for private treatment, or ignore their oral health until it’s reached an unbearable point. This crisis is also greatly impacting children across the nation, and today the number one reason children are admitted to hospital is due to severe dental issues.
So how did we get here? Why is the UK faced with Dickensian rot in 2024?
Anoosh Chakelian, Britain editor, is joined by policy correspondent Harry Clarke-Ezzidio, and senior associate editor, Sarah Dawood. 
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Decaying Britain: how severe is the NHS dental crisis?

Angela Rayner, the Labour deputy leader, is being accused of being a ‘tax avoider’. While these attacks are coming predominantly from the right, they’ve been mounting in recent weeks and now Labour is having to confront the allegations.
So what could this mean for the deputy leader? Is Labour in trouble? Or is this a Tory smear campaign?
Anoosh Chakelian, Britain editor at the New Statesman, is joined in the studio by political correspondent Freddie Hayward; this episode was recorded on Thursday 11th April.
Read the pieces mentioned in this podcast: Is Angela Rayner in danger?; What Dominic Raab missed about Angela Rayner at Glyndebourne; I looked into Angela Rayner’s tax affairs – here’s what I found Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Bonus episode: Michael Sheen on class, culture and Britishness

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