Megan Kenyon

London, Sedbergh

Policy Correspondent at The New Statesman

associate editor (spotlight) @newstatesman

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Articles

David Dimbleby’s Invisible Hands charts the ascent of free-market ideology in Britain

1 day ago | newstatesman.com | Megan Kenyon

On 15 August 1940, at the height of the Second World War, Antony and Basil Fisher went to battle. The two brothers were fighter pilots in the RAF’s 111 Hurricane Squadron and set out together on an airborne mission. For one of the brothers it would prove to be fatal. In the midst of chaos, Basil’s plane was shot down and he fell to his death after his parachute burst into flames. Antony watched on, helpless.
Portrait of an 18th-century It girl

2 days ago | newstatesman.com | Megan Kenyon

In a decisive scene in Edith Wharton’s 1905 novel The House of Mirth, the luckless protagonist, Lily Bart, is cajoled into taking part in a tableau vivant. This form of Edwardian entertainment required participants to dress up as a work of art: to become a “living picture”. Lily shrewdly opts for “a type so her own that she could embody the person represented without ceasing to be herself”.
The eco-populist against net-zero

6 days ago | newstatesman.com | Megan Kenyon

Until the start of this week, most people probably hadn’t heard of Zack Polanski. Though the Green Party deputy leader is regularly put out on the broadcast round, anyone below the top ranks of small parties are often only recognisable to political wonks and journalists. But on Monday, that changed. In the wake of last week’s local elections, Polanski has announced his intention to run in the Green Party’s upcoming leadership election.
Reform faces an uphill battle in power

1 week ago | newstatesman.com | Megan Kenyon

Reform has big plans for local government. After winning ten councils and more than 600 councillors in last week’s elections, a buoyant Nigel Farage laid out his party’s plans to take an axe to “wasteful” spending. Speaking at a count in Durham on his bombastic victory lap, Farage told assembled voters, councillors and journalists that Reform plans to “reduce the scale of local government back to what it ought to be – providing social care, providing SEN needs for kids, mending potholes”.
How winter fuel cost Labour these elections

1 week ago | newstatesman.com | Megan Kenyon

The decision to cut the Winter Fuel Payment is haunting the Government. In this year’s local elections – the first electoral test since Keir Starmer’s landslide victory last year – the removal of this annual £200 payment from the majority of pensioners was a defining issue.
What is behind Tony Blair's net zero intervention?

2 weeks ago | newstatesman.com | Megan Kenyon

Tony Blair has added his voice to the growing chorus of net zero scepticism. He joins the Tories and Reform in in turning his back on the policy which has defined Britain’s approach to climate change since it was signed into law by Theresa May’s government in 2019. Writing in the forward to a new report by his eponymous think tank, the former Prime Minister described the UK’s current decarbonisation trajectory as “riven with irrationality”.
Britain’s small boats obsession

2 weeks ago | newstatesman.com | Megan Kenyon

Shortly before dawn on 23 April 2024, on the shores of a resort town perched on the northernmost corner of France, unexpected chaos broke out. From behind the sand dunes that run along the beach, a mass of people emerged running towards the water. Amid the rush, a group of young men dragged an inflatable dinghy alongside the growing swell of people, pulling the boat into the English Channel before it could be intercepted by the French policemen heading their way.
What is behind Tony Blair's net zero intervention?

2 weeks ago | newstatesman.com | Megan Kenyon

Tony Blair has added his voice to the growing chorus of net zero scepticism. He joins the Tories and Reform in in turning his back on the policy which has defined Britain’s approach to climate change since it was signed into law by Theresa May’s government in 2019. Writing in the forward to a new report by his eponymous think tank, the former Prime Minister described the UK’s current decarbonisation trajectory as “riven with irrationality”.
Dale Vince: "Trump has given credibility to the incredible"

3 weeks ago | newstatesman.com | Megan Kenyon

Towards the end of February, at a dinner hosted by Airlines UK (an industry trade body), the Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander made her attitude to airport expansion clear. “I am not some sort of flight-shaming eco-warrior,” Alexander said, “I love flying. I always have.” The question of the expansion of three of London’s major airports (Heathrow, Gatwick and Luton) has been hanging over the government for weeks.
Can Labour save Scunthorpe?

1 month ago | newstatesman.com | Megan Kenyon

Just days after Keir Starmer declared the “end of globalisation”, his government is scrambling to save what remains of the UK’s steelmaking capacity. After months of uncertainty in back-and-forth negotiation between British Steel’s Chinese owners, Jingye, and Whitehall officials, on 26 March the company announced a consultation on the closure of the remaining blast furnaces at its site in Scunthorpe.