The cover of this week's New Statesman edition is an extraordinary intervention.

Just two weeks ahead of the Supreme Court hearing on the proscription of #PalestineAction, many of the world’s leading cultural icons have joined forces to condemn the “ill-conceived and draconian anti-terror legislation” which they describe as “an affront to basic principles of free speech and expression so long taken for granted in this country” and as “repressive absurdity”.

Signatories to the letter include Paul Mescal, Gary Lineker, Arundhati Roy, Naomi Klein, Paul Mescal, JM Coetzee, Tilda Swinton, Susan Sarandon, Tariq Ali, Irvine Welsh, Slavoj Žižek, Jonathan Glazer, Zadie Smith, Julian Barnes, Juliet Stevenson, Kate Nash, Kneecap, Maxine Peake, Michael Frayn, Michael Rosen, Monica Ali, Caryl Churchill, Colm Tóibín, Emily Wilson, William Boyd, William Dalrymple, and Shami Chakrabarti.

https://www.newstatesman.com/cover-story/2026/10/sally-rooney-is-a-writer-not-a-terrorist