When is it just to go to war?

To view this email as a web page, go [here.]( [Mischief Theatre]( [new-statesman]( [ns nl v3]( Parliament may be in recess but with Donald Trump in the White House there is no such thing as a quiet week in politics. The US president's U-turns have left foreign leaders struggling to keep up. Having launched missile strikes against the Assad regime in Syria, Trump is also threatening unilateral action against North Korea. It's a timely moment to read some of the highlights from our Spring double issue. Mehdi Hasan explores Trump's unnoticed pre-Syria interventions and war studies expert Lawrence Freedman, co-author of Tony Blair's famous Chicago speech on liberal interventionism, interrogates the just war thesis. Elsewhere, the BBC's Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen warns that Western air strikes in Iraq risk creating the impression that Sunnis are being carelessly slaughtered. Though global risks are proliferating, for the average human, especially in the West, life has seldom been better - or longer. Our features editor Xan Rice looks at lessons from the "super-agers", including the 74-year-old who ran a sub-three hour marathon, the 85-year-old who climbed Everest and the 102-year-old who cycled 17 miles in an hour. And our house philosopher John Gray writes on the transhumanists who believe that the brain can outlive the body. On a lighter note, Amelia Tait explains why we should abandon "digital detoxes" and spring clean our lives instead and we take you through the A-Z of Brexit, from antipasto to zoo. Enjoy the issue and have a happy Easter. Please consider subscribing [here](. Enjoy! Jason Cowley, [@JasonCowleyNS]( Editor's Picks --------------------------------------------------------------- [Lawrence Freedman: When is it just to go to war?] [Lawrence Freedman: When is it just to go to war?]( The co-author of Tony Blair's Chicago speech on Blair, the May doctrine and the case for going to war. [Forget ] [Forget "digital detoxes". Spring clean your online life, says Amelia Tait]( What does swiping thousands of times a day do to our minds - or, for that matter, our thumbs? [Rowan Williams: If we have no notion of rigorous argument, all that is left is the contest of power] [Rowan Williams: If we have no notion of rigorous argument, all that is left is the contest of power]( The former archbishop of Canterbury finds vital arguments in Speaking of Universities by Stefan Collini. ["Mr Blair, You have nice hair": the mighty pen of Adrian Mole, poet]( Sarah Ditum profiles Adrian Mole at 50. [A new short story by Lionel Shriver: Making America Great Again] [A new short story by Lionel Shriver: Making America Great Again]( At a Brooklyn dinner party everyone can agree that Donald Trump is a monster. Can't they? [New Statesman Subscribe Now]( [www.NewStatesman.com]( --------------------------------------------------------------- [Gateway Living]( [I was on University challenge - so let me tell you why there aren't more women on it] [I was on University challenge - so let me tell you why there aren't more women on it]( Last year's finalist, Hannah Rose Woods, on the newspapers that objectify young female contestants. [A picture of the EDL might have gone viral, but the white nationalist group is fading away] [A picture of the EDL might have gone viral, but the white nationalist group is fading away]( Anoosh Chakelian on the EDL and how the organisation is struggling to find a place in Britain's political culture. [Click here for more information]( [podcast]( [Facebook]( [Google Plus]( [Twitter]( [Tumblr]( © copyright 2016 New Statesman LTD. John Carpenter House, 7 Carmelite Street, Blackfriars, EC4Y 0AN, United Kingdom. To stop receiving news and offers from the New Statesman, please [click here](.