Attacks on Jews are an indictment of Keir Starmer's Britain
4/30/202647 min
"It makes me furious," says New Statesman editor Tom McTague.
An attack in Golders Green, London, yet again exposes the rise of antisemitism in Britain. Anoosh Chakelian has been reporting from the borough, where local Jews fear for their safety, volunteer security guards patrol the streets and Jewish children have to pass through heavy security cordons to get to school. She tells editor Tom McTague about what she found.
Meanwhile, the rise of anti-Jewish hate is putting more pressure on a government still mired in the Peter Mandelson scandal. The Prime Minister has become deeply unpopular, the Iran War continues, and local elections loom.
Westminster has concluded Keir Starmer has two options: fight or flight. The New Statesman's political editor, Ailbhe Rea, says the Prime Minister has made a decision and raised his fists.
READ:
Terror in Golders Green, by Anoosh Chakelian
https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/society/2026/04/terror-in-suburbia
We are under attack, by Rachel Cunliffe
https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/society/2026/04/we-are-under-attack
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Transcript preview
First 90 secondsAnoosh Chakelian· Host0:00
[upbeat music] The New Statesman. An attack in Golders Green yet again exposes the rise in antisemitism in Britain today, putting pressure on a government still mired in the Peter Mandelson scandal. From his unpopularity clear on the streets of London to the halls of Whitehall and to the Iran war weighing heavy on his shoulders, Westminster has concluded Keir Starmer has two options: fight or flight. Our political editor, Alva Rey, says the Prime Minister has made a decision and raised his fists. I'm Anousha Kefalian, and you're listening to The Politics Show from the New Statesman. Alva Rey is racing over here from Westminster, but we have you, our editor-in-chief, Tom McTague. Hi, Tom.
Tom McTague· Host0:42
I'll have to, I'll have to do for now.
Anoosh Chakelian· Host0:43
[laughs] Yeah, [laughs] you'll do. You'll do.
Tom McTague· Host0:44
[laughs] So yeah, it, it feels, um, it feels horrible actually today, doesn't it? Uh, thinking about what, what has happened yesterday, and, you know, some of the friends I was speaking to last night and this morning, you know, really sort of brought it home to me 'cause they were saying that, you know, Jewish friends of mine who were saying that they just feel that people don't understand, like, how small and concentrated an area of North London, um, that just feels completely under attack, and that they feel that people just don't seem to understand that, that sense of being under siege. But you were there. I mean, is that, is that how it felt?
Anoosh Chakelian· Host1:22
It really did feel like that, and I know that that sounds like alarmist language. But what's really interesting is that there is this security and