---
title: "The Spring 2015 New Humanist is out now!"
date: "2015-02-18T11:07:07+00:00"
modified: "2015-02-18T11:07:07+00:00"
url: "https://newhumanist.org.uk/2015/02/18/the-spring-2015-new-humanist-is-out-now/"
post_id: 6358
categories: ["Uncategorised"]
---

# The Spring 2015 New Humanist is out now!

![Cover](https://newhumanist.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/images/cover-for-preview-post.jpg "Cover")

The Spring 2015 issue of *New Humanist* is on sale now in High St branches of WH Smith and selected independent newsagents around the UK.

Live in the UK? [Get six months of New Humanist for just £1](/promo/NS6MWE15)! See below for details.

Highlights include:

- An essay by **Paul Mason** arguing that we need to rethink our ideas about human character in the age of social media:

> “We have to find ways of depicting the full person: the tweets, the memes, the text messages, her Instagram photos, the filter she uses on her Instagram photos; what they mean. Then we have to adjust the format of narrative to take account of the fact that she is probably producing a very interesting narrative of her own, every second she is awake.”

- **Martin Rowson** responds to the Paris attacks. (Read our Spring 2015 editorial [here](/articles/4833/reflections-on-charlie-hebdo).)
- **Suzanne Moore** looks ahead to the UK elections
- **Marc Bennetts** charts the rise of sorcerers and faith healers in Russia
- **Marcus Chown** explains how scientific accident led to the discovery of the Big Bang’s afterglow
- **Samira Shackle** interviews **Azar Nafisi**, author of *Reading Lolita in Tehran*, about freedom and imagination in Iran and the US
- Have world religions been the cause of violence through the ages? **Jonathan Rée** examines the evidence
- **Reni Eddo-Lodge** on *Selma* and the history of black British activism
- In a Word, a new regular column by **Michael Rosen** on the uses and abuses of language
- The death of Jimmy Mubenga, killed during an attempt to deport him from the UK, raises disturbing questions about racism and justice, writes **Lara Pawson**
- **Fatema Ahmed** explores the work of enigmatic Italian writer **Elena Ferrante**
- Award-winning photojournalist **Paul Lowe** discusses the purpose of war photography
- *Broadchurch, The Missing, The Leftovers*: **Mark Fisher** on television’s recent depictions of loss and mourning
- Historian **Diarmaid MacCulloch** reveals how his sexuality barred him from a career in the Church
- PLUS: Book reviews; new poems by **Alan Brownjohn** and others; a new cryptic crossword; and **Laurie Taylor**‘s Endgame column

*Get [six months of New Humanist for just £1](/promo/NS6MWE15)! UK customers, direct debit only. After six months your subscription will continue at the annual rate of £27. You can cancel at any time. Overseas readers can [subscribe for £27 a year or take out a digital-only subscription for £10](/supportus).*