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The Lives of Others really is one of the best films I've seen in years
I'm taking next week off to move from the inner city that is Kentish Town to the leafy climes of Haringey so I'm grateful to Simon Hooper who will be stepping into the harness here at Terminal House.
Simon is just back from reporting on the Turkish elections. He kindly wrote us a piece providing a fascinating glimpse of the country that straddles Europe and Asia.
"Turkey is an essentially contradictory place where aspirational Westernised lifestyles and a traditional Islamic identity collide, sometimes jarringly, every day. My personal favourite example of this came at a magazine stand in Ankara where I spotted copies of Turkish FHM advertising "SEKS: KARMA SUTRA!" while a muezzin from a nearby mosque wailed in the background."
This week we've also had an article on nuclear power by Green MEP Rebecca Harms. Writing in the wake of incidents at reactors in both Japan and Germany she argues: "Operators of atomic facilities have often only avoided a repeat of the Chernobyl disaster by a hair's breadth."
Leading London Tory Brian Coleman meanwhile has a bit of fun with the Conservative mayoral race. His latest blog contrasts the long-running saga with a Carry-On film. Have a read by clicking here.
A few months ago I went to see the fantastic German film The Lives of Others. It's a bleak but beautiful movie in which a dedicated Stasi operative is assigned to watch a playwrite in the former DDR.
I didn't realise this, but in a curious parallel, the actor who played the secret policeman, Ulrich Mühe, had himself been spied on by the notorious East German security organisation. He alleged his former wife had worked for the Stasi - something she denied.
The Lives of Others really is one of the best films I've seen in years and although Muehe was apparently well known in Germany, he'd had little profile, if any, abroad.
Then in February, he shot to international prominence appearing at the Oscars when The Lives of Others beat Pan's Labyrinth to the best foreign language gong.
By then - it turns out - he already had been diagnosed with stomach cancer and this week he succumbed to the disease. It's a much over-used word but he really was an artist.
As soon as I get my TV repaired - and as soon as the film is released on DVD - I'm going to go out and buy a copy. It's out some time in September.
On a slightly different note, I was having a chat with a well known Tory at the New Statesman's New Media Awards bash a few days back. He was bemoaning the fact the government no longer leaks its plans to the press. Apparently the fact they announce things in Parliament means the shadow cabinet now has to think on their feet. The words 'old dog' spring to mind.
And finally, as they say, this week we were sorry to lose a key member of the New Statesman online team. Gregory 'It should have been me on Big Brother' Marler left us in order to go university to study computer science. He'll be sorely missed but we wish him well in his studies at Durham.
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