17 May 1999
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From the Editor…
Welcome to the New Statesman website. Whether you are a new reader or an existing one - online or via the magazine - I hope you'll enjoy the great writing, fresh ideas and provocative debate that make the New Statesman Britain's award-winning current affairs weekly
Features
Gosh, camera crews in Edinburgh!
Kirsty Milne reports growing political excitement in Scotland - about Sky Sports as well as coalition deals
Who will speak for England?
John Lloyd, a Scotsman, argues that the devolved assemblies must stop trying to squeeze what they can from London if the British union is to survive
Asylum Bill - We did not want them in 1938, either
Nick Cohen continues his series on the asylum bill
The blind misleading the blind
Edward Saidaccuses the western media of cowardice, prejudice and gross over-simplification in their coverage of the war in the Balkans
From mighty acorns, little oaks do grow
Meritocracy? Young Heseltines, Majors and Wyatts are everywhere
A spot of bovver at Central Office
First Lilley's speech, then Duncan's NS interview. What on earth is going on among the Tories? Anne McElvoy reveals the inside story of a near disaster
Don't knock the boffins
Progress is not a myth: science and technology really are transforming our lives for the better. All we need now is proper regulation, argues David Sainsbury
No place for a flashy red sports car
The Danes' hatred of ostentation is manifest in their ten-year-old Peugeots, a queen who smokes and a peculiar brand of socialism, finds Charles Jennings
Essay
The NS Essay - A culture of pretence
The British, far from enjoying a renaissance, are living a second childhood. George Walden thinks we should grow up and stop boasting
Culture
Close calls
The blues can still be a music of compelling intimacy. Richard Cook hears living proof in the work of Kelly Joe Phelps
Greek myths
Film byJonathan Romney
Monstrous regiment
Theatre byDavid Jays
Red paint
Art byCharles Darwent
New for old
Design byHugh Aldersey-Williams
Books
Paradoxes and circles. Can new Labour succeed where Churchill failed and solve one of the great intractable problems of British politics?
Unfinished Business: Reforming the House of Lords Ivor Richard and Damien Welfare Vintage, 226pp, £6.99
Sadistic longings
At Home with the Marquis de Sade Francine du Plessix Gray Chatto & Windus, 400pp, £20 Sade: A Biographical Study Laurence J Bongie University of Chicago Press, 336pp, £23.25
Cast of cliches
Lying in Bed Polly Samson Virago Press, 213pp, £14.99
Talking it over
Lucky George: Memoirs of an Anti-Politician George Walden Allen Lane, 401pp, £17.99
Novel of the week
The Clay Machine-Gun Victor Pelevin, translated by Andrew Bromfield Faber & Faber, 335pp, £9.99
A man out of place
Savaging the Civilised: Verrier Elwin, His Tribals, and India Ramachandra Guha University of Chicago Press, 336pp, £25.50
