06 December 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
Cover story
My night with Mad Frankie Fraser
When "the most violent man in Britain" provides the evening's entertainment, the only safe jokes are about Gary Glitter
Features
Take me back to the dull old days
Can you imagine hearing about Adams or Paisley only in quiz questions? That's when we shall know Ulster's troubles are truly over, argues Brian Cathcart
How the FO tried to stifle the BBC
David Wedgwood Bennreveals details of an extraordinary row at the height of the cold war
Why Blair needs his grass roots
Without its activists, Labour's majority would be only 33. Patrick Seydand Paul Whiteley on a startling new survey
Why Cliff Richard is still on top
An unexpected seasonal hit suggests that celibacy is the new rock'n'roll, argues Wendy Holden
The bankers are fighting like cats
An unholy row at the Bank of England suggests that the old lady may not be ready for her role as a linchpin of new Britain, reports George Lucas
Stranded between two worlds
Countries in the old communist bloc are desperate to enter the EU. But, as crime and corruption thrive, their hopes are, if anything, dwindling. John Lloyd reports
South Africa glosses over its history
Bryan Rostronon why the ANC is as keen as the old white elite to wipe out the past
A picture doesn't tell the whole story
New Statesman Scotland
Driven from our dream home
New Statesman Scotland - After hearing threats, menacing complaints and even boasts of spying, Donna Campbellhad to escape from her neighbours from hell
Out of madness comes good sense
New Statesman Scotland - A redundant lunatic asylum has been transformed into a university campus.Tom Powis impressed with Dumfries's major new enterprise
Grassroots
New Statesman Scotland
This Alba
New Statesman Scotland
Primary Tartan
New Statesman Scotland
Essay
The New Statesman Essay - Beyond the nation state
Globalisation has killed the old politics, writesUlrich Beck. We must invent a new form
Culture
Magnum opus
The world's most famous photo agency is 50 years old. But is history, Charles Darwentwonders, entirely safe in its hands?
Man for all seasons
Classical - Dermot Clinch on Vivaldi
Card tricks
Design - Hugh Aldersey-Williams on Christmas greetings
Books
A monument to flatulence. Shakespeare's plays embody a pre-modern notion of art; they cannot be reduced to the status of Bridget Jones. Terence Hawkes explains how not to read the Bard
William Shakespeare: His Life and Work Anthony Holden Little, Brown, 367pp, £20 ISBN 0316641855
Ra, ra, Rasputin
The Powers Behind the Prime Minister: The Hidden Influence of Number Ten Dennis Kavanagh and Anthony Seldon HarperCollins, 352pp, £19.99 ISBN 0002570866
War zone
The Balkans 1904-1999: Nationalism, War and the Great Powers Misha Glenny Granta, 726pp, £25 ISBN 1862070504 Plundered Loyalties: Axis Occupation and Civil Strife in Greek West Macedonia, 1941-1949 John S Koliopoulos C Hurst and Company, 304pp, £39.50
Right, Charlie
The Spencer Family Charles Spencer Viking, 368pp, £20 ISBN 0670883239
Crime waves
Southern Seas Manuel Vasquez Montalban Serpent's Tail, 224pp, £6.99 ISBN 1852427000
Wrong turn
The Rebel Who Lost His Cause: The Tragedy of John Beckett MP Francis Beckett London House, 256pp, £20 ISBN 1902809041
A sense of an ending
Twentieth Century: A History of the World 1901 to the Present J M Roberts Allen Lane, 856pp, £20 ISBN 0670884561 Challenge to Civilisation: A History of the 20th Century Martin Gilbert HarperCollins, 932pp, £29.99 Humanity: A Moral History of the Twentieth Century Jonathan Glover Jonathan Cape, 414pp, £18.99 The Penguin Book of Twentieth Century Essays Ian Hamilton (editor) Allen Lane, 555pp, £20
Novel of the week
Hearts in Atlantis Stephen King Hodder & Stoughton, 500pp, £17.99 ISBN 0340738901
