06 December 1999

From the Editor…

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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

Playing safe

Radio - Richard Cook on pop programming

Novel experience

Film - Jonathan Romney watches a screen roman

Modern editions

Television - Andrew Billen on the embroidering of 19th-century classics

Books

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

Fidel Castro

The last revolutionary

The last revolutionary

Steve Richards

On Tory policy

Our future in their hands

Science

Religion and Darwin

Since the dawn  of time

James Macintyre

Miliband's dilemma

Brussels is back with a vengeance

Will Self

On Oscar Wilde

Where the Wilde things are

Film review

Bright Star

Bright Star (PG)

Books

Paul Auster

Invisible

Interview

Alain de Botton

The Books Interview: Alain de Botton

Vote!

Was the government wrong to sack David Nutt?

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