02 October 2000

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

Nightmare on Downing Street

The Conservatives cannot succeed on their merits because they have none, believes Ivan Massow. But Labour supporters could foolishly let them in

Features

Whatever happens, Serbia's changed

Milosevic has bought time by forcing a run-off election. Tim Judahfears that we have not seen the end of him yet

No revolution, thanks, we're Czech

Globalisation may bring problems in its wake but, to the citizens of Prague, it is infinitely preferable to the communism of the past, reports Lindsey Hilsum

The return of the Tufton-Buftons

The Conservative Party is turning its back on Essex Man and selecting once again the squire, the earl and the soldier, reports Robbie Millen

All hail, King Daddie Poo Pants

. . . or how a book of Ronald Reagan's letters threatens to rewrite recent American history. Scott Lucasreports on a dangerous case of amnesia

A law that does the police no good

Stop and search powers continue to damage race relations. Yet the Home Office is reluctant to abandon them. Brian Cathcarton new evidence that they do more harm than good

A faraway struggle that began in the west

The scene is being set for a new Great Game in central Asia. John Lloydon the contaminating influence of the Taliban

The case of Khrushchev's shoe

All her life, she had been asked about her grandfather's famous display of anger at the UN. Nina Khrushcheva went in search of the truth

When Mary had a little form to fill

Francis Beckett marvels at the dense paperwork imposed on teachers to get a £2,000 pay rise

Essay

The New Statesman Essay - The English must reclaim England

The nation has been disposed of and we don't even object

Interview

The New Statesman Interview - Alistair Darling

He is a pragmatist and a technocrat, but his doubts about the future should give his boss cause for concern. Alistair Darling interviewed

Culture

Passion parade

Every ten years, half a million visitors flock to a tiny Bavarian village to watch a medieval mystery play. William Cook makes the pilgrimage

Cashing in

Art - Julian Stallabrass on protest art impoverished by the sponsor's coin

Master Marsalis

Music - Richard Cook on a very smooth operator

Hovis ad

Film - Jonathan Romney on a wholesome but lightweight work of populist cinema

Growing attached

Television - Andrew Billen is wooed by the start of a finely cast drama set in the world of e-commerce

Books

Virgin suicide

The Blind Assassin Margaret Atwood Bloomsbury, 521pp, £16.99 ISBN 0747549370

The greatest tit

Life in the Jungle: my autobiography Michael Heseltine Hodder & Stoughton, 560pp, £20 ISBN 0340739150

Trusty sward

The Grass is Greener: our love affair with the lawn Tom Fort HarperCollins, 278pp, £12.99 ISBN 0002570645

Novel of the week

In the Shape of a Boar Lawrence Norfolk Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 320pp, £16.99 ISBN 0297646184

Earth song

Homage to Gaia: the life of an independent scientist James Lovelock Oxford University Press, 448pp, £19.99 ISBN 0192862138

History from above

Empire: the Russian empire and its rivals Dominic Lieven John Murray, 486pp, £27.50 ISBN 0719552435

One-eyed prophet

Captive State: the corporate takeover of Britain George Monbiot Macmillan, 415pp, £12.99 ISBN 0333901649

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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