09 October 2000

From the Editor…

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Cover story

Schools that teach children to lie

Hywel Williams, a former master at Rugby, marvels at the hypocrisies, ancient and modern, that continue to sustain the English public schools

Features

In the footsteps of H G Wells

The great author called for a Human Rights Act; 60 years later, we have it

Francs, lies and videotape

A dead man's confession about frauds and scams threatens to ruin Jospin, Chirac and the Fifth Republic itself

A jailbreak out of an Ealing comedy

Pat Pottle, one of the duo who sprang the Soviet spy George Blake from prison, died last weekend. Nick Cohen recalls his extraordinary story

The country that said Yes

Ireland, from inside the euro-zone, is booming. As inflation soars and wage pressures grow, are there any regrets? John Lloydreports

At No 11, it's Victorian values again

Tristram Hunt argues that the Chancellor is an essentially Dickensian character

Deaths in a cause that is already won

The bloodshed is in vain. Israel has decided to settle with the Palestinians; the real enemies are the Orthodox absolutists within its borders

For now, the world's little warriors can fight on

A charter to stop children becoming soldiers sounds good. But the US is not keen, reports Barbara Gunnell

Children who are not so special after all

New Labour wants social inclusion, but seems reluctant to fund special needs education. Is this not a form of segregation?

Nothing can beat a wee dram

A visit to a distillery reminds Edward Russell-Walling of an endangered subculture

In Russia, make way for the new Italians

Forget the proletarian's sack-like clothes, today's Russian women are fashionistas, reports Catherine Merridale

Essay

The New Statesman Essay - Why the world is simpler than you think

Earthquakes, forest fires, wars and stock markets: do they all follow a universal law?

Culture

Where do we go to die?

With our cemeteries almost full, staying buried is getting harder. Fergus Fleming digs up some morbidly fascinating truths about funerary customs, and asks where do we go when we die?

Stiffed

Burial - Michael Waterhouse contemplates our gravest concerns

The absolute end

Apocalypse - Damian Thompson is disappointed by the Royal Academy's lazy exploitation of shock value

Do, ray, ME

Music - Richard Cook on how Keith Jarrett's illness has intensified his appeal to his followers

Ozon layer

Film - Jonathan Romney on sex and death in Bavaria

History lesson

Television - Andrew Billen on an attempt to make classrooms of our homes

Books

United they stand

Servants of the People: the inside story on new Labour Andrew Rawnsley Hamish Hamilton, 448pp, £17.99 ISBN 0241140293

Two fat drunks

The Best of Enemies: England v Germany, a century of football rivalry David Downing Bloomsbury, 246pp, £16.99 ISBN 0747549788

Cleaved apart

Eclipse John Banville Picador, 214pp, £15.99 ISBN 0330339338

Novel of the week

MotherKind Jayne Anne Phillips Cape, 292pp, £15.99 ISBN 0099288737

The impossibility of love. Edward Skidelsky on the failure and despair of Bertrand Russell

Bertrand Russell 1921-70: The Ghost of Madness Ray Monk Jonathan Cape, 574pp, £25 ISBN 0224051725

Mad - and bad

The Arrogance of Power: the secret world of Richard Nixon Anthony Summers with Robbyn Swan Victor Gollancz, 640pp, £20 ISBN 0575062436

Posh revolutionary

Articles of Resistance Paul Foot Bookmarks, 318pp, £14.99 ISBN 1898876649

The interview

Preview: Ken Livingstone: “The world is run by monsters”

The interview

Preview: Boris Johnson: “I’ll tell you what makes me angry – lefty crap”

On Syria

Intervention in Syria won’t work, so how do we stop Assad?

GOP race so far

Infographic: Republican primary race 2012

Mind your B-sides

Mind your B-sides

Time to rethink

Time to rethink, not reassure

Who minds?

Latter Day Taint?

Alistair Darling

Alistair Darling, the Miliband dilemma and what the party must do next
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