09 October 2000
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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
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
Books
More sinner than saint. She may be the people's politician, but Lynn Barber finds that Mo Mowlam is sadly lacking in "people skills" and has few admirers among close colleagues
Mo Mowlam: the biography Julia Langdon Little, Brown, 288pp, £16.99 ISBN 0316853046
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
