05 February 2001
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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
Laughing all the way to No 10?
Brown has come out of the Mandelson affair smelling of roses. But if he ever gets to the top his old Labour admirers may be in for a shock
Features
The great white shark of Whitehall
Forget about Tony Blair's "presidential" powers. It is HM Treasury that now dominates government. Its role should be diminished, argues Stuart Weir
Another time, another Mandy
We are still fascinated by the Profumo affair, not just because of the cast of characters, but because it symbolised profound change
Is earthquake prediction just literature?
Disaster strikes India and El Salvador, and yet not a single scientist saw it coming. Mark Buchanan explains why
A nation mocked too much
On the BBC, Jeremy Clarkson snips Wales off the map and stuffs it in the microwave. Hilarious! Ian Hargreaves (b. Lancs) demands a halt
The death of the Israeli left
The imminent election of Ariel Sharon represents the collapse of a whole way of thinking. Lindsey Hilsum reports
The New Statesman Special Report - Who cares for the Gulf war veterans?
The results of war service for Britain include suicide, prison and chronic illness. By Alexandra O'Brien
My mum could have saved M&S
We are allowing global branding to destroy a vital part of Britain's heritage
I have seen the future, and it's lousy
Will tomorrow's leaders touch the people's hearts? Not if the student politicians of today are any guide, reports Johann Hari
Gay men of the world, give up the Russian roulette
Aids has ceased to terrify, now that it no longer seems a death sentence. But new data casts doubt on our victory over the disease
Cut speed limits to 20mph
NS/Fabian Society Second-Term Agenda - Cut speed limits to 20mph
An old elite is back in the saddle
The toppling of a corrupt Filipino president was not a victory for "people power"
Culture
Rome sweet Rome
The great artists of the 17th century flocked to Rome, but one man towered above them all. Tom Rosenthal on Caravaggio, genius and murderer
Defrocking
Religious art - Mark Vernon on contested images of nudity in the Church
Death becomes us
Corpses - Stephen Smith lifts the lid on our squeamishness at the sight of dead bodies
Film
Speeding ticket
Film - The drugs tsar, Keith Hellawell, lays down the law on Michael Douglas's new film
Television
Get on that high horse
Television - The Holocaust Memorial Day coverage packs pathos, but fails to convince Andrew Billen
Books
Voting with your wallet. After a huge propaganda campaign, the stock market is now seen as noble and democratic in its promise of riches for everyone. Naomi Klein on the myth of the People's Market
One Market Under God Thomas Frank Secker and Warburg, 425pp, £18.99 ISBN 0436276194
Maiden aunt
Jane Austen Carol Shields Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 208pp, £12.99 ISBN 0297646192
Tasting the breeze
The Body Artist Don DeLillo Picador, 124pp, £13.99 ISBN 0330484958
The chaos of being. The prolific historian Niall Ferguson is an old-style sceptical Tory in search of a party. John Gray on his devastating critique of economic determinism
The Cash Nexus: money and power in the modern world 1700-2000 Niall Ferguson Allen Lane, The Penguin Press, 576pp, £20 ISBN 0713994657
Novel of the week
An Obedient Father Akhil Sharma Faber, 282pp, £9.99 ISBN 0571206735
Dim-wits
The Magical Universe: everyday ritual and magic in pre-modern Europe Stephen Wilson Hambledon and London, 566pp, £25 ISBN 1852852518
Crime waves
Big Sky Gareth Creer Doubleday, 316pp, £9.99 ISBN 0385602308 Voluntary Madness Vicki Hendricks Serpent's Tail, 224pp, £8.99 Surface Tension Russell Celyn Jones Abacus, 248pp, £10.99
Herculean labour
The Hesperides Tree Nicholas Mosley Secker & Warburg, 312pp, 15.99 ISBN 0436205483
