03 September 2001

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

Jason Cowley, Editor, New Statesman

Features

Abroad, the British are all humbug

By John Kampfner

Westminster

Charles, the miserable sinner

By John Lloyd

John Lloyd goes to church at Balmoral with the royals and asks if the kirk arouses the same dark memories in the heir to the throne as it does in him

For a black farmer, the dream is over

By Lindsey Hilsum

In Zimbabwe, the wrong party, not the wrong race, makes you a target, reports Lindsey Hilsum

"Hi, it's Tony. How are the cows?"

By Peter Dunn

Death trucks in the lane, a terrible stench over the land, phone calls (allegedly) from No 10: Peter Dunn sees foot-and-mouth arrive on his doorstep

It's the rich wot get the blame

By Nick Cohen

Chaucer, Jane Austen, Martin Amis: all show capitalists as greedy and wicked. Aggrieved business leaders want a rewrite. Nick Cohen is unsympathetic

My pop idol had feet of clay

By Michael Hann

When Michael Hann saw through his hero, he began to doubt his own identity

A notebook for Mr Biswas

By Amitava Kumar

V S Naipaul now argues that the welfare state has created an army of thugs. But, once, his enlightened views on culture and society inspired Amitava Kumar

Regulars

New Statesman Leader

Why nobody wants to teach

How my hips gyrated at the joyful Notting Hill Carnival

By Darcus Howe

The vicar asked: "Was James trying to wind us up when he told us to enjoy pain?"

By Lauren Booth

Competition - Win vouchers to spend at any Tesco store

Culture

Capital of memory

By Helena Smith

In the ancient library of Alexandria, scholars first calculated the circumference of the earth and mapped the stars. And then it was lost. As its eccentric successor rises in this Egyptian seaport, will anyone use it, asks Helena Smith