05 November 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

Cover story

The rise and rise of President Blair

Jackie Ashley reveals a proposal to formalise the PM's powers and to give Britain a US-style constitution. But, she argues, it's too early to give up on parliament

By Jackie Ashley

Features

When Yanks go home, what then?

By Lindsey Hilsum

Pakistanis know that, before long, the world will forget them again. Lindsey Hilsum reports

A nation left unprotected

By Andrew Stephen

America's government institutions are so rickety that, at a time like this, the CIA, the FBI and the health services just can't cope

America must learn from Mandela

By John Carlin

What magic healed South Africa's wounds? Simple respect for others. And that, argues John Carlin, is what the US lacks in its attitude to Arabs

Lip-service diplomacy

By John Kampfner

Tony Blair will get nowhere in the Middle East until he focuses on the causes of Bin Laden, rather than waging war against him

Will justice miscarry again?

By Martin Bright

The lawyer who helped free the Guildford Four sees worrying parallels in arrests of Muslims. Martin Bright reports

When will they ever learn?

By Carol Taylor Fitz-Gibbon

Making children work harder can often lead to worse results, reports Carol Taylor Fitz-Gibbon

The theft of the truth

By Julian Evans

Ukraine is rich in coal and its wheatfields could feed 350 million. So why are most of its people so desperately poor? Julian Evans reports

The fight for a cosmopolitan future

By Ulrich Beck

What defined the nation state, according to Max Weber, was its power to declare war and peace. But who declared war after the New York attacks? Ulrich Beckon a world where old boundaries have melted away

The British become trigger happy

By Johann Hari

The gun culture has crossed the Atlantic. You can now buy a gun for £150 on a street corner near you, with no questions asked

Essay

The New Statesman Essay - The tyranny of Nicespeak

By Deborah Cameron

Today, even academics are told how to answer the phone, and every hospital has a "mission statement". Deborah Cameron on the murder of public English

Regulars

New Statesman Leader

Never forget the other Terror

Instead of dropping the bombs themselves, the US military should get Interflora to deliver them

By Mark Thomas

Sepeleven is now used as an excuse to ditch your lover, axe a boring programme, stop a diet and keep smoking

By Amanda Platell

Paul Routledge

By Paul Routledge

They have oil, gas and rum but, alas, their rulers are thieves

By Darcus Howe

When it comes to dealing with the banks, will it be Brown the Dunfermline bootboy or Brown the dull boy?

By Robert Peston

At least the gentry know the order of things: landowners first, then dogs, then wives

By Lauren Booth

Competition - Win vouchers to spend at any Tesco store

Culture

Mainlining

By Will Self

Ralph Steadman's drawings hit their target like a high-velocity bullet. Will Self, who tried to imitate his hero to disastrous effect, reveals the cartoonist's latest idea: to turn a mental asylum into an art centre