15 April 2002

From the Editor…

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Cover story

Who does he think he is?

Middle East War - Is Blair backing Arafat or Sharon? Or does he just want to please Bush? John Kampfner unravels the mysteries of Britain's Middle East policies

Features

It's the turn of the kings and knaves

Middle East War - So peace is up to Arab leaders? Lindsey Hilsumin Bethlehem finds the prospect discouraging

No parking tickets for Jews

Middle East War - . . . and other myths flourish among young Muslims in France as the press warns of a Gallic intifada. Adam Sageon how Middle East tensions have hit Paris

The terrible lesson of Colonel Adams

As the US pursues a terrorist war, it looks all too likely to repeat the British errors that handed victory to Sinn Fein and the IRA, argues Andrew Stephen

The return of imperialism

Empire is no longer a dirty word: it is now a respectable debating point among thinkers and politicians. John Lloyd on a global U-turn

The socialist and the alchemist

Most French voters can't tell the difference between Jospin and Chirac. Maybe, after the forthcoming elections, they will just swap places

The greatest folly of our age

Clare Short believes that rural India needs more hi-tech. Wrong, wrong, wrong, argues Colin Tudge. The farmers themselves know better

Wear a vest, and cut the gaffes

Roy Hattersley in the forefront of fashion? Well, yes, according to Annalisa Barbieri

Thumbs up for the bright, white folks

Eugenics has a loyal and respectable following in the US - especially on the right. Hywel Probertreveals some surprising links between Bush and Hitler

A bad case of judicial perversity

Richard Colbey on another deplorable example of how we treat accident victims

Essay

The New Statesman Essay - Inside the pressure cooker

John Sutherlandon the fury and bitchiness of the London literary world

Regulars

A bad hair week for republicans?

In memoriam, the Queen Mother

Paul Routledge

Why the death of the Queen Mum failed to move blacks

In memoriam, the Queen Mother - Why the death of the Queen Mum failed to move blacks

A death to care about

In memoriam, the Queen Mother - MPs can do nothing about the death of a 101-year-old, but they could make firms liable for the deaths of young workers

What a great funeral

The Queen should stick to Christmas broadcasts but, otherwise, the Brits give great funeral

Ministers think the Tories won the taxation argument in 1997 and 2001. But - phew! - Labour has won it now

Ministers think the Tories won the taxation argument in 1997 and 2001. But - phew! - Labour has won it now

Competition

Win vouchers to spend at any Tesco store

Culture

Dream doll

From feminist bugbear to forbidden cultural artefact, this contentious toy was, in fact, designed by a working mother for her daughter. Gaby Wood reveals the brain behind Barbie

Age of innocence

Easy reading - Malcolm Clark visits the optimistic (and Aryan) world of Ladybird books

Crowning moment

In memoriam, the Queen Mother - Pomp and ceremony. William Cook rediscovers an anthropological relic

Token credit

Film - Philip Kerr on Denzel Washington's plea to be recognised for his acting and not his race

Mrs T and sympathy

Television - Andrew Billen on the BBC play that took 15 years to reach our screens

These armbands and one-minute silences have got out of hand

In memoriam, the Queen Mother - These armbands and one-minute silences have got out of hand

Books

School-marm murders

Hatchett and Lycett Nigel Williams Viking, 429pp, £10.99 ISBN 0670912557

No surrender

Statecraft: Strategies for a Changing World Margaret Thatcher HarperCollins, 486pp, £25 ISBN 0007107528

Male obsessions

The Escape Artist: Life from the saddle Matt Seaton Fourth Estate, 186pp, £14.99 ISBN 1841151033

Novel of the week

Moral Hazard Kate Jennings Fourth Estate, 175pp, £10 ISBN 1841157376

Speaking in tongues

Language In Danger: How Language Loss Threatens Our Future Andrew Dalby Allen Lane, The Penguin Press, 329pp, £18.99 ISBN 0713994436 The Power of Babel: A Natural History of Language John McWhorter Heinemann, 340pp, £16.99

Resurrecting the past

The Wreck at Sharpnose Point Jeremy Seal Picador, 320pp, £15.99 ISBN 033037463X

A vision of hell

A Guide to the End of the World: Everything you never wanted to know Bill McGuire Oxford University Press, 224pp, £11.99 ISBN 0713994436

Paperback reader

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress Dai Sijie Vintage, 172pp, £6.99 ISBN 0099286432

Fidel Castro

The last revolutionary

The last revolutionary

Steve Richards

On Tory policy

Our future in their hands

Science

Religion and Darwin

Since the dawn  of time

James Macintyre

Miliband's dilemma

Brussels is back with a vengeance

Will Self

On Oscar Wilde

Where the Wilde things are

Film review

Bright Star

Bright Star (PG)

Books

Paul Auster

Invisible

Interview

Alain de Botton

The Books Interview: Alain de Botton

Vote!

Was the government wrong to sack David Nutt?

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