03 June 2002

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

Don't save the Queen - for her sake

Junk the Jubilee - Elizabeth Windsor has led a life of unmitigated weirdness, leaving her emotional machinery almost entirely out of order. By Johann Hari

By Johann Hari

Features

The rise of the dour technocrats

By John Kampfner

Stephen Byers was one of the Blair gang, but he got carried away with his reputation for media savvy. The reshuffle shows that ministers who keep their heads down will now do best

Royal scams

By Matthew Morgan

Junk the Jubilee

Royal rumours

By Johann Hari

Junk the Jubilee

The royal faith forum

By Francis Beckett

Junk the Jubilee

No royalty in this house

By Charlotte Fraser

Junk the Jubilee

Flames clinging to a torched village

By Kamila Shamsie

India talks of terrorism, and the world listens. But the Kashmiris have tens of thousands dead, and the world is deaf to their plight. By Kamila Shamsie

You are wrong, Mr Blair: it is you who is prejudiced about science, and it is the people at large who have respect for the evidence

By Colin Tudge

The Prime Minister believes in the unfailing beneficence of high tech. Colin Tudge, who has devoted his adult life to scientific study, wants him to think again

Essay

NS Essay - Whose culture are we talking about?

By Deborah Cameron

In our attitudes both to immigrants and to foreign languages in schools, we take it for granted that Britain should be a monoglot society. This is bad history, and it will be bad for our future, argues Deborah Cameron

Regulars

New Statesman Leader

The monarchy has absolutely no role to play

Junk the Jubilee

Cristina Odone on the foreigners' favourite Brit

By Cristina Odone

What does Britain stand for? Even where the red flags fly, it's still the Queen

Darcus Howe finds an intifada up north

By Darcus Howe

What we are seeing, among young Asians in the northern towns, is an intifada

John Pilger sees Israel denying its past

By John Pilger

Ethnic cleansing attended the birth of Israel but, more than 50 years later, the country is still in denial about its bloody past. Those who speak out risk their jobs

Competition

Win vouchers to spend at any Tesco store

Culture

Better than Bollywood

By Salil Tripathi

It's a hot summer for India's film industry, but Salil Tripathi prefers a film-maker who favours reality over schmaltz

Kitsch Britannia

By Ned Denny

Art - Ned Denny discovers tacky baubles and true gems among the Queen's treasures

Moving target

By Nicholas Blincoe

Video games - Nicholas Blincoe takes a nostalgia trip back to the virtual reality of the Eighties

Radio

Local heroes

By Louis Barfe

Radio - Louis Barfe on why voices from the regions are worth a national outing

Film

Day of the arachnid

By Philip Kerr

Film - Philip Kerr watches a new superhero dangle against an old skyline

Television

Keeping ma'am about the money

By Andrew Billen

Television - Andrew Billen on the fascinating secrets of the Queen's counting house

The Fan

The Fan - Hunter Davies

By Hunter Davies

In the mornings, I use the same bathwater as my wife. So for the World Cup, she will have to sharpen up her act, getting out of it the second the half-time whistle blows