24 March 2003
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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
Dubbya's diplomatic quagmire
Bush thought he could throw his weight around as he liked in the world. He was amazed to find that 95 per cent of non-Americans didn't care for the idea
Features
How Blair made a deal with Bush
The PM has become a hostage to the US. His future depends on Americans keeping their promises
Hail, the mini Bin Ladens
Among the silky black turbans of Quetta, otherwise known as Taliban Central, Christina Lamb hears grim forebodings
Will they ever work together again?
Britain and France have a common interest in containing US power. The tragedy of recent weeks is that their strategies have drifted so far apart
The wrong blueprint for Baghdad
The Balkans are hailed as proof that western intervention improves native lives. Wrong, reports Mark Almond
The emotional gluttons against the war
No invasion can be worse for the Iraqis than what they now suffer. The protesters are guilty of the same mass sentimentality that greeted Diana's death
Why Tuscany hates Blair
The PM needs to find a new holiday destination. He is no longer welcome in Chiantishire
You won't make money, so make love . . .
That, more or less, is the advice of the billionaire Warren Buffett: even if the Iraq war ends quickly, the world economy still has multiple problems
Essay
NS Essay - 'The white working class see newcomers leapfrogging over them to join the national elite'
New Labour despises old community values and puts meritocracy first. Recent migrants, as well as those who have lived in Britain for generations, feel cheated
Regulars
Mark Thomas - Who really supports "our boys"?
Support "our boys"? I want UK troops back where they belong, away from the danger of being killed and instead jumping vaulting horses in the Blue Peter studio
Cristina Odone unmasks the hot cross bun plotters
To counter the stories about hot cross buns, we need more brutes like Alastair Campbell
Darcus Howe heeds Mandela's words
The Iraqis can bring about regime change themselves, just as black South Africans did
Paul Routledge reveals an MP's unfond farewell
The story behind Cook's resignation, a timely ban in the pub, and a lady MP's ripe language
Competition
Win vouchers to spend at any Tesco store
Culture
The first liberal imperialist
The great Mughal emperor Akbar believed in religious tolerance and reason. But his quest to achieve peace provides a cautionary example to today's western leaders
Colourful combos
The 16th-century masterpiece that is Hamzanama
Exposure
Art - Isabel Carlisle looks beneath the veil to reveal its many different meanings
Dare to dance
Music - Peter Conrad is enchanted by a revival of Tchaikovsky's forgotten opera
Scene stealers
While contemplating future Oscar winners, I meet President Bush
Film
The worst years of their lives
Film - Philip Kerr finds himself sober at a party where everyone else is high or drunk, or both
Theatre
Fatal attraction
Theatre - Sheridan Morley enjoys Strindberg's favourite play, but is disappointed by a plodding homage to Alan Ayckbourn
Television
Couplings and recouplings
Television - Andrew Billen on the shocking moment when Cold Feet went six feet under
The Fan
The fan - Hunter Davies advises a look at Spanish bottoms
Confused which Spaniards are on the telly? Look at the players' bums
Books
Peace on the Ripper
As the Red Riding novels are adapted for television, we revisit David Peace's writing for the NS on the murders that inspired them. Also, read our profile of the author .
Telly tubby
Personality Andrew O'Hagan Faber and Faber, 327pp, 16.99 ISBN 0151010005
A puppet prince
Perkin: a story of deception Ann Wroe Jonathan Cape, 550pp, £20 ISBN 0224069705
Being there
Telegram from Guernica: the extraordinary life of George Steer, war correspondent Nicholas Rankin Faber and Faber, 283pp, £14.99 ISBN 0571205631
The game of war
War Is A Force That Gives Us Meaning Chris Hedges Public Affairs, 212pp, £12.99 ISBN 1903985595
Day of infamy
Dreaming War: blood for oil and the Cheney-Bush junta Gore Vidal Clairview Books, 208pp, £9.95 ISBN 1902636414
Novel of the week
Judge Savage Tim Parks Secker & Warburg, 442pp, £16.99 ISBN 043620598X
