12 May 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
The British neoconservatives
John Kampfner on a new alliance, comparable to Bush's backers in the US. Many are from the left; others, though from the right, think Blair the only leader worth influencing
Features
Who's who in the neo-con nomenklatura
Who's who in the neo-con nomenklatura.
How to solve the euro dilemma
As the deadline for the decision on the single currency looms, Ed Crooks offers a way to keep everyone happy
Mafia don or martyr?
Was Serbia's prime minister murdered because of his politics or his underworld activities?
The case for a cohabitant's charter
The media dub them "common-law husband and wife", but the term doesn't exist in law. In fact, if you're not wed, you've hardly any rights at all, as Vanessa Lloyd-Platt, a divorce lawyer, explains
Why Nick Cohen is wrong
The left opposed war in Iraq because it wished to stop the international order being trashed, argues Mark Seddon
Pain and shame - the triumph of the pox
Sars is but the latest epidemic to plague mankind. Syphilis has been around for 500 years, has claimed famous victims, and now threatens a comeback
How America helped the Mafia
This summer marks the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Sicily. Nobody wants a party. Why?
Essay
NS Essay - Why marriage fails our children
The state should be preoccupied with parenting, not partnering, argues Phillip Hodson. The Big Day should be when you decide to have a baby, not when you go to the altar
Regulars
Cristina Odone finds everyone doing God
Ali Campbell is wrong: these days, everyone is doing God, especially Tony
Darcus Howe smells blood and drains in Trinidad
Where once I rolled marbles and dice, there is now misery and murder
John Pilger remembers a courageous campaigner
The tall, ruddy-faced man opened my door and said: "I'm Jim Howard. Where do I start?" So began the rescue of Cambodia, one of the biggest and boldest relief operations in history
Competition
Win vouchers to spend at any Tesco store
Culture
Don't look back in anger
The simultaneous rise of Blair and Britpop marked a brief moment of unity between culture and politics. So where did it all go wrong? asks John Harris
Into the sun
Will Blur ever be free of the "Britpop" label? After a difficult period, the band is back with a warmer, happier new album
Day trippers
The new teletubbies - Zoe Williams on why cult children's TV programmes have lost their magic
Noble malady
Opera - Peter Conrad on the passionate history of Wagner's ideal work of Romantic art
Film
A closer look at the action
Film - Philip Kerr stages a contest between an old man's bottom and a film. The bottom wins
Theatre
Top hats and no trousers
Theatre - Sheridan Morley enjoys a French farce but finds Pinter's novel doesn't work as a play
Television
The beauty of betraying England
Television - Andrew Billen on punts, parks and patriotism
The Fan
The fan - Hunter Davies meets 60 Jimmy Savile lookalikes
Sixty Jimmy Savile lookalikes from Leeds and other award-winners
Books
The secret history. Once a terrorist and assassin, Alexander Pell convinced all who met him that he was a model American citizen. Peregrine Worsthorne on a remarkable double life
The Degaev Affair: terror and treason in tsarist Russia Richard Pipes Yale University Press, 153pp, £16.95 ISBN 0300098480
The tyranny of the topical
Lives of the Mind: the use and abuse of intelligence, from Hegel to Wodehouse Roger Kimball Ivan R Dee, 375pp, £18 ISBN 1566634792
A life in footnotes
The Last Englishman: the life of J L Carr Byron Rogers Aurum Press, 288pp, £14.99 ISBN 1854108387
Anarchy in the UK
Journalism: truth or dare? Ian Hargreaves Oxford University Press, 294pp, £12.99 ISBN 0192802747
An evil calculation
Bush's Brain: how Karl Rove made George W Bush presidential James Moore and Wayne Slater John Wiley & Son, 395pp, £18.50 ISBN 0471423270
The long goodbye
Outliving Bernard O'Donoghue Chatto & Windus, 56pp, £8.99 ISBN 0701174811
Novel of the week
Holy Fools Joanne Harris Doubleday, 431pp, £15 ISBN 0385603649
