19 May 2003

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 final bout

Seconds away, the climactic round of Blair v Brown. The euro is the immediate issue, but the two now have such radically different aims and views that something has to give

By John Kampfner

Features

Confessions of a non-rebel

By Fiona Mactaggart

Fiona Mactaggart, the MP for Slough, has never voted against the government. Now her patience is wearing thin

Don't say yes, don't say no

By David Boyle

Do we really need to make up our minds between the pound and the euro? Not according to David Boyle, who argues we should embrace both - and invent even more currencies

Modernisation? We didn't mean this

By Robin Cook

Robin Cook demands that Tony Blair put forward two simple alternatives for Lords reform: an all-appointed House or one where the majority is elected

A question of late delivery

By Dennis Sewell

Dennis Sewell finds that, without more doctors and nurses, we shall wait 12 or 15 years before the NHS offers standards of care comparable to those of our European neighbours

When Big Brother just can't cope

By Nick Cohen

The Criminal Records Bureau was meant to make us safer by checking the pasts of teachers and social workers. Now it's a multimillion-pound disaster

Tell John Humphrys first

By Andrew Sparrow

MPs should encourage ministers to make policy announcements on Today

Essay

NS Essay - For Europe's sake, keep Britain out

By John Gray

John Gray argues that the world needs an assertive power as a counterweight to the US, and that this cause can only be set back if Blair takes us into the euro

Interview

NS Interview - Neil MacGregor

By Mary Riddell

As Iraq's treasures were looted, the British Museum's director furiously phoned No 10, demanding tanks to guard the buildings. Neil MacGregor interviewed

Regulars

New Statesman Leader

So who does Bush bomb now?

Darcus Howe on black kids at posh schools

By Darcus Howe

I, too, thought of sending my child to private school. I was right to change my mind

Mark Thomas has had enough of the SWP

By Mark Thomas

The anti-war movement suffered from the dominance of the SWP: its main interest was in recruiting more people to sell the party's paper, not in achieving peace

Competition

Win vouchers to spend at any Tesco store

Culture

The real war heroes

By Christina Lamb

The role of women in conflict is strangely undocumented. Christina Lamb on a powerful collection of photographs that portrays them as more than simply victims

Northern lights

By Julia Darling

After years in the darkness, Newcastle is emerging as one of Britain's most vibrant cities. But, writes the poet Julia Darling, despite the beautiful new buildings, it is its community spirit that makes it special