25 August 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
WMDs: the biggest lie of all
Chemical and biological weapons are a red herring. They are banned because they provide low-cost defence to poor nations. Cluster bombs are just as lethal
Features
Why the BBC is losing
If the Hutton inquiry vindicates the Today programme, Tony Blair is history. But the calm of the Blairite circle suggests total confidence that the judge will come down on their side. Nick Cohen reports
Meet-up at the White House?
All of a sudden, the anti-war Howard Dean looks a serious candidate for US president
What Bush can learn from the Romans
A republic founded on high ideals of liberty becomes a great world power and then drifts into empire. Sounds familiar? It all happened 2,000 years ago
Blueprint for a screwed-up world
An international summit in Cancun next month could transfer even more power from democratic governments to big corporations
Regulars
The Politics Column
Politics - Anne Perkins praises John Prescott
Step forward the unlikely political hero of the summer: John Prescott. His weaknesses have become strengths, because he is so palpably not one of the No 10 in-crowd
Darcus Howe reveals the truth about Uganda's Asians
When Amin expelled Asians, we treated them as we now treat asylum-seekers
Competition
Win vouchers to spend at any Tesco store
Culture
What's hot in the city
Every August, Edinburgh prepares for an onslaught of artists and performers, all hoping to become star acts. And despite the crowds, the noise and the litter, the locals secretly love it, too
Outside the box
Women I - Stephanie Merritt cheers the female comedians daring to stand up and be counted
Great mistresses
Women II - Annette Morreau on three women taking up the baton in another male-dominated world
The people's car
Exhibition - John Reynolds on the forgotten Italian designer who gave us the 2CV
Film
Reality check
Film - Mark Kermode on a sci-fi adaptation of a story Philip K Dick never got round to writing
Television
To the manor born
Television - Charlotte Raven on an all-action reality show that exploits everyone equally
Books
The great game
Throughout its 35-year history, the Booker Prize has never failed to generate controversy, gossip and scandal - and that is precisely its purpose. Jason Cowley on what remains the publishing event of the year
Upstairs, downstairs
The Victorian House Judith Flanders HarperCollins, 476pp, £20 ISBN 0007131887
History revised
Politicide: Ariel Sharon's war against the Palestinians Baruch Kimmerling Verso, 240pp, £15 ISBN 1859845177
Great Scots
Electric Shepherd: a likeness of James Hogg Karl Miller Faber & Faber, 416pp, £25 ISBN 0571218164
Novel of the week
Politics Adam Thirlwell Jonathan Cape, 280pp, £12.99 ISBN 0224071041
