15 December 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
Blessed are the peacemakers (and probably Norwegians)
As blood continues to be spilt in the Middle East, peace on earth has never seemed so unachievable. Yet the number of violent trouble spots around the world is actually declining. Anton La Guardia on the men and women who try to resolve conflicts
Features
Will a better road map get us there?
A Palestinian academic and a former head of the Israeli secret police are bringing hope to the stalled Middle East peace process. Christopher Thompson and Mark Hollingsworth report
The story of Anna and Rashid
By Jeremy Seabrook
The year that brought Blair to book
The Prime Minister once appeared to have the world at his feet. Now, all cabinet ministers are positioning themselves for the era after his departure
Boobs of the year
Clangers, blunders and embarrassments of 2003 compiled
NS Man of the year - William Shawcross
Once a model progressive, he is now the royal choice to write the Queen Mother's life and an apologist for war in Iraq. William Shawcross profiled
Apocalypse Brussels
European integration, some evangelists say, is another popish plot or worse. Janet Bush reads the signs
The rise of the British ghost town
Butchers, bakers, post offices and newsagents are closing in their dozens, leaving dead communities and, in effect, a commercial one-party state. Andrew Simms reports
The message on drugs is getting through. But is it the right one?
Ministers are "encouraged" by a drop in Ecstasy use, but ignore the wider picture. Alice O'Keeffe finds that the substances people take and how they affect their lives are, like so much else in Britain, a class issue
Why does Bush fear Venezuela?
It has a democratic president, a moderate social reform programme . . . and rather a lot of oil
The judicious use of force
Zimbabwe faces a new threat of violence, and this time it is not coming from Mugabe.
Midnight? Let's throw something
The English barely throw parties, let alone pots and pans. Sara Ferro Ribeiro on how to liven up New Year
A brave knight seeks . . . a big tent
Why does Michael Howard like Tender is the Night and Charles Kennedy The Day of the Jackal? And does Ivanhoe's appeal to Blair lie in its story of the Crusades - or in something more banal?
My big conversation with the PM
Helen McCarthy suggests citizens may use mobile technology to create their own forms of democracy
The bloggers of Westminster
Gavin Sheridan and Tom Wilson have a cautionary tale for MPs who don't keep up with technology
The New Statesman sexed-up quiz
It's been a year of unprecedented spin, unscrupulous exaggeration and hidden agendas. Can you spot the difference between fact and fiction? Answers at bottom of page
God and Mammon mingle in the mall
The beginning of the religious festival of Advent in America coincides with the biggest and most frenzied spending day of the year
Can you help this woman?
Christmas broadcast competition - win a magnum of champagne! Compiled
Christmas Carol: the green version
Would Scrooge have been so keen to buy presents for everybody if Marley had taken him on one more journey? Paul Kingsnorth rewrites an old classic
Killer on a Christmas card
The robin may be a festive symbol, but don't be fooled by his chirpy ways, writes David Cox
Some smells are heaven scent
Modern, branded perfumes are as ubiquitous as junk food - and just as bad for you. Ziauddin Sardar recommends more wholesome alternatives
Essay
NS Essay 1 - People no longer have the confidence to follow their own consciences
Our big problem is not crime but yobbery and the loss of common decency. Police, schools and the welfare system can make the British respectable again
NS Essay 2 - New science, old myth
From the Middle Ages through Marx to the free market, humankind has clung desperately to the idea of progress. And still we delude ourselves
NS Essay 3 - In defence of lust
Simple desire gets a worse press than love because it really does make fools of men, even of presidents. But Simon Blackburn sees its virtuous side
NS Essay 4 - The US has rogue leaders, but that does not make it a rogue state
America has plenty to answer for, but the country itself set the standards by which we habitually judge it
NS Essay 5 - On a (leftish) wing and a prayer?
Religion is a dirty word in British politics. But a faith system that emphasised social good might be better than today's uncritical worship of the market
Regulars
Mark Thomas wants to see the Queen in court
The aristocracy need only worry about gout, syphilis and falling off polo ponies - industrial accidents are what happen to the servants, and the crown is immune from prosecution
Darcus Howe demands answers on Winston Silcott
Another inquiry into Blakelock's murder? Let's also have one into who framed Silcott
Competition
Win vouchers to spend at any Tesco store
Culture
So, what would you loot?
The lights go out, the government has fled to its bunker, everything is abandoned, and the palaces of culture and pleasure are left unguarded. You have a torch and a burning desire to "save" something for the nation (or, perhaps, just for yourself)
Out of this world
Music 2003 - Alex James reports back from his mission to discover life on Mars
Old Romantics
Music 2003 - William Cook recalls the era of miners' strikes, hair mousse and great pop music
CDs of the year
CDs of the year with Peter Conrad, Richard Cook, Dougal Stenson and Alice O'Keeffe
Promethean flames
Art 2003 - Richard Cork finds hope and despair in a year when it wasn't only artists setting the world ablaze
The power of three
Film 2003 - Mark Kermode looks back on a year in which there were reasons to be both proud and ashamed of being British
Luvvies, actually
Theatre 2003 - Maureen Lipman on how Her Majesty got taken to the cleaners and other matters
Television
The ratings war
Television - Andrew Billen reports on the conquests and casualties behind the scenes and on our screens
The Fan
The fan - Hunter Davies sees full-frontal nudity in Scotland
We've seen full-frontal nudity in Scotland, but Wilfred has disappeared
Books
We speak, therefore we are. Is txtng the way 4ward 4 the Queen's English? Not at all. A surprise Christmas hit about punctuation shows that we are still sticklers about our language, writes Robert Winder
Eats, Shoots and Leaves Lynne Truss, Profile, £9.99 ISBN 1861976127
Born to shop - John Kampfner, our political editor, swaps Downing Street for high-street pleasures
The Shops: how, why and where to shop India Knight, Viking, £12.99 ISBN 0670913731
Gastronomic miscellany - Having had his fill of celebrity chefs, William Skidelsky samples a more varied menu of books for foodies
River Cafe Cookbook Easy Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers, Ebury Press, £20 ISBN 0091884640
Sugar and spice - Bee Wilson on a childhood favourite that exposes the childishness in aristocratic life
The Young Visiters Daisy Ashford, P. Simmonds (Illustrator), Chatto and Windus, £8.99 ISBN 0701127252
Graphic reality - David Thompson on why comics are finally shrugging off their disreputable image
Quimby the Mouse Chris Ware, Jonathan Cape, £16.99 ISBN 022407265X
