29 March 2004

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 power of martyrdom

The killing of the Hamas spiritual leader gives militant Islam another potent image. But violent death is also revered in Judaism and Christianity

By Cristina Odone

Features

No room for the dead

By Charlie Lee-Potter

Thanks to the Victorians' ban on reusing graves, both urban and rural cemeteries are crammed and burial is becoming a rich man's pastime. Charlie Lee-Potter digs around for an alternative

Burn the village to save the village

By Neal Lawson

Blairism aims to help public services by making them commercial, and so kills their values - rather like the effect of GIs on Vietnam

A model that could save local democracy

By Jenny Rathbone

Essay

NS Essay - 'This is not the country it was when Labour returned to power in 1997'

By Jason Cowley

What do we mean by multiculturalism? In Britain, it once meant embracing the diverse traditions of the old empire, but the wider migration of recent years has changed all that. Jason Cowley explores the implications and canvasses the views of leading thinkers

Interview

NS Interview - Charles Clarke

By John Kampfner

The war? Absolutely fine. Blair? He'll run and run. Howard? Pathetic. Absolutely nothing fazes the Education Secretary. Charles Clarke interviewed

Regulars

New Statesman Leader

The only solution for Palestine

Darcus Howe asks what Greg Dyke knows about racism

By Darcus Howe

What does Greg Dyke know about police racism? Leave it to darkies like me

Mark Thomas urges the unions to take on Coca-Cola

By Mark Thomas

Turning the decent tap water in Dasani into a cancer scare - causing smokers to demand that fellow workers drink it on the office steps - is the least of Coca-Cola's crimes

Competition

Win vouchers to spend at any Tesco store

Culture

The return of the easy rider

By William Cook

The Raleigh Chopper, like the Space Hopper and the platform heel, was a triumph of form over function. The relaunch of this 1970s classic comes too late for William Cook, who would have kissed more girls and done less work if only he'd been allowed to have one

The quiet conductor

By Keith Clarke

Music - Keith Clarke celebrates the dignified career of Bernard Haitink on his 75th birthday

Hell on earth

By Richard Cork

Art - Richard Cork is moved by a disturbing reflection of our troubled times

Theatre

Michael Portillo - Saved by a song

By Michael Portillo

Theatre - Philip Pullman's novels make a perfect introduction to opera, writes Michael Portillo Clockwork Linbury Studio Theatre, London WC2

Film

Mark Kermode - Love, death and train-spotting

By Mark Kermode

Film - A satisfying oddball fable and a deliciously eerie thriller, writes Mark Kermode The Station Agent (15) Fear X (12A)

Television

Andrew Billen - Nowhere to hide

By Andrew Billen

Television - A sober documentary about catching child pornographers offers no opinions, writes Andrew Billen Police Protecting Children (BBC2)

The Fan

The fan - Hunter Davies pits Arsene against Fergie

By Hunter Davies

If you really had to, who would you go out with - Arsene or Fergie? Asks Hunter Davies

Books

The last Jewish intellectual. Raised in Jerusalem and Cairo but educated in the US, Edward Said was a maverick both culturally and politically, yet he was also a great humanist of the old school. Terry Eagleton on "an imagination quickened by the diverse and unpredictable"

By Terry Eagleton

Power, Politics and Culture: interviews with Edward W Said Edited and with an introduction by Gauri Viswanathan Bloomsbury, 485pp, £20 ISBN 0747571074