14 June 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

Escape from UKIP

Tired of the political correctness of the left, Aidan Rankin joined Ukip. Becoming right-wing gave him a sense of excitement, akin to indulging in sexual "rough trade". But he found a bleak world of bigots who hated foreigners, gays and Muslims

By Aidan Rankin

Features

We need a dose of mass psychotherapy

By David Nicholson-Lord

It's not just fuel prices. Traffic wardens, road humps, speed cameras - any curb on cars makes us angry. You'll only find out why if you hypnotise us

Rise of the terrorist professors

By Kevin Toolis

Throughout academia, the study of terrorism is booming. But in reality, argues Kevin Toolis, these "experts" represent an ideology that has its roots in the cold war and in Israeli conservatism

Mobiles and Mercs among the hermits

By Steve Bloomfield

Across the closed society of North Korea, a visitor finds signs of a cultural revolution that promises a new era for the people - and the end for their leader, Kim Jong-il. Steve Bloomfield reports

Brits tame the wild frontiers

By Celia Brayfield

One in three wants to emigrate, but the expats will still write home for marmalade, as Celia Brayfield did

Essay

NS Essay - Is Muslim civilisation set on a fixed course to decline?

By Ziauddin Sardar

Wahhabism, the Saudis' brand of Islam, negates the very idea of evolution in human thought and morality. Ziauddin Sardar recalls his own experiences of a faith that shuns unbelievers

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Regulars

New Statesman Leader

An arms sales ban would cost us nothing

The Politics Column

Politics - John Kampfner reveals the new "trickle-up" theory

By John Kampfner

After "trickle down", in which more wealth for the rich helped the poor (or so the Tories said), comes "trickle up". If there's less poverty, the rich pay less tax (or so Labour says)

John Pilger denounces the liberal press (yes, NStoo)

By John Pilger

In its D-Day issue, the Observer presented Blair with pat-a-cake questions. His inane replies were not challenged, but would have been questioned in any secondary school classroom

Darcus Howe argues against categorising by religion

By Darcus Howe

We should talk of Pakistani youth, not Muslim youth, and keep religion out of it

Competition

Win vouchers to spend at any Tesco store

Culture

Girls, girls, girls

By Rachel Cooke

Beauty contests, once the epitome of glamour, have been driven out by feminism and the tabloids. But the fake tans, smiles and swimsuits seem almost innocent in today's world of Botox, breast implants and trout pouts

An obligation to truth

By D D Guttenplan

Documentary - D D Guttenplan reflects on his friendship and final interview with Edward Said

Paradise lost

By Richard Cork

Art - Richard Cork discovers that gardens can be both idyllic retreats and places of menace

Expensive thrills

By Judith Palmer

Performance - Judith Palmer boards a magical ghost train with no rubber skeletons in sight

Theatre

Michael Portillo - A battle lost

By Michael Portillo

Theatre - A staging of George Orwell's classic fails to capture the lyrical power of the original, writes Michael Portillo Homage to Catalonia Teatre Romea, Barcelona

Film