26 July 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

Features

The PM's greatest triumph

By John Kampfner

Lords Hutton and Butler have given him the final imprimatur of the Whitehall establishment. Even Blair's critics now expect him to continue into a third term. John Kampfner reports

Blair's survival baffles the soldiers

By Stephen Grey

Posterity's verdicts

By Sam Blake

A new force in British politics

By Rob Blackhurst

Most voters don't care about foreign policy. Muslims do, and the results could be dramatic

The new puritans

By Cristina Odone

From No 10 to the Daily Mail, a Cromwellian vanguard wants to purge our excesses

Regulars

New Statesman Leader

Bite the bullet on council tax

Darcus Howe wants to rescue, not tag, the young

By Darcus Howe

Spare me law-and-order measures. We must rescue young people, not tag them

Competition

Win vouchers to spend at any Tesco store

Culture

The decisive moment

By Tom Stoddart

An open-air exhibition of photographs on London's South Bank is attracting more than 2,000 visitors a day, from tourists to City suits. For Tom Stoddart, the man whose work they are flocking to see, it is testimony to the abiding power of the still image

Into the deep

By Richard Cork

Art - Richard Cork discovers that Manet was obsessed with more than urban alienation and erotic encounters

Fun fair

By Wayne Hemingway

Village fetes - Wayne Hemingway, designer, is looking forward to getting his fix of fancy dress and trestle tables at the V&A

Theatre

Michael Portillo - Thrill of the chase

By Michael Portillo

Theatre - A worldly, lusty satire of base motives and selfishness. By Michael Portillo House of Desires Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon

Film

Mark Kermode - Brief encounters

By Mark Kermode

Film - A romantic gem, a no-strings affair and a true crime. By Mark Kermode Before Sunset (15) Thunderbirds (PG) The Manson Family (18)

Television

Andrew Billen - No laughing matter

By Andrew Billen

Television - Good new comedy is hard to find in the US

Books

The fury of disappointed love Tony Blair came to power proclaiming that, under new Labour, Britain would no longer have to choose between the US and Europe. Many believed him. But, writes Rodric Braithwaite, the disasters of war in Iraq have laid waste to his admirable goals

By Rodric Braithwaite

Free World: why a crisis of the west reveals the opportunity of our time Timothy Garton Ash Allen Lane, the Penguin Press, 308pp, £17.99 ISBN 0713997648