07 March 2005

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 Bling Bling List

It's the super-rich who have done best under Labour. The top one per cent have seen their wealth rise at a rate that the rest of us can barely comprehend. Introduction

By John Kampfner

Features

Even Desperate Housewives is a victim of the culture wars

By Francis Beckett

Violence and threats from militant religious groups are coming thick and fast, and the targets are widening. Francis Beckett argues that church leaders are among those who fail to express sufficient outrage

''Parte'', said the frontier guard

By Bert Lodge

Bert Lodge recalls the curious outcome of a mission he undertook for the late Peter Benenson, Amnesty's founder

It's everywhere: just don't talk about it

By Johann Hari

For thousands of ever younger people, hard-core pornography on the internet is becoming their introduction to sexual expression. Yet the sudden ubiquity of porn is hardly ever discussed publicly. Johann Hari on a dangerous silence

"People in England live differently . . ."

By Christina Zaba

Polish migrants work for tiny wages that British workers won't accept. But many have only the haziest idea of how cynically they are being exploited. Christina Zaba reports

Essay

NS Essay - Whether it's sex, drink, schools or culture, the English are extremists

By George Walden

England doesn't deserve its reputation for moderation. Where else do you find, in the same country, a Soviet-style health service - or aristocrats still making laws?

Regulars

New Statesman Leader

Secret justice is bad justice

John Pilger kebabs the Tonier-than-thou club

By John Pilger

Those who regard themselves as commissars of the respectable, moral, liberal class do not convey to us the enormity of what happened in Iraq. Their silence is quite disgusting

Darcus Howe quakes at Caribbean justice

By Darcus Howe

The Caribbean still needs the law lords in London as a final court of appeal - for now

Competition

Win vouchers to spend at any Tesco store

Culture

Paint it black

By Richard Cork

On the run from a death sentence, Caravaggio found a deeper, more urgent voice and produced paintings of genius. Richard Cork is mesmerised by the 17th-century master's dark, final works

With apologies to Will

By Tom Sutcliffe

Shakespeare's plays have spawned a strangely uneven subculture. Tom Sutcliffe analyses opera based on the canon, and Michael Coveney looks at theatre inspired by the Bard

You sexy thing

By Anna Shepard

Cinema - How should the most explicit film in recent memory be viewed? With pleasure

Theatre

Michael Portillo - Punch-drunk

By Michael Portillo

Theatre - Alcoholic lovers fascinate and charm, until they start to fight, writes Michael Portillo Days of Wine and Roses Donmar Warehouse, London WC2

Film

Mark Kermode - Sexual revolution

By Mark Kermode

Film - A triumph of grown-up cinema, and adolescent fare that sucks. By Mark Kermode Kinsey (15) Boogeyman (15)

Television

Andrew Billen - It's good to talk

By Andrew Billen

Television - Paul Whitehouse reveals new depth in a therapeutic sitcom, writes Andrew Billen Help (BBC2)

The Fan

The fan - Hunter Davies is surprised to see his name in the obits

By Hunter Davies

My wife lingers over photos of Mourinho, especially that moody one

Books

The holiday snaps. Abu Ghraib wasn't the fault just of US politicians and soldiers. Torture, glamourised by Hollywood, is now intrinsic to American life. By Ziauddin Sardar

By Ziauddin Sardar

Torture and Truth: America, Abu Ghraib and the war on terror Mark Danner Granta Books, 573pp, £16.99 ISBN 186207772X The Torture Papers: the road to Abu Ghraib Edited by Karen J Greenberg and Joshua L Dratel Cambridge University Press, 1,284pp, £27.50