25 April 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

How the greens were choked to death

Eight years ago their ideas dominated the political agenda, but today Britain's environmental groups - and their policies - are on the sidelines, neutralised by a lack of vision, poor leadership and a naive trust in new Labour. Jonathan Leake reports

By Jonathan Leake

Features

One-reader poll

Is he dreading what Blair's thinking?

By John Kampfner

Election: The deal - If Labour wins another landslide, as now seems possible, will the Prime Minister decide to go on and on? John Kampfner on the Brownites' nightmare

Groundhog day with Tony

By Zoe Williams

Election: the week - On tour with Blair, and we're feeling good: lives are being saved and we're riding in helicopters

This time, will even he bother to vote?

By Nick Cohen

Election: the apathy - Because many don't register, the turnout figures understate the true extent of apathy. Nick Cohen hunts for an explanation

My pledge card

Don't like Tony's six election promises? What would you prefer?

'If anything, the Conservatives are understating the rise in immigration'

By Richard Reeves

Election issue of the week - An inflow of young people is good for an economy that needs workers. Rupert Murdoch has explained why; Labour hasn't

A simple prank by a 13-year-old. Now her genetic records are on the National DNA Database for ever

By Tom Wall

Britain commands greater powers than any other state to obtain, use and store genetic information. Report

Regulars

New Statesman Leader

Labour can beat the fear factor

John Pilger - on Blair's forgotten victims

By John Pilger

Election: the outrage - By voting for Blair, you will walk over the corpses of at least 100,000 people, most of them innocent, slaughtered in defiance of international law

Darcus Howe - defends his pub landlord

By Darcus Howe

A mysterious raid on my local pub, where most of the customers are pensioners

Mark Kermode - In need of therapy

By Mark Kermode

Dysfunctional characters cause much pain and anguish, writes Mark Kermode Tarnation (15) The Wedding Date (12A) Around the Bend (15)

Competition

Win vouchers to spend at any Tesco store

Culture

A masterpiece in your front room

By Jeremy Bugler

How should an artwork be analysed? What is more important - historical background or brush strokes? Jeremy Bugler on a television series that reveals all

Infinite variety

By Michael Coveney

Encounters - Political activist, Shakespearean heroine, writer and star; Michael Coveney is entranced by Susannah York

Modern times

By Iain Simons

Video games - Want to catch Marlon Brando's last performance? Iain Simons explains how

Theatre

Michael Portillo - Empire lines

By Michael Portillo

Theatre - A musical romance of the Raj sings loud and clear, writes Michael Portillo The Far Pavilions Shaftesbury Theatre, London WC2

Television

Andrew Billen - Baby blues

By Andrew Billen

Television - An IVF mix-up makes for a tear-jerking custody drama, writes Andrew Billen Born With Two Mothers (Channel 4)

Books

How to improve Jane Austen

By William Skidelsky

Observations on the grammar check

A state like no other. Israel, once seen as a refuge, has become one of the few places where Jews are attacked simply for being Jews. Geoffrey Wheatcroft on the troubled history of a homeland

By Geoffrey Wheatcroft

Jacob's Gift: a journey into the heart of belonging Jonathan Freedland Hamish Hamilton, 395pp, £16.99 ISBN 0241142431 The Question of Zion Jacqueline Rose Princeton University Press, 208pp, £12.95 The Return of Anti-Semitism Gabriel Schoenfeld Politico's, 186pp, £14.99