01 August 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

Why Britain is great

We're called upon to stand firm and defend our core values. But what are those values? In the 21st century, what defines us, what makes Britain great for us? This is often seen as right-wing, jingoist territory, but as the historian Tristram Hunt makes clear, the left too is proud to be British, and this is the moment to show it

By Tristram Hunt

Features

Difference unites us

By Ekow Eshun

This has nothing to do with the Blitz spirit, writes Ekow Eshun. It is about a modern society founded on mutual respect

Marmite, Ryvita and a stash of cash

By Denis MacShane

The Solidarity union was born 25 years ago this summer, rocking the communist world. Denis MacShane recalls his own modest part in a story that changed history

Essay

NS Essay - 'As oil ceases to be cheap and reserves start to deplete, we will be left with an enormous surplus population that the earth will not support'

By James Howard Kunstler

Somehow we have persuaded ourselves that fossil fuels will never run out. But they will, and much sooner than we think. In an extract from his chilling new book, James Howard Kunstler describes the long emergency that lies before us

Regulars

New Statesman Leader

We must know what we stand for

Darcus Howe finds frenzy at the mosque

By Darcus Howe

On a visit to Brixton Mosque, I found frenzy, fist fights and zeal without knowledge

Mark Thomas prefers freedom

By Mark Thomas

According to our Home Secretary, the official position is: negotiate with terrorists, no; negotiate with torturers, yes. The Third Way strikes again

Competition

Win vouchers to spend at any Tesco store

Culture

The A-listers' belief system

By Boyd Farrow

Why was there a Scientology tent on the set of War of the Worlds? Boyd Farrow explains how this cult religion, whose followers believe that people are immortal spiritual beings, is gaining ground thanks to support from Hollywood's biggest stars

Film

Death in the afternoon

By Christopher Bray

Film - Christopher Bray explores a world of secrets and stifled passion in Claude Chabrol's claustrophobic thrillers

Theatre

Michael Portillo - Comedy of errors

By Michael Portillo

Theatre - Sex may no longer shock, but a farce by Joe Orton still startles, writes Michael Portillo What the Butler Saw Hampstead Theatre, London NW3

Film

Miranda Sawyer - Dark imaginings

By Miranda Sawyer

Film - Burton takes a bitter-sweet view of Dahl's weird sugar world, writes Miranda Sawyer Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (PG)

Television

Andrew Billen - Need to know

By Andrew Billen

Television - Peter Taylor uncovers jihadists in Waziristan - and Wembley. By Andrew Billen The New al-Qaeda (BBC2)

Books

The metropolis with seven billion people . Multiculturalism is dead, according to its critics. But the logic of globalisation means an increasing number of people from different cultures living together in future. Ziauddin Sardar wonders if we can ever all get on

By Ziauddin Sardar

Multicultural Politics: racism, ethnicity and Muslims in Britain Tariq Modood Edinburgh University Press, 272pp, £45 (hbk)/£16.99 (pbk) ISBN 0748621725 After the Cosmopolitan?: multicultural cities and the future of racism Michael Keith Routledge, 232pp, £65 (hbk)/£21.99 (pbk)