31 October 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

Democracy and demons

It provokes extreme passions. From a country the size of Wales, conflicts and arguments touch lives and shake economies across the globe. What is really going on, and are things changing? In the pages that follow, distinguished writers analyse the phenomenon that is Israel, its people, its past and its future, while here Mario Vargas Llosa introduces a nation he both admires and fears

By Mario Vargas Llosa

Regulars

New Statesman Leader

Learning the wrong lessons

The Politics Column

The politics column - Martin Bright revisits the great education divide

By Martin Bright

Downing Street is convinced the education reforms can be sold as progressive. The Prime Minister's attitude to his colleagues' reservations is said to be "robust"

Commons Confidential

Village life - Kevin Maguire asks if Byers has gone Awol

By Kevin Maguire

How Tony helped Dave, to Old Etonian cheers, while everyone ignored Cherie

Darcus Howe bids farewell to Rosa Parks

By Darcus Howe

I interviewed Pakistanis who waved images of Bin Laden in my face, making claim to territory in Walsall

John Pilger applauds a military refusenik

By John Pilger

A British officer is facing court martial because, after two tours of Iraq, he has concluded it would be illegal to return

Michela Wrong rejects the primrose path

By Michela Wrong

I find it strange that we in the west don't want to allow Africa similarly flexible notions of justice to those that served us well

Competition

Win vouchers to spend at any Tesco store

Culture

Beethoven who?

By Piers Hellawell and Andrew Missingham

The Battle of Ideas is a series of debates presented by the Institute of Ideas. One of the fiercest fights will be on the issue of cultural education. Opposing speakers Piers Hellawell and Andrew Missingham give the NS an exclusive preview

Michael Clark . . . the rough guide

By Nadine Meisner

Contemporary dance - Nadine Meisner waited so long for Michael Clark to give her an interview that in the end she just went ahead on her own

Radio

Radio - Rachel Cooke

By Rachel Cooke

Fear is all about us right now - even sand dunes can turn into objects of terror

Theatre

Michael Portillo - Deadly descent

By Michael Portillo

Theatre - In the semi-darkness, a novel comes to life in fragments, writes Michael Portillo Underground Old Abattoir, London EC1

Film

Victoria Segal - Something missing

By Victoria Segal

Film - The master of deadpan goes on a tortuous journey to nowhere, writes Victoria Segal Broken Flowers (15)

Television

Andrew Billen - Sound judgement

By Andrew Billen

Television - Full of vulgar touches, this adaptation is truly Dickensian, writes Andrew Billen Bleak House (BBC1)

The Fan

The fan - Hunter Davies would not be a football reporter today

By Hunter Davies

I longed to be a football reporter, but today's spoilt stars must make it hell

Books

The wisdom of the ancients. The publisher Canongate has asked an international panel of starry writers to update myths for modern audiences. But how successful can such retellings ever be? Simon Goldhill assesses the first three works in the series

By Simon Goldhill

Weight Jeanette Winterson Canongate, 151pp, £12 ISBN 1841956716 The Penelopiad Margaret Atwood Canongate, 199pp, £12 A Short History of Myth Karen Armstrong Canongate, 159pp, £12

How I became a myth-maker

By Jamie Byng

Canongate boss Jamie Byng remembers how their new myth series began

Live and let live

By Christopher Bray

The Moneypenny Diaries Edited by Kate Westbrook John Murray, 272pp, £12.99 ISBN 0719567408 James Bond: the man and his world Henry Chancellor John Murray, 250pp, £20 Ian Fleming and James Bond: the cultural politics of 007 Edited by Edward P Comentale, Stephen Watt and Skip Willman Indiana University Press, 283pp, £12.95 Ken Adam and the Art of Production Design Christopher Frayling Faber & Faber, 316pp, £20