07 November 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

Ambushed: Why America turned on Dubbya

This isn't just another Washington crisis; it is the worst calamity to befall a president since Watergate. An administration built on lies stands exposed as never before

By Andrew Stephen

Features

Left behind on climate change, too

By Roger Harrabin

A very un-English practice

By Nick Cohen

Torture is alien to our tradition, and evidence extracted by its use should never be accepted, argues Nick Cohen

In Iraq's wild west

By Lindsey Hilsum

Even Saddam didn't enjoy full control over the far-western tribal belt, so what can the Americans hope to achieve - and what will happen when they leave? Lindsey Hilsum is travelling with the US marines

Meanwhile, what about Iran?

By Lana Asfour

Do you remember an inn?

By Paul Kingsnorth

Blame the government, the times, the young or the global economy; blame who you like, but our traditional meeting places, pubs and hotels - the inns of old - are in a terrible mess. Here, Paul Kingsnorth and Robert Chesshyremeasure the depth of the problem

Essay

NS Essay - 'Unless Gordon Brown can get a grip on government policy, and soon, and reverse course on some of his cherished policies, he will almost certainly lose to the Tories, who seem to be selecting a little child to lead them out of the wilderness'

By Irwin Stelzer

By Irwin Stelzer: The leading American economist, who has advised both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, foresees almost certain doom for the Chancellor

Regulars

New Statesman Leader

A new Trident makes no military sense

The Politics Column

The politics column - Martin Bright on Blunkett the great class traitor

By Martin Bright

Blunkett's journey has a heavy symbolism in the Labour movement: new Labour's totemic proletarian hero has become its greatest class traitor

Mark Thomas is sickened by Guantanamo

By Mark Thomas

Guantanamo prisoners describe the pain of force-feeding as unbearable: so do not read this while you are eating

Commons Confidential

Village life - Kevin Maguire asks to see David Cameron's pass

By Kevin Maguire

Dozy Dave's fantastic plastic, trouble on't trains and the new price of spin

Competition

Win vouchers to spend at any Tesco store

Culture

Will Hollywood's blokes please stand up?

By Boyd Farrow

With the absence of good old-fashioned heroes to provide the cliff-hangers and clinches, Hollywood has started outsourcing its parts for "proper" men to hunks from Australia, Britain and Ireland

Farrell and Owen - a brief guide

By Jane Kelly

Blood, babies and guts

By Richard Cork

Visual art - Rubens not only had a prodigious skill, but the ability to learn

A casualty of circumstance

By Simon Poe

Victorian art - Simon Poe looks into the sad tale of Simeon Solomon, at last given his due as an artist

Radio

The radio column - Rachel Cooke

By Rachel Cooke

Thousands of people fear switching on 6 Music in case they get a blast of Jethro Tull

Theatre

Past crimes

By Michael Portillo

Theatre - Agatha Christie's deadliest weapon is 1930s snobbery, writes Michael Portillo And Then There Were None Gielgud Theatre, London W1

Film

Up to his old tricks

By John Lyttle

Film - Gilliam's grotesque fairy tale lacks the sparkle of real magic, writes John Lyttle The Brothers Grimm (12A)

Television

Eternal city

By Andrew Billen

Television - The BBC's big toga-saga drags, despite an imperial budget, writes Andrew Billen Rome (BBC2)

The Fan

The fan - Hunter Davies watches Spurs in the Med

By Hunter Davies

Yes, Premiership football is watched all over the world - by the Brits

Books

Losing the plot. Four hundred years ago, Catholic conspirators gathered in dark Westminster cellars, preparing to assassinate the king and parliament. Robert Winder on why we should remember them

By Robert Winder

God's Secret Agents: Queen Elizabeth's forbidden priests and the hatching of the gunpowder plot Alice Hogge HarperCollins, 445pp, £20 ISBN 0007156375 Gunpowder Plots: a celebration of 400 years of bonfire night Various Allen Lane, the Penguin Press, 188pp, £14.99 Remember Remember the Fifth of November James Sharpe Profile Books, 230pp, £15.99 Gunpowder: the story Clive Ponting Chatto & Windus, 256pp, £16.99