13 February 2006

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

Iran: the next war

Bush and Blair are gearing up for it, and they are preparing us, too - just as they did before attacking Iraq. But where is the threat?

By John Pilger

Features

Cartoons and oil

By Lindsey Hilsum

The Americans are seeking ways to cut themselves off from the Muslim world. For Europe that is not an option. Difficult as it may sometimes be, we have to learn to live together

Freedom of speech is Islamic, too

By Ziauddin Sardar

The easy assumption is that the Muslim world is hypersensitive because it does not believe in freedom of expression. Nothing could be further from the truth

1 comment

Danish butter? No thanks

By James Montague

Don't be such a sucker

By David Cox

The bad guys of British business are out to get you, writes David Cox, but you can hit them where it hurts

The story was, in journalistic terms, an earthquake. it confirmed that Khrushchev had indeed made his rumoured speech denouncing Stalin

By John Rettie

Special report - A pawn in a dangerous game that went right to the heart of Soviet power politics or a conduit for a disaffected agent, one-time Reuters correspondent John Rettie looks back on the events of 1956 that catapulted him into a murky world

Regulars

New Statesman Leader

Publish and be damned was always a myth

The Politics Column

The politics column - Martin Bright says don't ignore the baby boomers

By Martin Bright

Baby boomer voters, who will be 50 or over at the next election and who turn out in large numbers, hold the key to the next election. Labour is only just waking up to this

Kira Cochrane for gives Cher, Dolly and Jordan

By Kira Cochrane

Cosmetic surgery is the entertainment industry's "elephant in the corner": often glaringly obvious but always denied

Commons Confidential

Village life - Kevin Maguire goes vulture-spotting in Durham

By Kevin Maguire

Vultures circle over Durham, Osborne hedges his bets, and that lodge in the Press Gallery

Competition

Win vouchers to spend at any Tesco store

Culture

Flights of fancy

By Marina Warner

From burlesque and masquerade to juggling and rope-dancing, Angela Carter's imagination delighted in illusion. Now, 14 years after her death, a brilliant theatrical venture breathes new life into her fiction