13 February 2006
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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
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?
Features
Cartoons and oil
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
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
Don't be such a sucker
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
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
The Politics Column
The politics column - Martin Bright says don't ignore the baby boomers
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
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
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
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
Way out west
Art - Richard Cork finds agony and ecstasy in Turner's apocalyptic landscapes
Film
The dream weaver
Film - Tom Webber marvels at the grandiose visions of a passionate image-maker
Radio
Radio - Rachel Cooke
For those fed up with 5 Live, mild- mannered Marcus Brigstocke is the perfect balm
Theatre
Michael Portillo - Two's a crowd
Theatre - The savagery of a squabbling couple remains undimmed, writes Michael Portillo Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? Apollo Theatre, London W1
Film
Victoria Segal - Problem solving
Film - A wandering tale of frustrated talent never quite adds up, writes Victoria Segal Proof (12A)
Television
Andrew Billen - Rising damp
Television - Seventies squatters made a brave new world in Brixton. By Andrew Billen Lefties (BBC4)
The Fan
The fan - Hunter Davies is available (with own pencil) for Sven's job
Who would I pick for the job? Hiddink . . . and I think the FA will as well
Books
Eastern block. Edward Said got many things wrong, but his central argument was basically right. The west's denigration of the east has always gone with imperialist incursions into its terrain. By Terry Eagleton
For Lust of Knowing: the orientalists and their enemies Robert Irwin Allen Lane, the Penguin Press, 410pp, £25 ISBN 0713994150
Road trip among the dead
Killing Yourself to Live: 85 per cent of a true story Chuck Klosterman Faber & Faber, 245pp, £12.99 ISBN 0571223974
Slim pickings
Hunger: an unnatural history Sharman Apt Russell Basic Books, 262pp, £14.99 ISBN 0465071635
All too much
The Truth About Stress Angela Patmore Atlantic Books, 440pp, £12.99 ISBN 1843542358
The American scene
The FBI may have a new surveillance tool that can monitor even your thoughts - Amazon.com
Fiction - Father and son
Mother's Milk Edward St Aubyn Picador, 279pp, £12.99 ISBN 0330435892
Fiction - 'Pon my word!
Kept: a Victorian mystery D J Taylor Chatto & Windus, 431pp, £16.99 ISBN 0701178957
Fiction - To die for
The Secret River Kate Grenville Canongate, 334pp, £12.99 ISBN 1841956821
