03 April 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

Fly and be damned

We could close every factory, lock away every car and turn off every light in the country, but it won't halt global warming if we carry on taking planes as often as we do. A voluntary no-flying movement offers the only hope, argues Mark Lynas

By Mark Lynas

Features

The politics column - Martin Bright

By Martin Bright

The public will judge this government not by how bold it was in challenging left-liberal shibboleths, but whether its grandmothers were treated with respect in hospital

Heroes of our time

By Jason Cowley

Where are the great men and women who are changing the world for the better? Who are they? The New Statesman invites you, the reader, to nominate your modern hero. Over the next few weeks some familiar names will give their thoughts, while Jason Cowley explains what our search is all about. Ultimately, however, it’s up to you, so get voting . . .

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Our young runaways

By Kira Cochrane

Every year, 100,000 British children leave home with absolutely nowhere to go. How can we save them from danger and despair? Kira Cochrane finds hope in a Chicago refuge

Special Report - Sin and be happy

By Tim Parks

As Italians prepare to go to the polls, the author Tim Parks identifies a ritualistic sparring that is destroying his adopted home and the country he loves

Regulars

New Statesman Leader

Climate for change

The goal of cutting CO2 emissions by 20 per cent by 2010 has been part of Blair's self-image as a world leader. Yet the UK's record is lamentable

Mark Thomas - plays "let's start an arms company"

By Mark Thomas

I can think of no finer act of citizenship than students exposing the government's failure to control the arms trade

Darcus Howe remembers the "insohreckshan"

By Darcus Howe

To the press they were the Brixton riots, but Linton saw something different. He called it "di great insohreckshan"

Commons Confidential

Village life - Kevin Maguire ducks off

By Kevin Maguire

Tales of two deputies, lookalikes, a strange political coupling, and the latest on the Cameron hair mystery

Ziauddin Sardar takes a drugs trial

By Ziauddin Sardar

Science has ceased to be normal "puzzle solving". Welcome to the era of post-normal science

Competition

Win vouchers to spend in any Tesco store

Culture

Grand designs

By Kevin Jackson

The visionary architect Joseph Gandy was hailed as a genius during his lifetime, but he failed to attract patrons and few of his schemes were ever realised. If they had been, writes Kevin Jackson, London might look rather different today

Body of work

By Richard Cork

Art - Richard Cork is astonished by the sculptural solidity of Michelangelo's drawings

Film

Short and sweet

By Ryan Gilbey

Film - Ryan Gilbey calls for an end to discrimination on grounds of length

Radio

Radio - Rachel Cooke

By Rachel Cooke

Sandi Toksvig to present The News Quiz? Oh dear – the wrong voice can ruin everything

Theatre

They had it coming

By Michael Portillo

Theatre - Jailbirds sing and dance their way through prison high jinks, writes Michael Portillo ChicagoHMP Bronzefield, Ashford, Middlesex

Film

A certain death

By Victoria Segal

Film - Rwanda's horror is seen with an unflinching eye Shooting Dogs (15)

Television

East end spice

By Andrew Billen

Television - Tales of immigrant adversity prove a little too heart-warming, writes Andrew Billen A Night on Brick Lane (BBC2)

The Fan

The Fan - Hunter Davies worries for England

By Hunter Davies

It's pointless saying this England squad's the best since 1966

Books

The truth speakers

By Terry Eagleton

Absent Minds: intellectuals in Britain Stefan Collini Oxford University Press, 526pp, £25 ISBN 0199291055 The British do themselves down when they describe themselves as anti-intellectual. A nation that produced Coleridge, Mill, Keynes and Orwell can hardly be said to despise ideas