29 May 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

They can play, but they can never win

Bursting with talent and eternally tipped as the coming force, African countries won't win this World Cup, or the next one, writes David Runciman. The reason? For all the money splashing around, nothing is changing at the grass roots

By David Runciman

Features

A glimpse of freedom

By John Pilger

Out of the new spirit in Latin America, the Bolivians (with the Venezuelans) have come closest to forging revolutionary change. The government of "Evo" is on notice. John Pilger reports from El Alto

The Chavista war on cinema

By Alice O'Keeffe

A film about kidnapping is dividing Venezuela, writes Alice O'Keeffe

The shame of the 'jocks'

By Andrew Stephen

The alleged rape of a young black woman by a party of rich white sports students lays bare America's attitudes to race and masculinity

2 comments

Essay

Letting climate change happen

By John Gray

All shades of opinion are in denial about the magnitude of the environmental challenge facing us. Our need to be comfortable may be stronger than our will to survive, argues John Gray

1 comment

Regulars

New Statesman Leader

Forget happiness - give us equality

Fashionable it may be, but it is a smokescreen for a bigger problem ignored by this government — inequality of income and outcomes

The Politics Column

The politics column - Bring on a new democratic left

By David Clark

There is a need for an authentic democratic left to reassert itself. Perhaps its inspiration could be the example of the wartime Labour Party

Commons Confidential

Village life - Kevin Maguire eavesdrops on an unhappy Minger

By Kevin Maguire

An indiscreet Minger, a Tory with a green tinge, and a minister's sporting sacrifice

Kira Cochrane has heard enough of the C-word

By Kira Cochrane

The C-word is so widespread now: repetition has dimmed its power. Yet, when you think about it, its misogyny is breathtaking

Competition

Win vouchers to spend in any Tesco store

Culture

Living colour

By Sue Hubbard

A memory, a place, a smell, a lover's touch: Howard Hodgkin captures the emotion of a moment with spectacular intensity. Sue Hubbard explores the evocative world of Britain's most sensual painter

Stars of Africa

By Peter Culshaw

Musicians are still forced to compete in a quasi-apartheid media environment, argues Peter Culshaw

Film

Crash barrier

By Ryan Gilbey

makers were slow to address 9/11. Were they outdone by the terrorists?

Radio

Radio - Rachel Cooke

By Rachel Cooke

Women who don't want children are still seen as hard-faced freaks, even on Woman’s Hour

Theatre

Murder they wrote

By Michael Portillo

Theatre - A witty, gory Jacobean thriller offers titillating entertainment The Changeling Barbican Centre, London EC1

Film

Cod squad

By Victoria Segal

Film - On screen, Brown's religious thriller is still an unholy mess The Da Vinci Code (12A)

Television

Spaced out

By Andrew Billen

Television - Captain Kirk parodies himself in a tribute to a seminal series, writes Andrew Billen How William Shatner Changed the World (Channel 5)

Books

Man of many parts

By George Walden

John Osborne: a patriot for us John Heilpern Chatto & Windus, 528pp, £25 ISBN 0701167807 Despite his reputation as a rebel, John Osborne spent his life playing stock British characters: the angry young man, the teddy boy, the country squire. George Walden on a writer who, for all his immense linguistic gifts, could never simply be himself