19 June 2006

From the Editor…

sue-matthias 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

Sue Matthias, Acting Editor, New Statesman

Cover story

Can America go green?

Why are Americans so sceptical about global warming? Possibly because they really don't want to do anything about it, argues Elizabeth Kolbert

By Elizabeth Kolbert

Features

Where were you?

Five things you might have missed last week

The war on children

By John Pilger

The most vulnerable people in Gaza are suffering the worst acute mental and physical trauma as a result of Israel's actions: almost half the population is under 15

1 comment

Sometimes it's hard to be a man

By Zoe Williams

On the surface, any connection between the World Cup and men's mental health week is just a quirk of the diary. Or maybe not?

2 comments

My socialist dream

By Robert Taylor

Time was when Tony Blair espoused radical causes. Robert Taylor reveals the romanticism in a hidden letter from the young politician to the Labour leader Michael Foot

Where idealism and pragmatism meet

By Neal Lawson

Time was when Tony Blair espoused radical causes. Neal Lawson says utopianism is alive and well

Regulars

New Statesman Leader

Leader - Time for a living wage

The government has not intervened to help low-paid workers because it is on these very people that our economic growth depends

Diary

The name is not as it seems

By Janine di Giovanni

I was treated to the sight of an ultra, ultra Orthodox Jew wading into the sea fully clothed - fur hat, long wool coat, shoes and socks

Politics

Chaos over the biggest issue of our time

By Martin Bright

Nobody knows which Whitehall department is in charge of engaging with Britain's Muslims and tackling extremism. After Forest Gate, the problem could lead to disaster

Village Life

The martyr who would have been secret

By Kevin Maguire

Media

The cross we have to bear

By Peter Wilby

The Independent put the question we all needed the answer to: can a middle-class liberal fly the flag?

Green Thinking

The awkwardness of a green going blue

By Mark Lynas

Letter From China

A forest sunset and a chop

By Lindsey Hilsum

Undercurrents

Teenage boys and the tyranny of film

By Kira Cochrane

Urban Life

The polluted stream where spies fish

By Darcus Howe

Human Rights

Changing the rules*

By Sadakat Kadri

Are you free to eat magic mushrooms? Is your parang an offensive weapon? Let the New Statesman's legal expert solve your civil liberties dilemmas

Media

Titanic goes down: everyone safe

By Peter Wilby

Peter Wilby is strangely reassured by howlers from Fleet Street's "golden age"

This England

Each printed entry will receive a £5 book token
Entries to This England, NS, address at www.newstatesman.com/contactus.htm

From our archive

Random reflections on sex

By J B Priestley

Taken from the New Statesman archive, 23 August 1963.
Even in 1963, it seems, commercialisation and psychological overcomplication were putting young men and women under unwelcome pressure when it came to sex, and Americans apparently bore a good share of responsibility. The "recent events" which prompted these thoughts, however, were British: the Profumo affair. Priestley (1894-1984) was a New Statesman contributor over several decades.
Selected by Brian Cathcart

Julian's week

By Julian Clary

What must a man do to get noticed? Asks Julian Clary

Unsuitable anagrams No 3933

Set by Will Bellenger: We asked for inappropriate reworkings of the monikers of the famous

Arts & Culture

Democracy by design

By Miranda Sawyer

Factory Records had an aesthetic that captured a revolutionary spirit: it stood for both high art and a good time. That idea has blossomed in contemporary Britain

A man of the people

By Richard Brooks

Ken Loach will not be deterred by the hostile response to his latest film, he tells Richard Brooks

How the personal became political

By Paul Laverty

Paul Laverty, Ken Loach’s screenwriter, explains the genesis of their film

Theatre

When Britain was true blue

By Rosie Millard

A loving paean to the Eighties comes complete with snow-washed denim. By Rosie Millard
Market Boy
Olivier Theatre, London SE1

Film

All smoke and no fire

By Ryan Gilbey

A satire about the tobacco industry proves a damp squib, writes Ryan Gilbey
Thank You for Smoking (15)
dir: Jason Reitman

Television

There's no business like show business

By Andrew Billen

A Pop Idol for playwrights is short on ideas, long on naked ambition, writes Andrew Billen
The Play's the Thing
Channel 4

Radio

The Beatles? We've bigger fish to fry

By Rachel Cooke

Andy Kershaw harks back to the strange world of student gigs

Sport

No Svengali

By Hunter Davies

England's manager isn't working any magic on the team

Ideas

Beyond good and evil

By John Gray

The neo-cons' favourite philosophy had a distinctly seamy side, finds John Gray

Reboot

Who needs Hollywood?

By Becky Hogge

Internet chatrooms are a fertile resource for film-makers

Dress Code

Size doesn't matter

By Annalisa Barbieri

Why should tight clothes be the prerogative of thin folk? asks Annalisa Barbieri

Food

Making a meal of it

By William Skidelsky

When it comes to eating badly, we Brits are truly democratic

Travels

Happiness is an old Ambassador

By Tarquin Hall

For six decades, India scorned consumerism. But a taste for luxury is flourishing in the new Delhi, finds Tarquin Hall

Books

An orgy of inhumanity

By Joanna Bourke

The War of the World: history's age of hatred
Niall Ferguson Allen Lane, the Penguin Press, 746pp, £25
ISBN 0713997087
Why was the 20th century marked by so many massacres, wars and genocides? And will the next 100 years be any different? Joanna Bourke explores our capacity for hatred

Letters to the Editor

New Statesman readers give their views - see what they said and find out how to contribute yourself by going to our letters pages