17 July 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

Oil: We're addicted

James Buchan has been writing about oil since the 1970s. Here, at a moment when steepling prices, political tension and encroaching climate change seem to point to the terminal crisis, he offers his prognosis for the commodity that made the modern world.

By James Buchan

Features

Talking to the Taliban

By Kate Clark

Who are they? What do they want? All too often, we just label them "Islamists" and leave it at that. Kate Clark went to the fighters' heartland to find out

Parenting: Mamafesto

By Viv Groskop

While "mommy wars" rage in the US, an agenda of political demands is emerging in western countries from mothers who want results, rather than the opportunity to moan. And Europe leads the way

Stuff of dreams

By Helen Womack

High oil prices have given Russia renewed power, frightening the west but bringing hope to ordinary Russians. Helen Womack reports

Whatever happened to Britain’s oil?

By Brian Cathcart

The Smith Institute Arts Lecture

By Peter Hewitt

Arts in the core script - writing ourselves in. By Peter Hewitt, Arts Council chief executive.

Regulars

New Statesman Leader

The toxic legacy of a nuclear future

The DTI has lost its nerve in the face of global geopolitics – energy security has become as critical as climate change

Diary

I've become a bean-eating liberal

By Mark Oaten

There is growing concern that this president does not share our values. Oh, for The West Wing's Jed Bartlet in the White House

Politics

Young, gifted and silent

By Martin Bright

There's plenty of youthful talent in the cabinet, but none has yet shown any appetite for purging the old guard

Village Life

Gordon's dashed daydreams

By Kevin Maguire

Green Thinking

Labour's dirty love affair with the car

By Mark Lynas

World stage: Collective punishment, collective suffering

By Lindsey Hilsum

Lindsey Hilsum on crime and punishment in Israel

Undercurrents

Don't drop your guard . . . ever

By Kira Cochrane

Urban Life

Why there will be more deaths in custody

By Darcus Howe

Media

The internet or something . . .

By Peter Wilby

Bloggers didn't drive the Prescott story. They may have stirred it up a bit, but newspaper journalists broke it

Human Rights

Changing the rules*

By Sadakat Kadri

Can you make jury service go away? And are you responsible for the bag of tricks on your doormat? Let the New Statesman’s legal expert solve your civil liberties dilemmas

History: flux or narrative?

By John Gray

Hegel's notion of progress is oddly relevant to today's politics, finds John Gray

This England

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

From our archive

The Third Afghan War

By Herbert Sidebotham

Taken from the New Statesman archive, 16 August 1919.
This conflict was over in just three months, concluding very much to Britain’s advantage. The Afghans, however, had issued a reminder that they were formidable adversaries. Sidebotham (1872-1940) was one of the leading military reporters of his day, much admired by Lloyd George, among others. This article, like many in the magazine’s early days, was unsigned, but the writer’s name appears in our contributors’ file. (It is worth remembering that the "Indian Government" he refers to was a distant limb of the imperial government in London.)
Selected by Brian Cathcart

Julian's Week

The air is thick with innuendo

By Julian Clary

Personal adviser No 3937

Set by Dipak Ghosh
Taking our cue from Marks & Spencer's sticker "Eat Well", which can be found on items of food, we asked for other helpful suggestions from manufacturers or supermarkets that could ease life for the cerebrally challenged

Arts & Culture

The art of understanding

By Alice O'Keeffe

With west and east on a collision course, can galleries succeed where governments have failed? Alice O'Keeffe on the V&A's attempt to bridge the cultural gap

Men behaving badly

By Sue Hubbard

Damien Hirst learned his bad-boy posturing from the Romantics, finds Sue Hubbard

Theatre

Lost in the moral maze

By Rosie Millard

Two masterpieces pose brutal human dilemmas, but only one moves us
The Seagull
Lyttelton Theatre, London SE1
The Life of Galileo
Olivier Theatre, London SE1

Film

"Sufficientman" would be nearer the mark

By Ryan Gilbey

There is nothing super about this long-awaited sequel
Superman Returns (12A) dir: Bryan Singer

Television

Don't panic: it's only a leaky reactor

By Andrew Billen

The scaremongers are wrong - a little radiation may even be good for you
Horizon: nuclear nightmares BBC2

Radio

How to pick your podcasts

By Rachel Cooke

Summer is here: enjoy radio alfresco on your iPod

Travels

The happy holiday we outgrew

By William Cook

As Butlins celebrates its 70th birthday, William Cook pays tribute to a much-maligned British institution

Sport

And a big hand to . . .

By Hunter Davies

What was all that about? Hunter Davies on the hopes and hairstyles at the World Cup

Reboot

Shake your money maker

By Becky Hogge

Becky Hogge predicts the second dotcom boom - and bust

Dress Code

Rules of the countryside

By Annalisa Barbieri

What to wear? Depends if your host is Immaculate or a Smock

Drink

Wine: Peasants' revolt

By Roger Scruton

Roger Scruton on the admirable fortitude of the wine-growers of southern France

The American Scene

Leader of the frat

By John Sutherland

John Sutherland on the ass-kicking genre sweeping the nation

Books

Monuments to the missing

By Jonathan Meades

The Memorial to the Missing of the Somme
Gavin Stamp Profile Books, 224pp, £14.99
ISBN 1904897606
Following the horrors of the Somme, architects set about commemorating the dead. Jonathan Meades salutes the timeless grandeur of Edwin Lutyens’s arch at Thiepval

Letters to the Editor

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