31 July 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
Sell-out: Why hedge funds will destroy the world
If hedge funds were a country, it would be the eighth-biggest on the planet. They can sink whole economies, and have the potential to crash the entire global financial system. Yet they are beyond regulation. We should be very afraid
Features
Empire: war and propaganda
The US role in supporting Israel’s military assault on Lebanon falls into a pattern of imperial tyranny, where history is rewritten to suit America’s needs while Europe stands cravenly by. John Pilger provides a personal assessment from Washington
Unhitch us from the Bush chariot
Sir Stephen Wall, a former top foreign policy adviser to Tony Blair, calls on the Prime Minister to take a stand, and points out the damage his silence is doing to Britain’s reputation
A clear sign of madness
Experience shows that, by pounding Lebanon, Israel will achieve the opposite of its aim. A stronger Hezbollah will emerge
Marriage made in heaven
As France braces itself for next year's presidential election, all eyes are on two media creations, Sarko and Ségo. Both break the mould
Finding our common ground
The Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen was once famously described as the "conscience of his profession". In a career spanning four decades, he has consistently addressed issues such as inequality, poverty and the human costs of economic development. In his new book, Identity and Violence, Sen questions the concept of human identity, showing how a person's sense of belonging to a particular ethnic, religious or social group can, in certain circumstances, lead them to behave with otherwise unthinkable murderous venom.
Regulars
New Statesman Leader
Is there anybody out there with political courage?
Is there anybody out there with political courage?
The Politics Column
Reasons to be cheerful
The pensions reforms show that when the government thinks long and hard about something, it can get it right
Floating signifiers No 3939
Set by D A Prince The banana is, apparently, what literary theorists call "a floating signifier". We asked for other items from the fruit and veg stall
Culture
A fat lot of good
Why are artists fascinated by obesity? It's a reflection of the overblown art market, argues Ossian Ward
Film
Boys don't cry
Cinema loves a tough guy. But directors such as Miami Vice’s Michael Mann purvey an outdated, testosterone-soaked image of masculinity
Theatre
Who do you think you are kidding, Mr Hitler?
A brave attempt to recreate Blitz spirit sounds one too many wrong notes Blonde Bombshells of 1943 Hampstead Theatre, London NW3
Film
Has Disney lost its va-va-voom?
A preachy tale of small-town autos is stuck in first gear Cars (PG) dir: John Lasseter
Television
When too much is never enough
A punchy drama of shopaholism proves as addictive as any reality-TV series Shiny Shiny Bright New Hole in My Heart BBC2
Books
Battle of the books
What works can be said to have altered history? A few by scientists and philosophers, perhaps, but none so much as the central texts of the world religions
Go forth and conquer
Manliness Harvey C Mansfield Yale University Press, 304pp, £18 ISBN 0300106645
On the side of genius
Creators: from Chaucer to Walt Disney Paul Johnson Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 310pp, £20 ISBN 0297851233
Chewed up and spat out
Freud in the City David Freud Bene Factum Publishing, 386pp, £18 ISBN 1903071100
A tart with nails
Angel Katie Price Arrow Books, 432pp, £6.99 ISBN 0099497867
Frankly nightmarish
Homunculus Hugh Paxton Macmillan New Writing, 294pp, £12.99 ISBN 0230000495
The curse of topicality
In the Country of Men Hisham Matar Viking, 245 pp, £12.99 ISBN 0670916390
Money matters
How to Spend $50 Billion to Make the World a Better Place Edited by Bjørn Lomborg Cambridge University Press, 183pp, £25 ISBN 0521866790
Brazilian nuts
The Dictator and the Hammock Daniel Pennac Harvill, 304pp, £10.99 ISBN 1843431890
Children of war
Allah is Not Obliged Ahmadou Kourouma Heinemann, 168pp, £14.99 ISBN 0434009571
He loved women
Misogyny: the world's oldest prejudice Jack Holland Constable & Robinson, 320pp, £8.99 ISBN 0786718234
