14 August 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
The death of Israel's dreams
Concern is mounting among senior Israelis that the war against Hezbollah in Lebanon is only the start of a much wider conflict. So who is using whom, and who will ultimately prevail? Lindsey Hilsum reports from Israel and Gaza on the spiralling crisis
Features
Burma Special: The forgotten war
Burma has other woes besides a cruel dictatorship. The country is a patchwork of ethnic groups which at best are ill at ease with one another and at worst - as in the case of the Karen people - are in open rebellion. Jacob Rigg reports
Burma Special: On the road to Myanmar's Mandalay
A romantic view persists of a country of silk and temples
Burma Special: Why we must talk to the generals
Focusing on Aung San Suu Kyi may not be the best way to bring democracy to Burma, argues Maung Zarni. Real change, he says, will require the co-operation of those now in power
Regulars
The Politics Column
Years of good work undone
The only conclusion any right-minded person can draw is that the Prime Minister thought it was OK for Muslims to keep dying
Future imperfect No 3941
Set by Valerie Yule A poet rewrites some of her/his famous nature poetry to fit in with the scene in 2050
Culture
Classified material
Their decisions can kill a film before its release, but the identities of America's movie censors are a closely guarded secret. Tom Teodorczuk on the hypocrisy of the Hollywood ratings system
Laughing at Stalin
Soviet Russia ruined Prokofiev's life but inspired his most comic, and lyrical, music
Theatre
Escape from respectability
A struggle against Dublin society in 1912 creates two moral outcasts Exiles Cottesloe Theatre, London SE1
Film
There's something silly in the wood shed . . .
Two hot young directors are already looking washed up Lady in the Water (PG) dir: M Night Shyamalan Nacho Libre (12A) dir: Jared Hess
Television
Talking a load of crystal balls
A lazy tale of ESP-enhanced children leaves common sense far behind Cutting Edge: my kid's psychic Channel 4
Books
Swinging on solid ground
Despite the hippies and the happenings, the Sixties were less radical than we think. Christopher Bray revisits a decade in which only the privileged put on their glad rags
Bring on the tentacles
H P Lovecraft: against the world, against life Michel Houellebecq Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 256pp, £10 ISBN 0297851381
Thinking creatures
Animals, Ethics and Trade: the challenge of animal sentience Edited by Jacky Turner and Joyce D'Silva Earthscan, 228pp, £16.99 ISBN 184407255X
Poking around
The Dark Part of Me Belinda Burns Atlantic Books, 297pp, £9.99 ISBN 1843545004
A good gossip
Over Exposure Hugo Rifkind Canongate, 320pp, £9.99 ISBN 1841958581
The great and good
How to Read a Novel: a user's guide John Sutherland Profile Books, 192pp, £9.99 ISBN 1861979460
End of the line
The Zero Train Yuri Buida Dedalus, 140pp, £6.99 ISBN 190351701X
Imaginary revolution
A Thousand Rooms of Dream and Fear Atiq Rahimi Chatto & Windus, 208pp, £12.99 ISBN 0701176733
Racing demon
Long Lane With Turnings: last words of a motoring legend L J K Setright Granta, 151pp, £12.99 ISBN 1862078726
