09 October 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

Features

Cuddly but not convincing

By Martin Bright

The Tories presented a more modern face at their party conference, but David Cameron's newfound passion for the poor is not what it might seem. Our political editor, Martin Bright, reports from Bournemouth

Drugs and terror: Britain's role

By Misha Glenny

Tony Blair's ambition to eradicate opium production in Afghanistan has failed miserably. More poppies are grown than ever, financing the Taliban's resurgence and thus fuelling the war on terror

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Fouled!: How football hijacked our culture

By Emma John

Tens of millions of people in Britain have no interest at all in football. So, amid fresh allegations about bungs, international corporate crime and sexual excess, should we call time on our obsession with the once beautiful game?

The curse of Mr Barratt

By Joe Moran

Building low-cost homes, particularly on greenfield sites, has always provoked snobbish opposition. As a result, our construction technologies remain outdated and governments continue to fail the poorest buyers

Memories of Suez

By Anthony Howard

Fifty years ago, Britain was preparing for a military adventure that was to divide the country and lead to a prime minister's resignation. Anthony Howard, then fresh out of cadet school, recalls those weeks

Learning when to go from prime ministers past

By Francis Beckett

Some history lessons on leaving No 10

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Regulars

New Statesman Leader

It is right to talk about Iraq, especially when unfashionable

Commons Confidential

Talk of hanging in the Bournemouth juice bar

By Kevin Maguire

Oscillate- a-bye baby No 3949

Set by Valerie Yule We asked for lullabies for today's babies to help develop their language abilities for the modern world

Culture

Contemporary art special

By Alice O'Keeffe

Contemporary art has never been more fashionable, yet all the money and hype belie something of an identity crisis – not surprising when Damien Hirst’s inane spot paintings sell for hundreds of thousands and rich businessmen increasingly call the shots.

Losing our vision

By Richard Cork

Richard Cork on why high prices do not inspire great art

Billionaires' club

By Peter Conrad

Peter Conrad meets the new eastern European art elite

Bringing terror alive

By Alice O'Keeffe

Arts Diary

By Ben Dowell

Theatre

Drunk and disorderly

By Rosie Millard

The acting in Kevin Spacey's latest offering elevates this minor work A Moon for the Misbegotten The Old Vic, London SE1

Film

A brief history of violence

By Ryan Gilbey

The only brains in this gangster flick are the ones splattered on the walls The Departed (18) dir: Martin Scorsese

Television

A cracking good yarn

By Andrew Billen

The politics jars, but the character is the draw in Jimmy McGovern's drama Cracker ITV1

Radio

Enough of these boys' egos

By Rachel Cooke

Bolshie DJs should remember: Radio Berkshire awaits

Books

Virile and proud of it

By Olivia Shean

The Man's Book Thomas Fink Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 192pp, £9.99 ISBN 0297851632

Wizards of Oz

By Christopher Bray

Things I Didn’t Know Robert Hughes Harvill Secker, 395pp, £25 ISBN 1846550149 North Face of Soho: unreliable memoirs (volume IV) Clive James Picador, 264pp, £17.99 ISBN 0330481282 At the height of the 1960s, Australia's cleverest men hit London in a haze of art, drugs and fiery critical prose