23 October 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

Why we must ration the future

You can't bargain with the planet because it doesn't care whether or not targets are "politically acceptable". So unless we secure a deal determining how much carbon each nation and each person can emit, we simply will not survive

By Mark Lynas

Features

How ministers became soap stars

By Stephen Byers

Reflecting on the book that is causing a political storm, Stephen Byers praises its author and calls on public servants past and present to debate ideas in the open

Legal highs: the new 'social tonics'?

By Stephen Armstrong

Britain's drugs laws are in a mess, and into the confusion has stepped a new breed of drugs entrepreneurs who claim they have the answer: safe, substitute substances

Missing their marbles

By Helena Smith

As Greece puts the finishing touches to a building fit to hold the Parthenon sculptures, museums around the world are giving their fragments back. How much longer can the British Museum cling on to Lord Elgin's loot? Helena Smith reports

Britain's forgotten hero

By William Cook

How has it happened that the man who did more than any other to bring about the abolition of slavery is today without honour in his own country?

Regulars

New Statesman Leader

Apply tolerance, but test it against the principles of the good society

Diary

"Oi, what's wiv the kiss in the text?"

By Bel Mooney

Texting bores me: I can't be bothered with the twiddling or the false intimacies. But at least this keeps me out of danger

Politics

One minister who understands the problem

By Martin Bright

Ruth Kelly's wake-up call about Islamism to Britain's Muslims and British society at large is far more important than Jack Straw's opportunism over the veil

Undercurrents

An abortion of human rights

By Kira Cochrane

Africa

Parenthood by piggyback

By Michela Wrong

1 comment

Urban Life

What history could teach my driver

By Darcus Howe

Media

The general puts the press in a spin

By Peter Wilby

How would Max Hastings, press cheerleader for all things military, cope with Sir Richard? No problem. He yomped on regardless, bravely pocketing another cheque under heavy gunfire

Human Rights

It could have been me

By Martin Bell

Martin Bell on Nguyen Vu Binh
A Vietnamese cyber dissident is imprisoned by a government determined to control the internet
In association with Amnesty International

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

A Dental Inquiry

By C W Saleeby

Taken from the New Statesman archive, 18 June 1921
Caleb Saleeby (1878-1940) was a doctor, a Fabian and one of the best-known medical writers of his day, but at the insistence of the editor, Clifford Sharp, his many contributions to the New Statesman, including this one, appeared under the pseudonym "Lens". Sharp was apparently worried that Saleeby's name was too closely associated with particular causes he had espoused, notably eugenics. So far as teeth were concerned, however, Saleeby’s judgement appears to have been pretty sound.
Selected by Brian Cathcart

Julian's week

By Julian Clary

I don't wear a veil myself (unless you count Peter Mandelson's Christmas party . . . )

Portrait of the artist No 3951

Set by Didier d'Argent
Do our sports personalities need more accomplished ghost-writers?

Arts & Culture

Remaking history

By Andrew Meldrum

South Africa's dynamic new museums are not just showcasing the past - they are reinventing the country's identity

Notes from underground

By Daniel Trilling

Daniel Trilling is delighted that the alternative press is booming - even in the age of the internet

Theatre

Cabaret works its wicked way

By Rosie Millard

Witches from Oz are no match for the sexy and sinister Kit Kat Klub
Wicked Apollo Victoria Theatre, London SW1
Cabaret Lyric Theatre, London W1

Film

Never mind the Bastille, here's a sexy picture

By Ryan Gilbey

Style and hedonism trump history in Sofia Coppola's flawed biopic
Marie Antoinette (12A)
dir: Sofia Coppola
I Saw Ben Barka Get Killed (12A)
dir: Serge Le Péron

Television

We shall not see her like again

By Andrew Billen

Helen Mirren's swansong as DS Tennison is deeply satisfying to watch
Prime Suspect: the final act ITV1

Radio

My Vanessa Feltz fixation

By Rachel Cooke

She is witty, warm and clever - and I'm not being ironic

1 comment

Travels

National distrust

By Ben Mallalieu

Heritage projects preserve buildings, but can neglect the people attached to them

Sport

Soccer scholars

By Hunter Davies

Cultured passes, not rustic tackles, make the beautiful game

Reboot

Hacked off by phishing frauds

By Becky Hogge

We are right to fear internet crime. But we can protect ourselves

Dress Code

Bags of masculinity

By Annalisa Barbieri

Where to keep your iPod, keys, phone, diary, wallet? Annalisa Barbieri has just the thing for you, chaps

Drink

Wine: One for the road

By Roger Scruton

With a motorbike mishap in France, Roger Scruton discovered a lesser-known white wine

Books

Give poetry back to people

By Neil Astley

It reminds us who we are, argues Neil Astley - but only if we shake off academic elitism and celebrate voices from our communities and around the world