04 December 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

Cover story

Nation of fools

As the BBC reels from Michael Grade's shock defection, a far greater threat to the future of British broadcasting is upon us. And it goes to the heart of our democracy.

By David Puttnam

Features

A two-election strategy for Labour's demise

By Martin Bright

The Cameron year has transformed the landscape. By focusing on green issues and poverty he has forced Labour to reassess its priorities, if only to outflank the Tories from the right

4 comments

The slow death of inquiry

By Paul Watson

Real television has been usurped by reality television, serving a diet of the smug and the false. It is exactly as the politicians intended, writes the film-maker Paul Watson

A misunderstood democratic triumph

By Kira Cochrane

Be wary of criticising reality TV which, despite some "pretty dumb" spectacles, has managed to challenge racial and other stereotypes

Oh so different

By Donald Hirsch

Gordon Brown whispers to Labour's core supporters that he is determined to redistribute wealth. But does he have the courage to take on wealthier voters? Will the forthcoming pre-Budget report finally show the true instincts of the prime-minister-to-be?

2 comments

The uprising

By Greg Grandin

Washington has seen the countries south of its border as a backyard where it can bribe, bully and even choose the rulers. But a new generation of populist leaders is just saying No. Greg Grandin on the pink revolution that kicked out the "Yanquis"