16 April 2007
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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
Iran: the war ahead
The sailors' ordeal was a diversion from the bigger danger. The US and UK identified their new enemy long ago and are preparing the propaganda for the war ahead.
Plus Rageh Omaar on how the Iran affair has weakened Britain's hand
Features
A national identity with empire still at its heart
Gordon Brown's definition of Britishness is at times as nostalgic as John Major's England. It is almost entirely meaningless to most people under the age of 40
Strange victory
The original gamble was born of weakness. But thanks to British errors, Iran has got more than it was hoping for.
NHS: calling in sick
Why, ask ministers, when patients everywhere say the NHS is wonderful on the important things, does it get such a bad press?
New dawn for the workers
Migrant cleaners at rich banks are today organising for a living wage. It's reminiscent of the 1889 battle that began in the East End that united unions around the world
Grounded: Why America's airlines are the world's worst
British travellers beware: the US airline industry is in a tailspin, and passenger service and staff morale are hitting rock-bottom.
You call that a beanstalk? No 3973
Set by Brendan J O'Byrne "Little Red Riding Hood was a fantasist," opined Ben Macintyre in the Times. "She made up the whole story to explain why she was wandering through the woods in the middle of the night. Then she cried wolf, as humans have done since the earliest times." We asked for the truth behind other children's bedtime stories
Culture
Local heroes
With new cuts to arts funding, small theatres will be the first to suffer. But their importance to communities has never been greater.
Theatre
Through the looking-glass
A remarkable production takes us into the world of mental illness The Wonderful World of Dissocia Royal Court Theatre, London SW1
Film
The banality of evil
Assured portrayal of a Stasi spy is more chilling than any horror film The Lives of Others (15) dir: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
Television
Modern life is rubbish
Goodbye to a series which asked: have things improved since the 1970s? Life on Mars BBC1
Radio
When hot news goes off the boil
Filled with badly reported arts stories, Today has gone soft under its new editor Today Radio 4
Books
Keeping it unreal
We consider the "primitive" music of blues singers such as Leadbelly to be more authentic than that of the Monkees. But all pop musicians are fakes
Engaged and sincere
Touchstones: essays on literature, art and politics Mario Vargas Llosa Faber & Faber, 353pp, £25 ISBN 0571214991
The party's not over
Over to You, Mr Brown: how Labour can win again Anthony Giddens Polity Press, 188pp, £9.99 ISBN 0745642233
Let's get together
Dancing in the Streets: a history of collective joy Barbara Ehrenreich Granta Books, 320pp, £16.99 ISBN 1862079544
Afghan journeys
The Sleeping Buddha Hamida Ghafour Constable & Robinson, 320pp, £8.99 ISBN 1845293134
Voice of dissent
Sexual Decoys: gender, race and war in imperial democracy Zillah Eisenstein Zed Books, 142pp, £14.99 ISBN 184277817X
Shaggy dog story
From Baghdad, with Love Lieutenant Colonel Jay Kopelman, with Melinda Roth Bantam Press, 240pp, £12.99 ISBN 0593058984
Digging up the past
Family Romance: a memoir John Lanchester Faber & Faber, 392pp, £16.99 ISBN 0571234402
Observations
Rape: the truth
Observations on criminal justice - the shocking failure when it comes to rape prosecutions
