07 May 2007

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

A Blair-sized hole

As the Prime Minister prepares to depart these shores with his interfaith foundation, it may not be as easy as Gordon Brown might think to fill his shoes.

By Martin Bright

Features

Revealed: the Iraq deceit

By Chris Ames

Evidence that Blair exaggerated Iraq's nuclear plans may prove the most damaging.

The new Randlords

By Alec Russell

South Africa is booming. The economy is enjoying its biggest surge since the Second World War - and for once it is not just whites who are prospering.

Luck and The Thing

By Geoff Mulgan

As he bows out, Tony Blair may reflect that, helped by good fortune, he has left his country a more decent place, one closer to social democracy.

Iraq and the apocalypse

By David Hare

Why did a gifted prime minister embark on a course which people far stupider had consistently warned him could not work? David Hare on a tragic paradox

5 comments

A man without history

By David Marquand

The Third Way was not an ideology, but a classy fudge that the Prime Minister soon abandoned for Messianic belligerence

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His legacy? We are a society in pieces

By Suzanne Moore

Ten years ago, we saw ourselves reflected by Blair as young and energetic. Now we are broken down, isolated and anxious. The "remoralisation" of society never happened: he leaves behind a country in fragments.

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“I’ve no memories of anything before him”

By Sarah O'Connor

Sarah O'Connor was 12 when Tony Blair was first elected prime minister. Here she recounts what it was like to grow up with him

Tony, the NS and me

The New Statesman has always had a close, if fraught, relationship with Labour. Here, three former editors with widely divergent political styles give a personal perspective on the years leading to the 1997 victory and the realities of power

1 comment

How was Blair for you?

We asked David Hare, Geoff Mulgan, David Marquand, Suzanne Moore, John Gray and many more to give us their verdicts on Tony Blair and now it's your turn. What do you think his achievements have been in the past decade, what were his failures and, overall, is Britain a happier place? Let us know what you think Research by Sam Alexandroni and Sarah O'Connor

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Maggie's boy

By John Gray

"You were the future, once," David Cameron famously taunted Tony Blair - but, in our final assessment, John Gray argues that new Labour failed to extricate itself from the Thatcher past

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Blair-kus

Has Tony Blair's reign been an aesthetic golden age or a triumph of style over substance? The NS's favourite artists, musicians and writers commemorate him here in an ancient Japanese verse form, the "Blair-ku".

Regulars

New Statesman Leader

Good intentions, a terrible war and a man who stayed too long

The New Statesman's own verdict on Tony Blair is that he should have gone in late 2003 when it was confirmed there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq

Commons Confidential

What Cherie told her hairdresser about Gordon

By Kevin Maguire

A sideways look at life in the Westminster Village

You tak' the high road

Set by Corvus Maximus You were asked to explain in ballad form why your swift journey from Westminster to the Scottish hustings generated a smaller carbon footprint than those of the other political parties

Culture

Make jokes, not war

By Stephen Armstrong

While politicians cross swords, a crop of talented comedians is bringing the truth about Iranian culture to bars and clubs across Britain

Let's get serious

By Sue Hubbard

With its emphasis on the "young" and the "fresh", the Turner Prize has pandered to disposable celebrity culture. It’s time to change the rules

Blair: The artist's impression

What better way to sum up the Blair era than to ask some of our top artists to illustrate their feelings about the past decade? So here we present Ralph Steadman, Peter Kennard, Robert Del Naja and Stanley Donwood exclusively offering their interpretations.

Theatre