22 October 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
Who's afraid of Michael Moore?
John Pilger argues the spirit and humanity of Moore's film-making shames the supine American media. Brian Cathcart on how good journalism can be both right and wrong plus Michael Moore: hero or villain?
Features
Gordon's new friends
The removal of Menzies Campbell has done the Prime Minister several favours - not that he would be able to acknowledge that in public.
Clegg: you are no Cameron
Upset at Ming's exit, the Tories focus their guns on a clog-wearing, Euro-fanatic man-child.
They couldn't break me
As a civil servant awaits trial under the Official Secrets Act, a former whistleblower, Katharine Gun, urges the Brown government to stop the hounding
Tactical Briefing
From: The Unit To: GB Subject: Speaking
The exit beckons for Britain
A bigger danger lurks for Brown if he doesn't make the case for the EU treaty.
Time for a big party
Observations on Italy
The new gentrifiers
Farmers' markets, "loft living" and resident parking are the modern equivalents of knocked-through lounges - signs that the "frontier middle classes" are moving in
Truth, lies and fools
Brian Cathcart argues that good journalism can be both right and wrong - at the same time
The sixth man
Was Paddy Costello a key member of the most notorious Soviet spy network of the 1950s - or was he framed?
Regulars
Commons Confidential
Jack the Lad and another case of mistaken identity
All the gossip from the Westminster village
I Am Harold Pinter No 4000
Set by Hank T Romein Taking as our inspiration Mark Rylance's play "I Am Shakespeare" - in which he starred, and where the true identity of the Bard is sought - we asked you to supply theories as to the person who really wrote the works of Harold Pinter
Culture
Into the mix
Embarking on a music project, Amit Chaudhuri was determined to avoid tired clichés about east and west. But what is "fusion", and why is it a dirty word?
Escaping Guantanamo
Riz Ahmed has played one of the Tipton Three and the brother of a suicide bomber. Now he'd really like a romantic role
The way I see it: Julie Gavras
Julie Gavras is a French film director and writer, daughter of the acclaimed director Costa-Gavras. Her first feature film, “Blame It On Fidel”, starts showing this month at selected cinemas around the UK. See it from 1 November at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London (www.ica.org.uk)
Theatre
Catch it while you can
This Restoration comedy about syphilis is too nasty to be relevant today The Country Wife Theatre Royal Haymarket, London SW1
Film
Guaranteed to give you shivers
Cronenberg, the master of disgust, delivers a flawed but subversive thriller Eastern Promises (18) dir: David Cronenberg
Television
All bark and no bite
Why do politicians no longer fear Paxman, the BBC's attack dog? Newsnight BBC2
Radio
The reliable narrator
Radio 4 achieves near-perfection with a selection of new short stories Alan Howard Reads Radio 4
Books
True lies
Robert Harris's morality tale of an ex-prime minister at bay is not a spiteful satire, but a misguided admission of media guilt.
Feeding the nation
Taste: the Story of Britain Through Its Cooking Kate Colquhoun Bloomsbury, 460pp, £20
The talking cure
Why Are the Arabs Not Free? Moustapha Safouan Blackwell, 128pp, £12.99
Different strokes
The Writer’s Brush: Paintings, Drawings, and Sculpture by Writers Donald Friedman Welcome, 480pp, £25
Observations
Labour's broken promise
Barnardo's chief Martin Narey on how Gordon Brown abandoned a pledge to halve child poverty by 2010 just to steal the Tories' clothes on inheritance tax
