29 October 2007
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Cover story
A country at war
In the wake of the assassination of Benazir Bhutto we revisit our October special on Pakistan in which Ziauddin Sardar predicted the country was about to descend deeper into violence. Plus Rageh Omaar on the wild borderlands of Waziristan
Features
No pain, no gain
As Europe ensnares the PM just as it did his predecessors, Adam Boulton watches Gordon Brown talking tough at home and trying charm abroad
So cool it hurts
Bring on the new crop of celebs. Tara Hamilton-Miller identifies the A-listers and C-listers working for Dave's cause
Middle England. They’re nicer than you think
Middle Englanders are insular, selfish and intolerant. Not so, argues Richard Reeves. Plus Stephen Armstrong on the Accidental Middle Englanders
Accidental Middle Englanders
Stephen Armstrong finds a worried generation
Regulars
Commons Confidential
Peace in our time as Who and Smug promise not to sulk
All the gossip from the Westminster Village
The driver in front has a MSG 4U
A disproportionate number of personalised plates are attached to cars with smoked-glass windows. Well, do the drivers want to be noticed or not?
There was a boy . . .No 4001
Set by Grace Elegy Inspired by Hilaire Belloc, we asked for cautionary tales for today's youths
Culture
Bringing it home
The debate over the exodus of Britain's black actors has finally begun. Now it is time to start talking about solutions
Perfect Finnish
Sibelius helped to define Finland's national identity and founded a rich musical culture.
Children of the revolution
The tension between left-wing parents and their offspring is a rich seam for cinema
Theatre
Back to the drawing board
On stage, Alex remains as sketchy as the comic strip that inspired it Alex Arts Theatre, London WC2
Film
The medicine man
Michael Moore delivers a stinging, if clumsy, attack on US health care Sicko (12A) dir: Michael Moore
Television
The really wild show
Russell Brand's "anarchic" comedy is as carefully coiffed as his hair Russell Brand's Ponderland Channel 4 Fanny Hill BBC4
Radio
Money matters
The Beeb's business coverage is improving, but has some way to go Speed, Greed and the M25 Radio 4
Books
Holy fools
In the 1960s, hippies, rock stars and progressives flocked to Francis Schaeffer's Christian retreat, L'Abri - but his ideas laid the ground for America's religious right.
The war the west forgot
One Soldier's War in Chechnya Arkady Babchenko Portobello Books, 405pp, £16.99
Times of turmoil
Borrowed Time: the Story of Britain Between the Wars Roy Hattersley Little, Brown, 480pp, £20
Talk is cheap
Sukhdev Sandhu on the shadowy world of the modern fanzine
The devil in the detail
Documents Concerning Rubashov the Gambler Carl-Johan Vallgren, translated by Sarah Death Harvill Secker, 304pp, £12.99
A note on ‘Darkness at Noon’
Koestler's afterword on his Darkness at Noon
Dear diary
Summer Rain: a Reporter’s Diary of the 2006 War Between Israel and Hezbollah Annette Lévy-Willard Psychology News, 208pp, £9.99
