18 February 2008
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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
The naughty nation
Should the state force us to eat well, drink wisely and behave nicely on public transport, or should we leave people alone unless they are directly damaging others?
Features
Guantanamo is pants
With Guantanamo Bay under the spotlight, Clive Stafford Smith explains why Reprieve's campaign against illegal detention has joined up with a surprising partner...
Bringing down the new Berlin Walls
The last thing the west wants is to dismantle the barriers separating "us" from "them". They are vital for justifying invasion, plunder and nuclear proliferation.
Is British sport still racist?
From Premier League football to cricket, rugby and golf, prejudice against Asian players is rife in this country. But change is coming up from the grass roots
Regulars
New Statesman Leader
A birthday celebration in a world of even greater peril
A birthday celebration in a world of even greater peril
The Politics Column
What about the workers?
An unglamorous bill presented shortly to parliament will define the direction of the Brown government - and its approach to social justice.
Licensed to jeer No 4014
Set by Dipak Ghosh The double-0 prefix means you are licensed to kill, whatever your final number (eg, James Bond, 007). But what are those agents lower down the pecking order, the double-1s and double-2s, for example, allowed to get up to?
Culture
Eastern eyes
Female film-makers across the Middle East are hindered by state censorship and competition from Hollywood, yet the power and the variety of their work shine through
History repeats itself
Brecht's satire on the rise of Hitler is still sharp enough to mock such 21st-century tyrants as Robert Mugabe.
Silent witness
The sculptor Juan Muñoz was keenly aware of the difficulties we face in expressing ourselves
Performance
A god among mortals
Feats of expression and memory from a showman and living phenomenon Daniel Barenboim: Beethoven Piano Sonata Cycle Royal Festival Hall, London SE1
Film
The elephant in the foyer
Bollywood is often ignored by the mainstream media - and that's our loss
Television
Bring on the giant rats
Adventure tourism is all the rage, but good TV needs more than bravado alone
Radio
Once more unto the beach
Let some sunshine into your life with cutting-edge sounds from California
Books
How economics lightened up
Until recently economics was considered a subject without much popular appeal, but a new generation of economists has dragged it into the heart of our messy everyday lives
Ancient and modern
The New Directions Anthology of Classical Chinese Poetry Edited by Eliot Weinberger Anvil Press, 272pp, £12.95
The sage of Shepperton
Miracles of Life: Shanghai to Shepperton (An Autobiography) J G Ballard Fourth Estate, 278pp, £14.99
Women on the verge
Mad, Bad and Sad: a History of Women and the Mind Doctors from 1800 to the Present Lisa Appignanesi Virago, 560pp, £20
Observations
Healthy passage to India
How the UK has been in discussions about flying NHS patients in order to cut waiting times
