26 May 2008

Hating Hillary

By Andrew Stephen

Gloating, unshackled sexism of the ugliest kind has been shamelessly peddled by the US media, which - sooner rather than later, I fear - will have to account for their sins

• 323 comments

China the aftermath

By Lindsey Hilsum

Chinese leaders have been praised for their response to the Sichuan earthquake, but the political fallout has only just begun, writes our woman in China

• 3 comments

Is Italy flirting with fascism?

By Donald Sassoon

Silvio Berlusconi is back in power. Rome's mayor won on an anti-immigration platform. The right is noisier than ever. But this is not a return to the dark days of Mussolini

• 21 comments

It could have been me

By David Cockcroft

Mansour was snatched from a bus last year and beaten, and has been held in prison ever since. His crime? Being the leader of a peaceful trade union that the Iranian authorities do not recognise

• 1 comment

Turning point

By Waldemar Januszczak

The announcement of the 2008 Turner Prize shortlist has prompted the usual carping. But let’s not forget that the award has transformed the way we see contemporary art in Britain

• 1 comment

The Politics Column

Wanted: new-thinking pioneers

By Martin Bright

The intellectuals whose thinking underpinned Labour's return to office in 1997 have moved on. Where will the new ideas come from

Obscurity knocks No 4028

Graham Greene wrote in the New Statesman of 31 May 1968 (reprinted in "From our archive", 14 April 2008), of an excursion with Claud Cockburn: "We were, for obscure reasons, pushing a barrel organ across Hertfordshire dressed as tramps" - and left readers wondering why. We asked for the "obscure reasons" why any modern novelist of your choice and a companion might be undertaking an identical excursion, written in the style of that writer