16 June 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
Zimbabwe: The end game
Will escalating violence and brutality lead inexorably to another rigged election - or is Zimbabwe on the verge of a new era? Plus don't miss William Gumede, Dumisani Muleya, Peter Hain and George Walden
Features
Interview: Alistair Darling
Alistair Darling was once the safest pair of hands in the government. A year after becoming Chancellor, our political editor, Martin Bright, asks him where it all went wrong
Individual, but collective
There is a paradox at the centre of modern politics, and the Labour Party must grasp it
Is Tsvangirai a leader?
Mugabe's challenger is a man of more substance than his critics admit, but he has made strategic blunders
After the oil crunch?
The end of cheap oil helps renewables, but makes far dirtier alternatives viable. A low-carbon future will demand brave leadership
The striker who snubbed Hitler
As Austria co-hosts Euro 2008, Robin Stummer reports on the mystery of the great footballer Matthias Sindelar, the Pelé of the interwar years and an anti-Nazi hero
Regulars
New Statesman Leader
How can we best support Zimbabwe's brave electorate?
It is a brutalised country in the grip of a dictator. Half the population struggles to eat and a third has fled abroad
The Politics Column
Not enough fire in the belly
Labour's younger ministers are competent and assiduous, but none has yet emerged as inspirational. Will we need to skip a generation before someone arrives with the guts to carry out the necessary revolution?
Specialité du pays No 4031
We asked you for flavoursome gastronomic novelties to inspire the jaded palate
Culture
The way I see it
The Way I See It: Isaac Julien
Julien is an artist and film-maker who was nominated for the Turner Prize in 2001. He is curating a series of talks at Siobhan Davies Studios in London, on performance, visual arts and the moving image. It begins on 13 June. http://www.siobhandavies.com/parallelvoices
The gilded cage
The lavish, decorative works of Gustav Klimt and his associates provided the rich and privileged few with a retreat from the problems of the Industrial Age
The lure of the beach
A new generation of US bands cites the Beach Boys as a huge inspiration. Why now?
Performance
Draw near, good people
Frayn's verse drama about an eccentric theatre impresario is a masterpiece Afterlife Lyttelton Theatre, London SE1
Film
Heart of darkness
A low hum of horror pervades this exposé of US abuses in Afghanistan Taxi to the Dark Side (15) dir: Alex Gibney
Television
The making of Margaret
Did sexism help to shape Thatcher's icy persona? This drama suggests it did Margaret Thatcher: the Long Walk to Finchley BBC4
Radio
Tales from the outsiders
This portrait of the lives that surround Pentonville prison is profound and poetic
Books
On being beastly to prisoners
Whoever thought it was appropriate to name the prisons of the 21st century after Titan must have been out of his or her mind
Poles apart
Two compelling books on the Middle East - one focused on Israel and the other on Egypt - expose deep divisions in western opinion and starkly contrasting views of US policy in the region
Beauty and terror
The Camondo Legacy: the Passions of a Paris Collector Edited by Marie-Noël de Gary; photographs by Jean-Marie del Moral Thames & Hudson, 320pp, £29.95
Sex lives of the savants
Uncommon Arrangements: Seven Portraits of Married Life in London Literary Circles (1910-1939) Katie Roiphe Virago, 303pp, £12.99
Rebuilding Europe
The Most Noble Adventure: the Marshall Plan and the Reconstruction of Postwar Europe Greg Behrman Aurum Press, 464pp, £25
A woman's story of exile
What Is She Doing Here? A Refugee's Story Kate Clanchy Picador, 300pp, £14.99
