08 September 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
Time to end Just William politics
In a New Statesman exclusive Charles Clarke takes on critics who abuse the word Blairite and warns Labour is destined for disaster if it continues on its current course and adds "we will not permit that to happen"
Features
Hidden lives, public voices
Broadcaster Esther Rantzen reads Morgan's story - part of our No Place for Children campaign
No place for children
The UK has one of the worst records in Europe for detaining children but accurate figures on how many are detained, and for how long, remain hard to come by
A pointless and brutal practice
Natasha Walter introduces the shocking cases of two young girls detained at Yarl's Wood
“My dreams are not important to anyone”
'Our first night in Yarl's Wood was just terrible. We couldn't eat and we couldn't sleep. There were special people there to look after my mum to stop her trying to kill herself again'
“The detainees have got pain in their eyes”
In my school report this summer, they said I was an excellent student. I am making a new start and one day I will show everyone what I am capable of. But I will never forget Yarl's Wood
Is Ukraine next?
With Georgia in pieces, Ukraine could be the next to fall to Russia's territorial ambition, separatist sentiment and economic realities. Andrey Kurkov reports
Hurricane Sarah
McCain's new partnership with a telegenic mother-of-five has dramatically shifted the dynamics and direction of the election
Wisdom teeth
Can't find an NHS dentist? Don't despair, it may soon be easier than you think. Private dentists, it seems, are flocking back to the fold
Regulars
New Statesman Leader
A prime opportunity to pick apart Tory rhetoric
Beyond the bluster and sabre-rattling, there is little of substance in what Cameron has said about Georgia in the past month
The Politics Column
Five stark truths
The summer did not bring a coup against Gordon Brown, but during this time some inescapable realities have emerged
The Politics Column
Fairness - or nothing
Labour must face down the Tories on the "fair" agenda with concrete policies that they can't follow
Commons Confidential
Dave's fat-wa downsizes the Tories
Pickles has taken to opening his suit jacket to show he's downsizing although, I hear from one underwhelmed gawper, he remains something of a work in progress
Let's work together
We asked for new work songs, along the lines of those cotton-pickin’ and mining songs or sea shanties of yesteryear
Culture
Seeing the bigger picture
A soon-to-be published collection of photographs demonstrates that art is vital in helping us understand the impact of human beings on the environment
Too posh for popcorn
Independent cinemas once provided affordable art for all. Now, a growing number offer audiences a luxury experience
Performance
The unbearable light-heartedness of being
Peter Brook tries to put an optimistic spin on Beckett, with tedious results Fragments Young Vic, London SE1
Film
Outmoded behaviour
Two period dramas rich in detail, but not so good at characterisation The Duchess (12A) dir: Saul Dibb Angel (15) dir: François Ozon
Television
The plot thickens
This dumbed-down take on a literary classic patronises its female audience Lost in Austen ITV1
Books
Decline and fall?
With the peaceful end of the Cold War, the United Nations seemed poised to preside over a new and stable world order. Since then, events in the Balkans, in Rwanda and elsewhere have shown how vain these hopes were. How did the UN become so ineffectual? And can it ever recover?
One tragedy of many
My Grandmother: a Memoir Fethiye Çetin, translated and introduced by Maureen Freely Verso, 144pp, £12.99
Rugby, 5 Apartheid, 0
Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game that Made a Nation John Carlin Atlantic Books, 288pp, £18.99
India/China reality check
Smoke and Mirrors: an Experience of China Pallavi Aiyar HarperCollins India, 288pp, £15.99
I married a Maori
Come On Shore and We Will Kill and Eat You All Christina Thompson Bloomsbury, 288pp, £14.99
Quietly devastating
Unaccustomed Earth Jhumpa Lahiri Bloomsbury, 352pp, £14.99
