22 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
Features
The scapegoat
The party could have been in no doubt about what it was getting when Gordon Brown was elected unopposed. But for all the backbiting no one is offering an intellectually inspiring new political idea
Go fourth
John Prescott, Alastair Campbell, Richard Caborn and Glenys Kinnock call for the party and its supporters to get off the back foot and join a new Campaign for a Labour Fourth Term
Leader's speeches they won't be making
Bring your cooks and your personal trainers, your butlers and your heiresses. Because new Labour is the natural party of ambition
Empowerment: The new political territory
Gordon Brown talks of placing power in the hands of people themselves, but a splurge of Whitehall initiatives points in the opposite direction. A half-in, half-out approach won't work. Uncertainty must make way for clarity
Shameless but effective
David Cameron has given his ailing party a facelift, schmoozed voters and promised to transform society magically - and the left has let him get away with it
Jim's lessons
If the Prime Minister is to survive, he has to crush the cabals and replace cabinet "goblins" with heavyweights such as Blunkett, Clarke, Milburn and Reid
Why greens must learn to love nuclear power
Global warming and finite resources mean our way of life is more threatened than ever, and it's time for the environmental movement to face up to some hard truths
A fair deal for children
The government claims to be looking into alternatives to detention for minors - but so far its pilot schemes have been disastrously flawed. There are more humane and effective options, writes Lisa Nandy of the Children's Society
Interview
Interview: James Purnell
Saviour of Labour or dangerous Thatcherite? James Purnell, the Work and Pensions Secretary, talks to Martin Bright about capitalism, the leadership battle and winning back the voters
Regulars
New Statesman Leader
A leadership challenge is the last thing the country needs
It would be a tragedy if the gains of Labour’s three terms of office were wiped out by incompetent stewardship
The Politics Column
Democracy is the loser
The rebels' tactics may not produce a challenger to Brown, but the point has now been made that the party is anti-democratic
The Pope's plot
To speak of positive secularism is to imply that there are two kinds of secularism, one good, the other bad
Culture
War of the worlds
The extraordinary design culture of the Cold War period reflects the twin obsessions of the age: utopia and oblivion
Performance
Tailor-made viewing
There are moments of brilliance in this innovative and haunting production Helium The Pit, Barbican, London EC2
Film
A classy affair
This tense dissection of a holiday fling unpicks bourgeois codes of etiquette Unrelated (15) dir: Joanna Hogg
Television
Family fortunes
Can the revival of this fly-on-the-wall classic succeed in the 21st century? The Family Channel 4
Books
All about Dave
Dr Johnson had his Boswell and Goethe his Eckermann. Now the leader of the Conservative Party seems to have found the perfect amanuensis in Dylan Jones. But is there anything worth recording for posterity?
But they mean well
Have a Nice Day Justin Webb Short Books, 288pp, £14.99 In Defence of America Bronwen Maddox Duckworth, 192pp, £12.99
Observations
Hanging on a telephone
In countries where few have access to formal banking, mobile transfers provide crucial support for families with breadwinners abroad
