13 October 2008
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From the Editor…
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Cover story
What happens when the money runs out?
Banks need the confidence of the public to survive and they have lost it for years to come. The danger is that if governments take on their role, they too will lose the trust of the people
Features
Days of sunshine and grace
Sep was tall, handsome and languid, with a laconic half-smile like Errol Flynn's. On Saturdays he would show us slick dives off a Bondi bogie hole. John Pilger on a star that the world never knew
The disaster we have yet to face
Jacques Attali finds disturbing similarities between the financial tsunami and the climate crisis we are failing to prevent
Don't blame me for Labour's failings
Nationalising the banks will merely transfer risk to the taxpayer. John Redwood, who warns against playing petty politics, on Labour's catalogue of failure
The facade cracks
David Cameron is widely accepted as a "moderniser" and as having heralded a new kind of Conservatism. But are these changes quite so deep as he would have us believe?
Class war zone
Aggressive and disruptive behaviour blights many state schools, and the only remedy - excluding pupils - isn't working. Mentoring troubled children is more effective...
A Nobel cause
The papilloma virus, captured by an electron micrograph. On 6 October Dr Harald zur Hausen of the University of Düsseldorf was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work showing that the virus causes cervical cancer. The disease is the second most common cancer in women. The prize will be presented in Stockholm on 10 December.
Essay
Europe's first revolution
The west faces increasing tension with the Muslim world. To plot a course through this turbulent age, Europe must come to terms with what we owe to our Christian past
Regulars
New Statesman Leader
The hostilities in the Labour Party are over, but now to avert a great depression
The Politics Column
Out of the bunker
In the end the rescue package for the banks was the right thing but the Prime Minister stands accused of dithering, of being behind the curve rather than ahead of it
Obama woos the Rust Belt
For all the talk of Obama's "new politics", the presidency might well be determined by trade union members in failing industrial cities
Uni on the soapbox No 4047
Press reports say Cambridge University thinks soap operas can help it shed its elitist image and has written to producers of EastEnders, Coronation Street and Emmerdale, etc, asking them to include a mention of the august institution in their storylines. We asked for some sample scripts Set by Brendan O'Byrne
Culture
Different every time
Robert Wyatt is one of the most influential musicians of his era. Daniel Trilling visited him at home to talk about his musical tastes, communism and pork sausages
Accidental heroine
Gerda Taro was a fearless, pioneering chronicler of the Spanish Civil War. Robin Stummer uncovers evidence to suggest that her unflinching pictures led to her murder
Performance
A fight of titans
Messiaen and others give London's new concert venue an auspicious launch Opening Festival Kings Place, London N1
Film
An offer you can't refuse
The glamour gets scrubbed off the Mob in this Italian drama Gomorrah (15) dir: Matteo Garrone
Television
Nothing new under the sun
This comedy-drama aims for warmth but settles for warmed-over gags Sunshine BBC1
Radio
The early bird gets the rabbit
For Farming Today, the credit crunch is an opportunity to broaden our tastes
Books
The Booker's Big Bang
The Booker Prize, which will be awarded on 14 October, is 40 years old, but it wasn't always the 600lb gorilla of literary prizes. John Sutherland recalls how a demure award came to embrace the values of the Thatcherite Eighties
Unfinished project
Tony's Ten Years: Memories of the Blair Administration Adam Boulton Simon & Schuster, 384pp, £17.99
Stories from the front line
We Saw Spain Die: Foreign Correspondents in the Spanish Civil War Paul Preston Constable & Robinson, 436pp, £20
