10 November 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
The triumph of hope
On 4 November, Barack Obama won an emphatic mandate for change. Over the next ten pages we celebrate in words and pictures his remarkable victory, tracing his long and arduous journey from the snow-whitened landscape of Iowa to his final rally in Chicago
Features
A last chance
Leaders meet in Washington on 15 November for a summit to attempt to resuscitate a world finance system currently on life support. Paul Mason looks at what went wrong
When Keynes went to America
The first Bretton Woods meeting was intended to establish a postwar money regime and secure funds for rebuilding Europe. It nearly killed the British mastermind behind it
''The delegates should assemble in sackcloth and ashes, with humble and contrite hearts''
In the New Statesman of 24 December 1932, John Maynard Keynes, advised world leaders on the action needed to alleviate the suffering of millions
Mutiny in the mountains
In Kashmir, a wave of peaceful mass protests against Indian rule has been put down with ferocity. The capital city of Srinagar has now become an open prison to its citizens
Regulars
The Politics Column
Yes, we certainly can . . .
The final days of the campaign were marked by an extreme stillness. It was as if Americans had "challenged themselves to be better"
The Politics Column
Leaders-in-waiting
Whether they like it or not, Labour's senior figures still need to think about Gordon Brown's successor
The Politics Column
Interview: Michael Foot
In 1983 Michael Foot led Labour into a general election with a manifesto dubbed "the longest suicide note in history". One proposal, to nationalise banks, seems rather prescient
It's dogma eat dogma
Gordon Brown has told us that "this is not the time for outdated dogma". We asked you to give an example of a situation in which a politician of choice explains to us, his party constituents, why now is exactly the right time for outdated dogma
Culture
The sound of love
The Tunisian vocalist Dhafer Youssef is one of the leaders of an exciting renaissance in Arabic music. A new generation of artists is engaging with both classical tradition and international audiences
Do everything, be everywhere
A new show by Sam Taylor-Wood hints that there may yet be a serious artist hiding behind the celebrity and glamour
Performance
Ode to electric joy
Africa Express was the jewel in the crown of a restlessly creative season The Electric Proms Various venues, London and Liverpool
Film
Misunderestimating George
Is the horror of the Bush years beyond satire? Stone's bland effort suggests so W (15) dir: Oliver Stone
Television
This is anything but escapism
A timely adaptation of Dickens is a metaphor for the credit card age Little Dorrit BBC1
Radio
Welcome to the Absolute frontier
Britain's first new national station in 13 years falls back on old formulas
Books
Mountain megalomaniacs
Between Russia and the Middle East, the Caucasus is one of the world's most diverse regions - and as recent fighting in South Ossetia and Abkhazia showed, still boiling with ethnic tensions. Norman Stone reviews a history which makes sense of this complexity
Just wide of the post
FA Confidential - Sex, Drugs and Penalties: the Inside Story of English Football David Davies with Henry Winter Simon & Schuster, 384pp, £17.99
Whose line is it anyway?
The Thin Blue Line: How Humanitarianism Went to War Conor Foley Verso, 256pp, £14.99
Resourceful thinking
Crowdsourcing: How the Power of the Crowd is Driving the Future of Business Jeff Howe Random House, 312pp, £17.99
On a need to go basis
The Big Necessity: Adventures in the World of Human Waste Rose George Portobello Books, 304pp, £12.99
Fuel to the flames
Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet: How Scarce Energy is Creating a New World Order Michael Klare Oneworld, 336pp, £18.99
Side by side they fell
Amid the war graves of Belgium, Tom Farrell finds a family story tangled up with the birth of modern Ireland
