08 December 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
Mumbai massacre
India has suffered what many are calling its 9/11. Here one of the country's leading journalists introduces our nine-page analysis of the attacks, their aftermath and their implications for Britain and the world. We are hurt and angry, writes Soumya Bhattacharya, but even in our darkest hour we remain defiant. Plus read Richard Watson on how radicalised young men from over here continue to export terror
Features
Farewell, Club Young
There is no chase for youth more futile than that of the mid-forties man who thinks he still looks cool
High street shake-out
Woolworths has gone, many other famous stores will disappear, but a new age of shopping will emerge from the wreckage
The India that is not and never was
These attacks were on a different scale - more open, more organised, more direct. But there are many other internal pressures that weigh just as heavily on India's future
Open your eyes, Dave
In his haste to embrace the new pro-western government of Pakistan, the British Foreign Secretary has ignored reality
Becoming a pariah state
Even if none of the Mumbai attackers turns out to be British, radicalised young men from over here continue to export terror abroad.
Mumbai: the soft city
At ground level Mumbai is a jumble of Manchester Gothic, with palm trees, pleasing 1960s modernism, labyrinthine shanty towns
Socialism's comeback
At the beginning of the century, the chances of socialism making a return looked close to zero. Yet now, all around Europe, the red flag is flying again
Lost in translation
Authenticity wins over spontaneity in this Swedish-set detective series Wallander BBC1
Essay
The triumph of greed
Tax evasion, tax avoidance, money laundering: institutionalised crime is so much part of the global economy. Then there is moral crime...
Regulars
The Politics Column
An abuse of power
It is not the most important secrets that are leaked. But this government has a nasty habit of seeking the easy target - the whistleblower
The Politics Column
'Cameron's a lightweight'
David Cameron has made much of his rapport with Barack Obama, but his views on Europe clearly left the president-elect baffled
Performance anxiety
Olympic gold medals can be withdrawn retrospectively if athletes are found to have used drugs that enhanced their performance. We asked for a newspaper report on the grounds that a Nobel prizewinner in literature/ peace/economics is similarly to be stripped of his or her title Set by Ian Birchall
Culture
Ice and fire
In 2008 Tilda Swinton completed her transformation from art-house darling to Hollywood power player. She is rounding off the year with two more stunning performances
Living with the monster
A season of contemporary work from Iran shows that the country offers its artists rich inspiration - at a price
Performance
The drowned world
Elaborate stagecraft is superfluous in a piece as spare and grim as a Norse epic Riders to the Sea Coliseum, London WC2
Performance
Everyday miracles
Edgy yet emotional, this is a vindication of the Royal Ballet's new appointment Infra Royal Opera House, London WC2
Books
Where's the beef?
The Slow Food movement has an almost millenarian belief in the virtue of amalgamating gastronomy with ecology. It will take more than such utopian thinking, however, to transform Britain's woeful food culture
Laughing academy
Stop Me If You've Heard This: a History and Philosophy of Jokes Jim Holt Profile Books, 160pp, £8.99
The history man
The Man Who Invented History: Travels With Herodotus Justin Marozzi John Murray, 352pp, £25
Sound and vision
In Person: Thirty Poets Filmed by Pamela Robertson-Pearce Edited by Neil Astley Bloodaxe Books, 272pp, £12
Alchemy for beginners
Mercurius: the Marriage of Heaven and Hell Patrick Harpur Squeeze Press, 512pp, £9.99
