04 May 2009
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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
Pandemic’s progress: we saw it coming
Be in no doubt, people in Britain will die from Mexican swine flu and there will be several million victims worldwide. But this is not a repeat of the 1918 pandemic, writes the leading research scientist and NS contributing editor
Features
Screen test
Video games dominate Britain’s entertainment industry, yet we lack the critical vocabulary to understand them properly
The database tyranny
Labour has persistently ignored expert warnings about its approach to electronic government – but a benevolent state needs a human face
Swords drawn in Pirate Bay
In a landmark case, the founders of a Swedish file-sharing website have been convicted of copyright infringement. This is not the end for internet piracy but the start of a new phase of battle
"We were so keen to believe that Web 2.0 would make the world fairer that we rejected all evidence to the contrary"
Exciting as they sound, the Wired editor’s theories have no sticking power
Don’t sell me your dream
Far from liberating us, technology isolates us and makes us stupid. I want no part of your sterile, bloodless brave new world
Running on empty
The lack of innovation in pop music suggests that we are experiencing an energy crisis in culture at large
Essay
Caught in the net
Whatever prophets of the net say, information for its own sake is not power. Power is power. The relentless gush of electronic information and invitations to offer feedback which now come our way can often obscure where real power lies
Regulars
Down & Out in London
Love is in the air
My advice for people in new relationships: you might be all smoochy now, but in 20 years you’ll be fighting like rats in a sack
First Thoughts
Pass the sickbag, Alice
. . . on tax dodgers, deportations, crocked fast bowlers and women drivers
World view
The Madmen did well
The first 100 days of Barack Obama’s presidency have shown him to be a marketing exec’s dream, a Marlboro Man for the Noughties – and little else
Performance
In for the long haul
With a whisky-and-gravel growl, the old sage is his usual self – only more so
Television
The estate we’re in
Executive egos tower over the listed buildings in this masterly satire
Radio
Hold on to your assets
5 Live uncovers a whole world of hell, with the help of Peter and Katie
The Fan
Why Rafa is a manager of note
Hunter Davies recognises a kindred spirit in the Liverpool scribbler
Books
The great illusionist
A study of Steve Jobs, the visionary behind the success of Apple, doesn’t quite discover what drives him on
Ten essential books on technology
A round-up of the ten must-read titles
Agents of darkness
Voodoo Histories: the Role of the Conspiracy Theory in Shaping Modern History David Aaronovitch Jonathan Cape, 368pp, £17.99
