31 August 2009
Become a subscriber and save £££
Subscribe to the New Statesman for just £87 and receive a free gift.
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 next 100 years
Japan and Turkey form an alliance to attack the US. Poland becomes America’s closest ally. Mexico makes a bid for global supremacy, and a third world war takes place in space. Sounds strange? It could all happen. . .
Features
Chávez is failing women
Venezuela’s leader may be a self-proclaimed feminist, but his country still has a shocking record on domestic violence.
Bias and the Beeb
The charge that the broadcasting corporation is left-wing has been repeated so often that it goes almost unchallenged. If anything, Mehdi Hasan argues, it is a bastion of conservatism
“They hoped I’d be pro-torture”
The BBC could not handle a right-winger against the Iraq war
“Do we get it right?”
The BBC is still defined by impartiality
The NS Profile: Muammar al-Gaddafi
The‘‘mad dog of the Middle East’’ is back in the spotlight, 41 years after he took power.
Good migrations
Luton – described as a breeding ground for militants and a tinderbox of racial tension – has an image problem. The Home Secretary and the press predict a riot, but local people beg to differ.
Regulars
New Statesman Leader
Leader: Beware the coming anarchy and Labour’s denial of it
Chris Grayling's speech showed that he understands the coarsening of our public culture
New Statesman Leader
Leader: The Lion of the Senate . . .
He reminded the world why the Kennedy family's tradition of public service was so cherished
First Thoughts
Go on, boycott America
. . . on Lockerbie, knighthoods and the futility of Richard Dawkins
The Politics Column
The folly of devolution
The furore over the release of the Lockerbie bomber may hasten the decline of the union
Down & Out in London
Down and out in London
I used to pity those separated fathers with their children, eating their joyless, anxious meals at Pizza Express
The facts of the matter No 4090
We asked you for an extract from a thriller, romance or children’s story containing at least three items of boring information that fit neatly into the plot without destroying the flow
Culture
Hearts and minds
A new collaboration between scientists and the Nash Ensemble hopes to shed light on how our brains respond to music, and why we love it.
OK computer
Video games are selling well despite the recession, but is the government taking this thriving industry seriously enough?
Westwood goes AWOL in Magaluf
BBC music journos can’t help getting territorial when let loose abroad
The last drop
It’s goodbye to good old Riojas . . . and it’s goodbye from me, writes Roger Scruton
Books
The Red Flag: Communism and the Making of the Modern World
Western progressives nostalgic for the Soviet Union shouldn’t get too excited by the global financial crisis, writes John Gray. A fine new history of communism shows why
