It is Friday night in Tel Aviv. I am sitting at a seaside bar, drinking a cocktail and eating seafood. Young men and women are playing beach volleyball nearby; others are rollerblading, cycling or just sauntering around. Israel, at least the secular part of Israel, is enjoying life. A few hours earlier I had been in another world: Jenin, the most northerly town on the West Bank, a place I [...]

David Manning greets me warmly as he strides into the ornate drawing room of his Lutyens residence. This is known as the decompression chamber, the room where he would sit down with Tony Blair and other aides at the end of a prime ministerial visit to Washington. I have known Manning for nearly two decades, since Moscow and the collapse of communism. Since then his career has taken him to [...]

The question on the minds of a number of prominent Russians is not why Britain has acted precipitously, but why it has taken so long. They are referring not so much to the specifics of the murder of Alexander Litvinenko and the demand for the extradition of Andrei Lugovoi, but to the UK's approach to foreign residents in general. Why, they wonder, have we allowed our capital city to become [...]

The Blair Years: Extracts from the Alastair Campbell Diaries

Alastair Campbell Hutchinson, 816pp, £25

It says much about Alastair Campbell that since leaving Downing Street in 2003 he has not had a proper job. Downing Street gatekeeper Anji Hunter went off to BP to start a new career; even Peter Mandelson found diversion by becoming a European commissioner. Campbell could have gone off to become a spokesman for his friend [...]

This has been a summer of sermons and each has left its mark. First up was Chicago University, where I sat one Saturday morning for four hours in the baking heat, watching a procession of students, including my British nephew and thousands of Chinese, walk solemnly on and off the stage. By way of introduction, the chaplain (they seemingly couldn't afford either Bill Gates or Bill Clinton) ventured the following [...]

A new era demands fresh answers, and in this week's NS we seek to provide them. We've asked the top five centre-left think-tanks to produce mini-manifestos. We also have pleas to Gordon Brown from well-known figures. We want to hear your views on the website and in the magazine.

Our Inside track section is setting the agenda. This week, Peter Wilby separates fact from rhetoric in education, Kevin Maguire [...]

As British politics enters a new era, the NS will be essential reading. Every week our new, must-read Inside track section will tell you everything you need to know, with the sharpest analysis from our leading writers.

Our political editor, Martin Bright, leads the coverage with insights on the new order: Brown, his allies and his adversaries. Peter Wilby nails the latest thinking, while Kevin Maguire passes on the [...]

As Tony Blair steps down after ten years in office, this week's special issue marks the occasion with verdicts from Britain's top writers - David Hare, David Marquand, Suzanne Moore, Geoff Mulgan and John Gray.

We have exclusive images from the artists Ralph Steadman, Peter Kennard, Robert Del Naja and Stanley Donwood that sum up the Blair years. Our former editors John Lloyd, Ian Hargreaves and Peter Wilby reflect [...]

As Tony Blair prepares to step down, we mark the occasion in next week's issue with verdicts from Britain's top writers.

David Marquand and Geoff Mulgan set the scene. David Hare looks at war and truth; John Gray detects the hand of a previous premier; and Suzanne Moore pinpoints how Britain has changed.

We have exclusive images from the artists Ralph Steadman, Peter Kennard, Robert Del Naja [...]

As voters go to the polls in Scotland and Wales and for local elections in much of England, the NS will bring you the best in political coverage. Can Labour revive its fortunes or is Britain heading for a new era of party-political turbulence?

Led by our political editor, Martin Bright, our writers will provide incisive coverage of Tony Blair's last task before leaving office, and Gordon Brown's last [...]