23 April 2007
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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
Climate change: Why we don't believe it
We reveal an unreported gulf between the pronouncements of campaigners and politicians and British public opinion plus in the comments below we have responses from David Miliband, Peter Ainsworth, Sian Berry, Friends of the Earth and more...
Features
The darker side of Dave
As the media hunt for a challenger to Gordon Brown, they have all but ignored the real agenda of David Cameron's Conservatives.
Wales: England's oldest colony
Subjugated and marginalised, the Welsh have refused to be dominated. But the conqueror's tactics have been so successful that resentment now runs deep on both sides of Offa's Dyke.
Colombia: Progress at a price
The murderous paramilitaries have been disbanded and "reintegrated" into society with generous benefits. But where is the justice for those who died?
Regulars
Diary
I'm the candidate. I'm stunned
From being in a band, I've learned the trick of doing a good interview. Making a successful "impromptu" speech is pretty much the same . . .
Green Thinking
Danger from the strangers behind the wheel
Motorists must be forced to acknowledge that possession of a dangerous weapon requires extreme caution and diligence
Undercurrents
The abortion on demand myth
To have any sense of sexual freedom at all, easy access to abortion was and is entirely necessary but abortion is not available on demand
Urban Life
Where's the pistol?
Just how true are the claims about the availability of guns in Britain's inner city communities
Media
A sudden case of collective reverse ferret
One moment wedding bells were ringing. The next, it was all over for Kate and her prince. The Sun's royal scoop caught everyone on the hop, and the result was . . . well, unattributable
Human Rights
The circle of rendition
The great-grandfather of a Muslim man held in Guantanamo was likewise held without trial and tortured by a colonial superpower
From our archive
France and Britain
Taken from the New Statesman 13 September 1947
Whoever wins this spring's presidential election, France's historically awkward relations with Britain are unlikely to be transformed for the better. Richard Crossman, the Labour MP and then assistant editor of the New Statesman, highlighted some of the emotions that have clouded the entente cordiale: the familiar English disdain towards Gallic ways, as well as the French contempt mingled with envy for a neighbour seen as too servile to the US.
Selected by Robert Taylor
Julian's week
My poor Valerie just hasn't been the same since a white van man's husky bit her ear
Song for Europe No 3974
Set by Didier d'Argent
We asked for more profound entries for the Eurovision Song Contest (the finals for 2007 take place in Helsinki on 12 May) as written by a philosopher of your choice
Arts & Culture
Soul searching
The Eighth Sharjah Biennial is the latest in a series of huge art exhibitions to take place in the Gulf. Rachel Aspden finds that the work on show fails to challenge the rigidly controlled society outside the gallery
The lives of saints
Gandhi is idealised in the west, but in Indian culture he is emerging as a complex figure.
Redemption songs
Rock Against Racism, which inspired Live Aid and helped forge multicultural Britain, is documented in a new film
Theatre
Tailor-made for the stage
Bewitchingly real adaptation finds humanity amid the chaos of 1970s India
A Fine Balance
Hampstead Theatre, London NW3
Film
Addictive personalities
The charismatic Ryan Gosling looks good even on a diet of hard drugs
Half Nelson (15)
dir: Ryan Fleck
Television
Fighting a losing battle
Tony Marchant's scathing portrait of British troops in Iraq was unjust
The Mark of Cain
Channel 4
Radio
Mischief from beyond the grave
There's plenty of agony in store on The Archers, thanks to a clever plot twist
The Archers
Radio 4
Travels
Social climbing
Sophie Morris finds that inequality in Tanzania runs to the top of Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest mountain
Books
The Opposite House
An exclusive extract from the new novel by Helen Oyeyemi
Illustration by Rachel Riordan
Unearthing history
City of the Sharp-Nosed Fish: Greek lives in Roman Egypt
Peter Parsons Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 320pp, £25
ISBN 0297645889
War of the words
Day
A L Kennedy Jonathan Cape, 280pp, £16.99
ISBN 0224077864
Freedom next time
Another Sky: voices of conscience from around the world
Edited by Lucy Popescu and Carole Seymour-Jones, with a foreword by Tom Stoppard Profile Books, 276pp, £8.99
ISBN 1861978405
Tinseltown tyrants
Hollywood and the Mob: movies, mafia, sex & death
Tim Adler Bloomsbury, 278pp, £17.99
ISBN 0747577234
Voice of the streets
Flamenco Legend: in search of Camarón de la Isla
Marcos NPI Media, 288pp, £18.99
ISBN 0752439928
Observations
Letters to the Editor
New Statesman readers give their views - see what they said and find out how to contribute yourself by going to our letters pages
