14 January 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
The truth must be exposed
The NS calls on David Miliband or Gordon Brown to launch an inquiry into the failed prosecution of a Foreign Office official, Derek Pasquill, to establish if politicians or officials played a role in perverting the course of justice
Features
Obama unmasked
What's going wrong for the man who would be president? Our US editor Andrew Stephen reports from Washington. Plus Joe Treasure among California's Clinton lovers
Tribal paranoia
Ethnic polarisation is taking hold in Kenya reports Michela Wrong Photos by Peter Chappell plus don't miss Rageh Omaar's analysis
America's great game
The US and Britain claim defeating the Taliban is part of a "good war" against al-Qaeda. Yet there is evidence the 2001 invasion was planned before 9/11
The Church's true colours
After three decades of trying to promote tolerance towards gay and lesbian Christians, the lead advocate is leaving, disillusioned
Regulars
Diary
Drink, dictators and belly dancers
Hearing the UK and US drone on about democracy in Pakistan makes me sick: Musharraf would remain a dictator even if he donned a tutu
Politics
Reasons to be cheerful (Part two)
There may be more to Gordon Brown's New Year relaunch than meets the eye. Martin Bright, NS political editor, identifies the changes taking place on the Prime Minister's watch
Commons Confidential
Mr Fix-It's old affections and Asda's new friends
All the gossip from the Westminster village
This England
Each printed entry will receive a £5 book token. Entries on a POSTCARD, please, to This England, NS, address at www.newstatesman.com/contactus.htm
Dear Auntie No 4009
Set by Leonora Casement
It's time for you, as well-mannered people, to write all your thank-you letters . . . even for those presents you truly detest
Arts & Culture
Dutch courage
After the murder of his friend and collaborator Theo van Gogh, comedian Hans Teeuwen inherited the title of Holland's defender-in-chief of free speech.
A lady of letters
Judith Weir draws on Taoism and an eclectic range of texts to create her witty, erudite compositions
Performance
Only as old as you feel
Inspired casting makes for a joyfully cynical take on the Bard's comedy
Television
Don't mention Eldorado
ITV's new pairing of soap and satire is odd, yet better than you might expect
Radio
The hardest-working man at the BBC
Stuart Maconie's passion for music of all forms puts other DJs to shame
Travels
A model of restoration
Sue Hubbard finds magic in the ruins of an Irish village abandoned during the potato famine
Drink
A spell of the Doubts
Even in Argentina, a fine wine can be teased from grapes, finds a surprised Roger Scruton
The way I see it
The way I see it: Bahman Ghobadi
Ghobadi is a Kurdish-Iranian film director. His first feature, “A Time for Drunken Horses” (2000), was awarded the Caméra d’Or at that year’s Cannes Film Festival. His latest release, “Half Moon”, which has won awards at the San Sebastián and Istanbul festivals, is out now.
Books
Atomised
After giving America the bomb, Robert Oppenheimer became the target of a political witch-hunt in the 1950s. But did he engineer his own downfall?
Sovereignty by stealth
Hollow Land: Israel's Architecture of Occupation
Eyal Weizman Verso, 288pp, £19.99
A bluffer's guide
How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read
Pierre Bayard Granta Books, 192pp, £12
Three's a crowd
A Quiet Adjustment
Benjamin Markovits Faber & Faber, 328pp, £12.99
Myriad endings
Beethoven was One-Sixteenth Black, and Other Stories
Nadine Gordimer Bloomsbury, 192pp, £14.99
Observations
Time to get back on track
Observation on the destruction wrought by John Major's privatisation of our railways
Unholy orders
Murder, corruption - the story of the radio station run by a Catholic priest in Costa Rica
Whitehall's hot air
A study by the National Audit Office makes a mockery of the government's pledge to achieve carbon neutrality by 2012
