Ahead of next week’s Conservative Party conference, this week’s New Statesman looks at the state of the Tories and the challenges facing David Cameron. In an interview with Mehdi Hasan, Conservative chairman Sayeeda Warsi claims that electoral fraud cost the party three seats at the election and compares the media’s treatment of Muslims to that of the Jewish community in the past.
Elsewhere, Tim Montgomerie reveals the Tories’ ten-point plan to defeat Ed Miliband, Francis Maude mounts a vigorous defence of the “big society” and Irwin Stelzer looks at Bill Clinton’s lesson for Labour.
Also this week, John Pilger argues that the BBC is in thrall to the same interests as the Murdoch empire, Mehdi Hasan praises Ed Miliband’s first speech as “intelligent, honest, bold and solidly social-democratic”, and David Blanchflower says that Ireland’s troubles do not bode well for Britain.
And finally, in case you missed it, don’t forget to check out our list of the 50 people who matter, including WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange, Hugo Chavez, Rupert Murdoch and Sarah Palin.