In this week’s New Statesman , out today, we look at what the death of Osama Bin Laden means for the world, the Middle East and Obama’s presidency.
In our cover story, Olivier Roy asks why Pakistan picked this moment to cut Osama loose and says the truth is that al-Qaeda was doomed from the start. Elsewhere, Mehdi Hasan warns that while Bin Laden is dead, Bin Ladenism isn’t; Donna Marsh O’Connor, who lost a child on 9/11, reflects on the end of a decade of grief; and, from the US, Alec MacGillis explains why it isn’t Mission Accomplished yet for Obama.
Also this week, Xan Rice reports from the front line in Misurata, Libya, with unseen images by the wounded photojournalist Guy Martin, Jason Cowley says Ed Miliband has a departure point and a destination but no route map, David Blanchflower hails Ben Bernanke, saviour of the global economy, and Sophie Elmhirst meets the irrepressible leader of Ukip, Nigel Farage.
All this, plus an interview with Heston Blumenthal, chef extraordinaire, John Gray on what human beings can learn from robots, and Laurie Penny on why the princess craze is no fairy tale.