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Contents Free thinking since 1913
MURRELL
DAN
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:P OP P ERF O T O/G E T T Y
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Editor Jason Cowley Deputy Editor Helen Lewis Culture Editor Tom Gatti Political Editor George Eaton Associate Editor Jemima Khan Arts Editor Kate Mossman Assistant Editors Sophie McBain Michael Prodger Contributing Editor Laurie Penny Production Editor Jill Chisholm Acting Photography Editor Gerry Brakus Senior Designer Emily Foster Chief Sub-Editor Nana Yaa Mensah Sub-Editor Yo Zushi Design/Graphics Dan Murrell
Newstatesman.com Caroline Crampton Philip Maughan Ian Steadman Anoosh Chakelian Chief Sub, Digital Thomas Calvocoressi
Contributing Writers John Gray Rowan Williams Mehdi Hasan Ed Smith John Bew Leo Robson
Commercial Director Peter Coombs 020 3096 2267 Director of Brand and Communications Fiona Allen Head of Partnerships Eleanor Slinger Design and Advertising Production Leon Parks 020 7936 6461 Online Production Cameron Sharpe 020 7936 6776
Blood and guts: story of the Slits 55 Leo Robson on what makes a novel 52 Food: snacking the Brazilian way 61
Up Front Observations Columns Articles The Critics Back Pages
7 Leader 12 Correspondence 15 Social Mobility: Labour’s Red Princes Sophie McBain 17 Science: inflation goes bush Michael Brooks 18 First World War: letters home Lucy Fisher 19 Media: a ghost at the Telegraph Tim Wigmore 19 Commons Confidential Kevin Maguire
8 First Thoughts Peter Wilby reflects on the outcome of the News of the World hacking trial 11 The Politics Column George Eaton on the choice between a weak leader and a toxic brand 20 Letter from Baghdad Lindsey Hilsum returns to Iraq a decade after the fall of Saddam 21 Letter from Erbil Fergal Keane reports from the front line of the Kurdish peshmerga 23 In the Red Laurie Penny argues that we should be less relaxed about state surveillance 25 Brazil Notebook Jonathan Wilson wonders why Boring Roy took a cavalier approach
22 The Politics Interview George Eaton meets Labour’s smartest thinker, Jon Cruddas 26 First World War Who was Franz Ferdinand? Simon Winder on the death of an archduke 33 An assassin in Sarajevo Tim Butcher on the life and times of Gavrilo Princip 35 The NS Poems Classics from the archives by Edward Thomas and Robert Graves 36 The NS Essay Simon Heffer on the First World War historians 43 The losers’ viewpoint Robin Lustig on his German grandfather, a fighter on the front 46 “To One Who Was With Me in the War” A war poem by Siegfried Sassoon
48 The other war poets Owen Clayton recalls the foreign equivalents of Wilfred Owen et al 50 Battle of the books A selection of the best new books about the First World War 52 Hedgehog versus fox Leo Robson on the complex art of the novel 55 Proud punk survivor Tracey Thorn enjoys Viv Albertine’s rock ‘n’ roll life in the Slits 56 Gods in bottles and concrete crocodiles Philip Hoare on the wildest British folk art More reviews: Helen Lewis on Rebecca Solnit, Rachel Cooke on The Vintage Clothes Show, Antonia Quirke on Philip K Dick and Ryan Gilbey on The Golden Dream
61 Food Felicity Cloake 62 The Fan Hunter Davies 63 Down and Out Nicholas Lezard 65 Critic’s Notebook Rebecca Front 66 Competition, Crossword, Subscriber of the Week, The Returning Officer and NS Puzzle 70 Madness of Crowds Will Self 71 Subscription Offer
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27 JUNE – 3 JULY 2014 | NEW STATESMAN | 5
