New StatesmanBritain's award-winning current affairs magazineLet Muslims choose their own committee- August 7, 2008 The right to disagree and be critical of your government is what is known as democracy, a right cherished as much by British Muslims as anyone elseThe government is to set up a board of Muslim theologians. Once established, it will steer the more radical elements of the Muslim community away from violent extremism and issue fatwas on controversial issues such as the position of women and loyalty to the UK. This is bonkers! And everyone should know it. Who in our diverse Muslim communities would.http://www.newstatesman.com/religion/2008/08/muslim-government-british Don't be too harsh on hackers- August 7, 2008 Cybercrime laws can hurt people who have our best interests at heart"In the following article we incorrectly referred to a piece of software called 'RemotelyAnywhere' as a hacking programme. The programme, made by 3am Labs, is designed for remote access and administration. It is used by thousands of enterprises worldwide." So reads a correction that appears online above Jon Ronson's 2005 interview with Gary McKinnon, the British man who recently lost his appeal against extradition to the US in..http://www.newstatesman.com/scitech/2008/08/hat-hackers-white-computer This England- August 7, 2008 Each printed entry will receive a 5 book token. Entries on a POSTCARD, please, to This England, NS, address here: http:www.newstatesman.comnscontactus.htmGreat vision The advert for the post of air-traffic controller states that as well as having excellent vision, the applicant needs to be highly qualified to fulfil the demanding role of guiding aircraft safely into the hilltop airport, which is often fogbound. At the bottom of the advert is the note: "If you require this document in an...http://www.newstatesman.com/society/2008/08/england-please-address Julian's week- August 7, 2008 I don't know why, but I suspect most New Statesman readers live in the inner city and share their bathwaterAs I arrived at the Rose Theatre in Kingston upon Thames to record an episode of Radio 4s Just a Minute, I met Paul Merton. Paul always has the best opening lines. I offered him a mint before we went through the stage door. Do you find it takes away the taste of your boyfriend he asked. As we waited for the recording to begin, Nicholas Parsons was pacing up ...http://www.newstatesman.com/comedy/2008/08/clary-share-snake-city-thought The new spies- August 7, 2008 When the Cold War ended, it didn't spell curtains for the secret agent. Private espionage is a booming industry and environmental protest groups are its prime targetAs you hunker down for the last few days of the Camp for Climate Action, discussing how to force your way into Kingsnorth power station in an attempt to prevent the construction of a new coal facility, cast your eyes around your fellow protesters. Do they look entirely bona fide to you And don't look for the old-school special...http://www.newstatesman.com/business/2008/08/private-security-company Life in all its messiness- August 7, 2008 CrimeIrvine Welsh Jonathan Cape, 352pp, 12.99In the cold spring of 1996, in an unheated attic above an amusement arcade, I overdosed on Irvine Welsh. In the space of a week, I read The Acid House, Marabou Stork Nightmares and Trainspotting. By the time I started this last, I was coming down with flu. Sweating and shivering, aching from my toenails to the roots of my hair, and with Trainspotting propped against my clammy pillow, I ...http://www.newstatesman.com/books/2008/08/crime-irvine-welsh Danger to the nation- August 7, 2008 Two years ago, the FBI added a religious eccentric to its list of America's top criminals. The hypocritical frenzy unleashed against his community recalls the dark excesses of the 1950sBack in 1950, J Edgar Hoover began the FBI's legendary practice of issuing a "Ten Most Wanted Fugitives" list. Posters of dangerous criminals such as serial murderers, rapists and drug warlords were distributed to post offices, and television shows such as America's Most Wanted shot to the top of the ratings....http://www.newstatesman.com/north-america/2008/08/children-jeffs-ranch-texas Attentive reading- August 7, 2008 So I Have Thought of You: the Letters of Penelope FitzgeraldEdited by Terence Dooley Fourth Estate, 532pp, 25After the works, the life. There used to be a donnish school of thought which considered that a body of work was all you needed to know about a writer; that further biographical inquiry was a vulgar distraction from the purity of the oeuvre. This is not a view with which Penelope Fitzgerald would have sympathised. Before she became a novelist, she was herself a remarkable biographer: of..http://www.newstatesman.com/2008/08/fitzgerald-letters-life-dooley Too soon to celebrate Alzheimer's drug- August 7, 2008 There is no standard procedure for helping those with dementia; it is largely a case of families fighting the corner for their loved one"Hi, mate, how are you" is a greeting that has come to haunt me. It came from my dad on a recent visit to the care home where he lives, offering a glimpse of what he used to be like. Dad suffers with dementia. When the family visits he sits, occasionally acknowledging us, but usually just fiddling with things. At his worst, he appears to be in a sort of ...http://www.newstatesman.com/society/2008/08/dementia-case-loved-dad-family Wearisome familiarity- August 7, 2008 The Sixties Unplugged: a Kaleidoscopic History of a Disorderly DecadeGerard DeGroot Macmillan, 528pp, 20Gerard DeGroot was born in 1955, which was too late. So when a tiny, clamorous minority of often very stupid young adults was electing to return to childhood he was still an actual child, denied that choice. He is very likely suffering Sixties envy. Nonetheless he undeniably lived through the decade. He was presumably sentient. This, however, is hardly apparent, for he absents himself, treats.http://www.newstatesman.com/books/2008/08/gerard-degroot-decade-history |