Taller and wider
The New New Statesman
Just to say, the relaunched, "taller and wider" New Statesman, a magazine I have subscribed to for the last nine years, has survived what for a 25,000-circulation concern is a fairly high-profile facelift. (Media Guardian rather desperately tried to sell the story as lefty-rag-goes-all-comedy because they've taken on Julian Clary as a regular columnist, even though regular readers will know that Clary has been writing for them for quite a while, filling in as theatre critic and for Rory Bremner, whose rather forced column has been a fixture for ages. Still, at least they wrote about it.) I don't need this all-headline cover design style. I preferred the single image for impact. The new style suggests desperation. It says, "Look, we've got all this stuff inside, please buy it!" That said, there appears to have been no cut in word-length, the usual casualty in market-led redesigns (one of the reasons I stopped buying Q), and nor does the design involve too many "box outs" and gimmicks. It's mainly still intelligent pieces written from the left, with photos next to them, and with some pages on a blue tint. Surprised to see a couple of unfanfared sackings in the arts section though: Portillo dropped as theatre critic, Victoria Segal as film critic . . . mercifully, they have retained Rachel Cooke on radio and Andrew Billen on TV. My subscription remains safe.
posted by Andrew Collins @ 8:48 AM
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7 Comments:
Blimey, former editor of Q stops buying Q. That's quite a big thing, really. I stopped buying it a few years ago, after nearly 10 years. Why did the dawn of the millennium make so many music magazines disappear or just become rubbish?
But at least there's still "The" Word. Best magazine around, no competition.
I would agree wholeheartedly even if I didn't write for it. That's why I write for it. The Word is the best magazine on the shelves. Apart from The New Yorker, obviously.
I stopped buying Q when I realised the pictures had come to outweigh the words. That's all wrong.
Stupid as it may seem, I've become less inclined to buy The Word since the The was added. Word was enigmatic and a bit clever ("We want a one-word title, hmmm..."). The Word evokes the Bible and the TV show (a potent mix: Christians and Terry Christian). My disinclination to buy it might have more to do with poverty though, if I'm honest.
I think it was for legal reasons. I know there's an American magazine called Word, anyway.
I'm surprised simply adding a The would resolve that sort of problem. Still, it beats becoming English Word, I suppose.
Best thing to do is carry on calling it Word and pretend it never happened. I do. And I work for them.
You make it sound so easy(!) It is a great magazine by the way. It's occasionally too pleased with itself but I'll put that down to insecurity - since that's always my excuse. And the obsession with the iPod already looks quaint. And Robin's Nest isn't one of the best sitcoms of all time.
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