The Times and iweekend
Having spent most of my life up to my armpits in newsprint, I now find the have-and-to-hold newspaper is a treat rather than a daily commitment.
I subscribe to The Times (£30 a month) and get different versions on phone, tablet and computer plus the full contents in all their glory in the e-paper. But for that inky fingers experience, I can’t wait to pick up my copy of iweekend, at just £2, surely a steal.
The main paper runs to 72 tabloid pages and manages to give a full service treatment of everything from news and opinion to travel and sport without feeling crammed in at all. But the real weekend read treat is 40 pages of 7Days pullout. It’s a joyful agglomeration of days out, food & drink, books and arts along with a week’s TV and pages dedicated to films and streaming services.
I confess I don’t run down to the corner shop clutching my £2 as I have a coupon. For £90, I have an annual iweekend and digital subscription, which is not only a saving on the cover prices but also gives online access to the e-paper every day.
It’s still a refreshing treat away from the polemics of the other national newspapers. The news is told straight but also in depth, the columnist are clearly badged up with their affiliations and sport has some of the best writers around.
The Herald, The National and The Scotsman
While in Glasgow and for less than the cost of two deep fried Mars bars, I feasted on three daily newspapers devoted to the goings on north of the border.
The Herald, The National and The Scotsman would all claim to be the voice of Scotland, or at least for those readers with the same leanings and inclinations. They probably won’t thank me for lumping them all together for these purposes but there are probably more similarities than differences.
At £1.60, The National – ‘The newspaper that supports an independent Scotland’ – is the cheapest of the bunch. The 40-page tabloid that I picked up rampaged with news up to halfway interspersed with knowledgeable columnists. Four pages of letters showed a healthy appetite among readers for trenchant, if one-sided, debate backed up by nine pages of sport, a decent return for a bit of a nothing Friday.
The Scotsman (£2.80) also had nine pages of games and pastimes propping up its 56-page tabloid book. News is well-illustrated as are ‘Special Report’ and ‘Advertising Feature’ which keep the denizens of the newsroom fed and watered. ‘Perspective’ offers talking and thinking. Business and Opinion just that and the 12-page ‘Scottish Life’ pullout is a home for everything else.
Continuing the sports theme, The Herald (£2.80) has a 12-page tabloid section nestled inside the broadsheet main book. It’s mainly fitba but local rugby gets a look-in plus some international perspective. The big pages are used to good effect with standout headlines and well-used pictures. There is absolutely tons to read across all shades of news and comment but as a rarity nowadays, the broadsheet does feel unwieldy and not ideal for a packed commuter train.
For a country with a population of 5.5 million to support three national papers, plus other daily offerings from Aberdeen and Dundee, is nothing short of remarkable and testament to the dogged determination of the publishers. By contrast, London with a population of 9.2 million, has a grand total of 0 daily newspapers.
The Light
I’m also a sucker for any kind of free newspaper (I’ve started and closed enough of them in my time) so when an enthusiastic if rather bohemian fella pushed a copy of The Light into my hand outside the concert hall by the Donald Dewar statue in Glasgow, it seemed rude to refuse.
The Light, I quickly learn, positions itself as ‘Free For Thinkers’ but has been roundly vilified as a home for conspiracy theories such as climate change denial, culture war rhetoric and alarmist propaganda.
Ho, hum. It’s neatly put together with well displayed pictures and five pages of ads at the back of this issue, No 69, that runs to 28 pages. They obviously take themselves very seriously but with headlines like ‘Digital ID is master key to lock us all in cyber prison’ and ‘Top tips for surviving collapse of the world as we know it’ there is always to temptation to view it as a rather clever spoof.
Editor Darren Nesbit (aka Darren Smith) tells me they employ “about 20-25 people including writers each month” and distribute about 100,000 nationally.
When asked, what do you say to people who dismiss The Light as just full of conspiracy theories? Nesbit / Smith replied: “We don’t say anything, because they aren’t capable of checking facts for themselves.”
I know there will be detractors out there who feel that there is no place in the modern world for such an outlandish, and maybe dangerous, publication. But providing no laws are broken and it’s only sensibilities that are offended, why not keep the publishing world, especially in good old hard copy, open to all? Discuss.
JetAway
Ever since I first wrote about airline publications for my Spotlight column back in 2019, I’ve developed a sort of crush on inflight magazines. While other passengers get comfy and plug in their devices, I’m straight down ‘the seat pocket in front of you’ to fish around with the sick bag, someone else’s used tissues and a flyer for that duty free teddy bear dressed as a pilot that you’ve always wanted.
Here nestle the inflight magazines. Some masquerade as an onboard menu planner and in-seat duty free assistant while others unashamedly sell the virtues of whatever carrier has the pleasure of strapping you in for a few hours.
My latest guilty pleasure was JetAway, 124 pages of deliciousness all flagged up with the tagline, ‘Have a lovely holiday!’ and the organ in the sky of Jet2holidays. Its contents page lists ‘Top Features’, shopping and travel plus a section enigmatically called ‘Something for everyone’, which includes two pages of pictures outlining ‘Nature’s Wonders’.
The ‘JetAway Celebrity’ is indeed a celebrity, Hugh ‘Paddington’ Bonneville no less. We learn that his dream dinner companion is Meryl ‘Miranda Priestly’ Streep and he has a fear of heights. Charlotte Church, sorry, ‘Proud Welsh crazy chick’ as she is labelled, pops up later as a celebrity extra revealing that the last book she read was The Unlikely Peace at Cuchumaquic by Martín Prechtel. (Clue: it’s not chick lit).
The destinations come thick and fast from Egypt and Morocco via Malta and Ibiza. All are informative, easy to digest and illustrated in that blue sea, blue sky way that only ever happens on holiday. At the back are two pages of holiday puzzles, a competition and some serious advice from important looking people. ‘Hypodermic needles are allowed onboard for medical use only’. Remember that one, folks.
Whatever you may think of this genre of publication, there is no denying JetAway is put together with skill and verve by people who really do seem to care. See you all later in the summer…
Mallorca Bulletin
After listening to all the horror stories about delays getting through immigration at European airports, I gave myself plenty of time to navigate Palma airport in Mallorca, which turned out to be an object lesson in having lots of fully functioning passport eGates and lots of fully functioning helpful people (are you watching USA?).
Consequently, I was left with time on my hands even after forcing down more food and drink so an opportunity to peruse the newsstand. Star of the show was Mallorca Bulletin, a 40-page weekly tabloid and big print brother to the newsy majorcadailybulletin.com (yes, different spelling).
Plenty of news early on, much of it with a travel and tourist focus, but also Crimewatch – ‘Man attempts to rob tourist with a corkscrew’ – and What’s On – ‘Calvia’s sheep and goat fair returns’.
There’s the opportunity to learn all about beach rugby (who knew it was a thing?) an insight into the Spanish film production sector and columnists galore opining on everything from a smoking ban to cooking a traditional Spanish breakfast.
Being a battle-hardened back-to-front reader, I enjoyed classified ads, weather and puzzles before the proper business of Real Mallorca’s battle to escape relegation. More sport might have helped but it’s all so readably put together, that seems like a minor gripe.
At just two euros it was a bargain buy and even kept me away from the café / bar / duty free so, muchas gracias all round.
Good Housekeeping
Sorry, Good Housekeeping, it’s been a while. So, surely ‘Britain’s biggest selling lifestyle magazine’ is worth a look to see what all the fuss is about?
Of course, the 254,407 people who shell out £6.99 every month are not wrong. It’s lovely. From Jane Bruton’s editor’s letter – “I’m writing this letter in my bedroom surrounded by piles of clothes” – through to a ‘quick word’ from those famous experts at the Good Housekeeping Institute 192 pages later, it’s reliably interesting, beautifully put together and still a little surprising.
Trinny Woodall leads the celeb count, backed up by Rishi and Akshata Sunak teaching maths, Rachel Johnson advising on, ahem, ‘family nuptials’, columnist Lauren Laverne and Meryl Streep’s stylist.
There’s enough clothes and cooking so you never have to leave home along with culture, gardening and travel. ‘I covered for her affair’ is not going to get Rivals fans hot under the collar but it is a good treatment of what is probably a common issue among friends. I also learned all about stonewalling, gaslighting and triangulation but whatever happens in the National Park stays in the National Park.
Good Housekeeping has been doing this for more than 100 years so they should be pretty good at it. And they are.
Honourable mentions…
The Northumberland Gazette (£2), my local paper that has chronicled the goings on of this disparate ‘coast and castles’ country since 1854 and Private Eye (£2.99), which is still by far the best current affairs comic ever published.
This article was first published in InPublishing magazine. If you would like to be added to the free mailing list to receive the magazine, please register here.
