Magazines

I'm just having a look through "Freedom", the anarchist publication, and I have to say I'm rather impressed. The last time I saw it (some time ago) it was a large newspaper with the tiniest font possible in order to fit in every last thousand syllables of some of the driest political screeds I'd ever come across.

Its new incarnation is of a well put together 16 page magazine every two weeks. It has lots of short, well paced articles on things that are actually happening around the world and discusses issues that might actually be of interest to normal people - not just those interested in fossilised political thought.

Now, I'm a little bit obsessive about letters pages in publications. I think you can tell a lot about who reads a paper and what they are thinking by taking a look in this section. Left publications without letters pages are generally ones without an actual readership, whilst those with tight political control tend to produce letters of, shall we say, an unreadable standard. So it was with interest that, turning to the letters page, I find discussion of the Green Party leadership referendum and some interesting thoughts on Afghanistan.

Having weighed up my pay packet I decided recently to subscribe to one new publication a month (which is affordable) and then, once I've finished my own perusals, pass them on to those I think might be interested. I think Freedom will be February's subscription.

Of course this leaves open what I'll take on next. I already get Red Pepper and Green World, and my flat mate gets New Internationalist, so I need to consider carefully what next month's lucky publication will be. Thoughts?