feeling listless

Literature Bloomsbury magazine wonders if the British magazine market is missing our own version of 'The New Yorker'. It's an interesting piece which delves into the history of that magazine (it began life as 'The Onion' of it's day) before wondering why something at least with similar intentions: "It is hard to summarise, but there is a number of salient elements that can be easily identified. The magazine is squarely written for the educated, urban middle-classes, or at least for people who aspire to this condition. The magazine's suburban readers want to live in Manhattan or Paris rather than the country; and its rural readers aspire to a first home on the Upper East Side or Notting Hill. Its readers are not nerdy. They are not obsessives in the way that readers of the New York Review of Books or Film Comment are obsessives. They are informed, fashionable, socially dynamic members of society — the ones you meet at parties with the particularly dry sense of humour, and the enviably healthy attitude to work, children and culture. They are, like their magazine of choice, information and culture democrats — eagerly enthusiastic to learn more about the world, but by no means fanatical specialists." Is it me, or does this feel like a description of a modern Guardian reader? In fact most of the elements listed in the article are ever present in that paper's G2 and other tabloid supplements. Note for future debate: Are newspapers just daily magazines on cheaper paper? Do articles have to have big colour photos to be relevant?