I couldn't go to the Total Politics launch party last night as I had a column to write for another magazine. (I used to think that being a writer would involve going to lots of parties. Actually, it chiefly consists of staying at home and writing.)But there is an article by Dominic Ponsford on the UK Press Gazette site which will tells you all about the magazine and Iain Dale's hopes for it:
Total Politics will be available free online, at least initially, as a virtual e-magazine. And more than 30 political insiders – ranging from Hazel Blears MP to Tony Travers from the LSE – have been signed up as unpaid bloggers.
Dale also has ambitions to make the Total Politics website the ultimate online resource for information about UK politics.
As well as the controlled circulation, Total Politics will be available on newsstands throughout the country at £3.99, and via subscriptions.
Advertising for the launch issue has already been selling well, says Dale. The commercial proposition is a mixture of display advertising, aimed at the public affairs budgets of companies or organisations with a particular political message to get across, and smaller adverts from those who provide services to politicians – such as speechwriters, conference organisers and book publishers.
The editorial mission statement is, says Dale, to be “unremittingly positive about politics”.Given that Total Politics has been set up to compete with the House Magazine, and given that the House Magazine is so dull, it may do very well.
Good luck, Iain.
I want to say good luck to him as well, but politics tends to turn so inward so quickly when given a platform like this I wonder how long it will take to just become sanctimonious. Fingers crossed for never?
ReplyDeleteIt can cross my path if one of my friends on the council gets it for free & keeps it, rather than throwing away which most of them will do. You may consider them to be wrong in doing this, but it's probably what they will do.
ReplyDeleteI would like to read it, just to see what Iain Dale & company manage to come up with. But I won't be buying it.
I was given a copy free outside Westminster tube station on Monday. They were giving them away to anybody who wanted one.
ReplyDeleteIs that only in certain areas, though? I'll believe it when I get one in Stoke ;)
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