Those Adorable Brits

Today I emailed a letter to the editor of the Economist, which I may or may not comment on later here. Usually when you send a letter to the editor of a publication it's a bit like pissing off a cliff. I immediately got a replay stating:

The Editor wishes to acknowledge your email with thanks.

Which is not a major deal, but they actually bothered to acknowledge it. With thanks. There's something incredibly British about this email. They are just so damn cute over there. I think it's probably why I like the Economist so much. The reporting is very good, they are mercifully free of the liberal/conservative American political dynamic (they'd fit comfortably into neither camp here), they provide a good non-American perspective, they cover parts of the world thoroughly that even our major papers don't bother with... but most of all, it's written as though the editors believe that a magazine should not sound like someone sitting at the coffee shop talking to you, but rather like someone who sat down and carefully thought through their article, wrote it, and edited it, striving to be accurate, concise, and clever.

After reading the Economist, picking up Time or Newsweek feels a bit like talking current events with a household pet.

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