Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Tribune Magazine to Close

There's a curious piece in the Evening Standard diary tonight, which announces the closure of the left wing Tribune Magazine. The last issue will appear at the end of the month after its trade union backers withdrew funding. The Standard piece ends with these words...
Perhaps Tory blogger Iain Dale should come to the rescue and buy the title. He might make a better fist of it than the comrades.

How odd. Juicy though the thought might be, I think one magazine is enough to be going on with.

UPDATE: Tribune columnist Paul Anderson has MORE, as does the editor of Tribune Chris McLaughlin HERE.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think this is mostly speculation... I might be wrong but no decisions have been yet made.

Anonymous said...

Iain - please can you delete this article - there's a decent dicussion going on in the leggy thread and I'm a gadfly as are we all.

Hope Gio's dancing - Abba no doubt. Did he fling himself off the sofa upside down? Did he?

Gil Scott Heron & Gomez all th way.

Anonymous said...

Will Kevin Mcguire buy it? Or would it be in competition with the Mirror?
freedom to prosper

Anonymous said...

Whoops, missed the nuance of the quote. That was definately a dig. Are they that dislocated? Or was it a personality issue?

Anonymous said...

To listen to all the Dolly Trolleys flogging on the web - El Gordo has made a comeback and is the hero of his lefty backbenchers.

Yet The Tribune closes !

@molesworth_1 said...

@ Dick The Prick

"Mandate? Mandate my ass. Seems like 26% of the registered voters..."

What were Tribune's last published circulation figures?

Anonymous said...

Most significant economic day for years

Loads , mainly tory, councils just lost 10's millions.

Guidos threads are more surreal and bonkers than ever

Gideon has been doing the radio and TV being monosyllabic

Ed Balls cleared

Obama 25 days away from destroying Tory friend McCain.


...You rattling on about a magazine that no one reads

Anonymous said...

Totally off topic Iain, but The Balls have been cleared of any wrong doing by Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards in declaring the Castleford house as their primary residence. Looks like Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards is in their pocket. The twisting is mind bending...

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/minister-couple-cleared-over-home-expenses-955229.html

Anonymous said...

Tribune hasn't closed yet! And to avoid inducing fatalism the title of this post should be amended.

This diary snippet (as with most) doesn't give the full picture. The magazine's survival is doubtful, to put it mildly, but it's not quite time for the last rites yet.

The best account i've seen is by Paul Anderson (http://libsoc.blogspot.com), a regular Tribune writer.

Tribune is, as he puts, it "on the rocks", and will close "unless a buyer can be found." That caveat is important.

As a man of the left i'd be sad to see a title that was founded by Bevan, and that once boasted Orwell as its literary editor, to fold.

But more broadly I've been pleased to see the emergence of Total Politics and Standpoint recently, proving that there is still a market for print, and it'd be a pity for a political magazine to now close.

If no one can be found to save the venerable Tribune then I fear other titles may succumb to the same fate in the future.

Anonymous said...

Good riddence.......

Anonymous said...

I suspect the Guardian would go the same way if all the public sector job adverts were put on line.

It would be better if they were on line, both cheaper and reaching a wider audience.

T England. Raised from the dead. said...

Tribune magazine to close.

Just like everything else to do with Labour over the coming months :o)
ROFL!

Bye bye Labour, Labour good bye.

Anonymous said...

Perhaps Polly Toynbee could sell her villa in Tuscany and take it over with the proceeds?

Anonymous said...

Paul Pinfield said...
...The Balls have been cleared of any wrong doing... Looks like Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards is in their pocket. The twisting is mind bending...

Is it the PCS who is looking into Spelman?
If so, and if she's cleared, will you be repeating this allegation?

Anonymous said...

Don't be ridiculous, Farmer. Whatever you think of the editorial line, the Guardian has a wide readership and substantial influence, both domestic and international, and is backed by one of the country's biggest media groups with many (extremely profitable) local papers and radio stations. If it scrapped SocietyGuardian altogether it'd more than survive.

Sad day if Tribune closes. Lots of history there and the more principled side of Labour.

Anonymous said...

Not dissing ABBA - they, you know, do stuff:David Gray - wanna sing!