The second issue of TOTAL POLITICS is now out, and available on newsstands. Sales of the first issue were 50% higher than predicted, so we are quite pleased with that. We have also now negotiated a deal with W H Smith's 500 high street stores so from next month the magazine will be available all over the country. You can read the full magazine in the online E-Zine HERE free of charge. Or you can read these individual articles...
Interview with Morgan Tsvangirai
Interview with Declan Ganley on the Irish No Vote
The Funding Debate in Local Government
In search of the British Chinese Vote
Interview with Scott McLellan & Marc Ginsburg
Tim Shipman on Obama, Cameron & the Political Divide
John Shosky on how to tackle hecklers during a speech
Ben Duckworth takes three MPs to the Duchamp tie shop
If I Were Prime Minister: Chef John Burton Race
If you only read one of these, click on THIS one by former Ambassador Charles Crawford who doles out advice to new Ministers on what they should do on their first day in office. Hilarious and insightful at the same time.
For a full list of stockists for this issue, click HERE. Or to subscribe to the magazine (£35 for 12 issues) click HERE.
The e-zine web site looks like a 60s album cover designed by someone on LSD.
ReplyDeleteAny chance of toning down the colours a bit so that I can actually stand to look at the site long enough to read some of the articles?
If you 'negotiated' to have WHSmith put the first edition in stores in London, I'm not sure they were telling the truth. I could never find one. (Disappeared off the shelves as soon as they put them there?)
ReplyDeleteYes, yes, great value subscription rates bla, bla but no substitute for having a proper browse first before committing. will have another look now you have renegotiated...
The first issue was in al WH Smiths in rail stations and airports, as Issue 2 is. It sold out in several mainline stations and they had to restock.
ReplyDeleteIt won't appear in high street WH Smiths until Issue 3 which comes out on 22 August.
Hmmm - how many were bulk sales to your mates. A fair few were being handed out at events last month, and Ellwood and Atfield seem to have sent a free copy out to everyone on their address list...
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, I was talking about newsstand sales. Not free copies. Actual newsstand sales were 50% higher than we predicted.
ReplyDeleteOf course we handed out free copies of the launch issue - it's called PR!
Advice to ministers on their first day in office? Simple.
ReplyDeleteDemand the departmental budget and staff roster. When they arrive, shoo all bureaucrats out of the office, lock the door and settle down with a pot of tea, a box of your favourite biccies and a shed load of red magic markers.
If you were to go on your bended knees and apologise for the front cover of Gordon Brown [and associated pop-up adverts] and promise never to do it again - I might buy an issue to see what its like.
ReplyDeletePerhaps you might do a cover page interview with Gemma Garrett next.
I couldn't possibly have that magazine lying around my house. Last month you had that terrible blobby-faced man on the cover. It actually put me off visiting the web site.
ReplyDeleteAnd this month you have done it again. Another blobby-faced man, even blobbier than the first one.
So, suggestions for next month's cover? Manuel Noriega? Joseph Merrick? Jabba the Hut? Chris Bryant in his pants?
I'm not sure you will be impressed by next month's cover then... :)
ReplyDeleteIain - I actively sought out a copy of total politics at WHSMith at Euston. Looks good, but for £3.99 I'd expect more content and brought the economist instead. It's not stuffed full of Ads, which is good, but not VFM at the moment.
ReplyDeleteMAC
Hey, here's the capitalist in me.
ReplyDeleteWhy bother with a subscription. For the price of postage and £1 of your fine English currency, someone cane have my copies free, shortly after publication date. In fact, I know from colleagues on the Council that we could probably supply a few editions.
So get in touch via my blog... I have the first two editions still in their cellophane wrapping available already. Get in now before the recycling bin beats you to it.
Why do you put large pictures of fat ugly men on the front?
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure you will be impressed by next month's cover then... :) (says Iain)
ReplyDeleteNow you have me guessing...
Ann Widdecombe impresses me, even if her form of late has deteriorated. So it's not her.
Not David DaaaaVIS. He's more craggy than blobby. George Osborne has a few years to go before he reaches Willie Whitelaw proportions.
Oh crap. It's Nicholas (like a wardrobe with the key in the lock falling on top of you) Soames!
How totally sordid. Why can't you settle for a picture of Princess Di and double your circulation at a stroke?
This edition was a little bit better than the first one but it's still dominated by a mix of Cameronite puff pieces and horseshit.
ReplyDeleteAt the minute it reads like it's written by Conservative Future for Conservative Future. There's not a lot of substance or gravitas (very Cameronesque).
You also need to fire your designer, because the layout and particularly the fonts used (esp for headers) are bloody awful.
I am a fan, Iain. A very good new magazine with no apologies for being all about politics. Well done, sir.
ReplyDeleteIain,
ReplyDeleteThe e-zine is hopeless. The pages come up too small to be read, but the zoom function is so crude that you end up looking at half the width of the page and then you move the mouse and the whole page swims like a BBC weather forecast.
Anonymous, I just tried it and it works perfectly. We went to a lot of trouble to test the different e-Zine products out there and this one was streets ahead of any other. The zoom function works really well IMHO.
ReplyDeleteI'd be interested to hear what other people's experience is. Could it be a browser issue? I use Firefox.
I've read with interest, but also with difficulty, the interesting pieces on what new Ministers should do and the non-engagement of the Chinese community.
ReplyDeleteI say with difficulty, because of the dark backgrounds - help, serious case of designer-itis here!
Re the Chinese community, we have many Chinese residents in our Borough but only one Chinese councillor. Chinese residents are on the electoral roll here, but dont/wont vote - the Councillor says we must personally engage them on a one-to-one basis. But who has the time or the volunteers?
It wasn't on sale at WH Smith at Heathrow Terminal 3 (plane-side)...
ReplyDeleteIain,
ReplyDeleteJust thought I would pop into the sevices on the M2 not far from my house and could I find a copy of your mag - NO.
Either its extremely popular with the truck drivers who frequent the services or your distribution is not as great as WHS claim.
I am a bit disappointed as I would like to get hold of a copy of your mag before deciding whether to take out a subscription. I'm not prepared to commit to a year's sub without having a look at the goods first.
Maybe you should send a free copy to those considering a subscription.
Yet another ugly mug on the front page to make browsing your site a minefield.
ReplyDeleteTalk about politics as being showbiz for ugly people. We know, Iain, so please stop reminding us!
Apart from that, it is a bold move and I hope it becomes a success. Remember, Labour was not wrecked in a day*.
* or was it?