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1. Whatever it's reputation for callousness, I have to say that The Economist is the best news magazine I've ever read. The presentation is so straightforward and honest that it is impossible to accuse them of any hidden agenda. Their biases are open for all to see. As a result, it is easy to separate the facts from the opinions, something I find impossible to do in most supposedly balanced journalism.

   I strongly disagree with many of the Economist's opinions (think Iraq war), but they at least give you something to argue against. I wouldn't even know how to begin arguing against most newspaper articles because the reporting is so convoluted.

   It doesn't hurt that The Economist has the best science and technology reporting in the business thanks to Standage. A far cry this complete abomination by what is supposed to be the premier newspaper in our country.

   But I don't subscribe any more. It left me too little time for more pleasurable reading.

   Posted by Dinesh on Sep. 14, 2007 at 10:29 PM

2. I've never understood why the NY Times science section gets so much credit. Every time I read an article where I have a little prior knowledge, I cringe.

   Another paper in the same class as the Economist (but not quite as conservative) -- the Financial Times, maybe?

   Posted by Evan on Sep. 16, 2007 at 5:11 PM

3. See also Daniel Davies's "The lazy man's way to business success" where he recommends,

   If you are a young man or woman of fair-to-middling ability, or even a borderline dullard, but you want to get a reputation as an uncommonly bright and perspicacious thinker, ... [t]he secret weapon is this: take an interest in what happens in other countries.

   The Economist or the FT would easily fit the bill.

   Posted by Evan on Sep. 16, 2007 at 5:19 PM

4. I think the real secret is to take more interest in what happens in other countries than what happens in your own.

   Posted by Sam on Sep. 17, 2007 at 10:07 AM

5. Wow, if I was Jewish, I'd be insulted, too.

   Looks like I'm 1 for 3 as WC elitist. Although Mother Jones does have my wife's name on the subscription. Maybe I'm really 0-3.

   Oh, well. U2 by U2 looks better on my coffee table anyway :D

   Posted by Dave T. on Sep. 17, 2007 at 10:22 AM

6. You definitely don't have to be Jewish to be offended by that op-ed, but it helps.

   Posted by Evan on Sep. 17, 2007 at 8:07 PM

7. You'd better watch out calling the Economist conservative. They don't like that.

   They're liberal. In the British sense. But they don't like to be identified with Tories, who are often called liberals in the UK.

   Fifty years ago you could argue that British liberals and American conservatives were pretty much the same. But that couldn't be further from the truth now, at least using the Economist's definition of liberal.

   Ok, I'm going to stop defending them before you start to think I work for them or something.

   Posted by Dinesh on Sep. 17, 2007 at 9:55 PM

8. See, Dinesh, now I'm hopelessly confused. Of course this wouldn't have been confusing at all, if only I had taken an interest in other countries. ;)

   Posted by Evan on Sep. 18, 2007 at 8:29 AM