The Idler

Two Publications of Interest

09 June 2009

I’d like to mention a couple of excellent publications which deserve a wide readership.

The Land: This is a magazine about land rights edited by Simon Fairlie, who founded the Tinker’s Bubble community and who sells excellent scythes. Fairlie has produced six issues of The Land so far. They are ad-free and have the best mix of radicalism and practical suggestion I have ever read. Truly, we have here the spirit of William Cobbett, with articles on pig keeping, squatting, Polish peasants, hand tools and links to all sorts of useful resources, particularly for those seeking planning permission for low impact dwellings and smallholdings. The current issue is called “Welcome The Recession” and opens with an excellent attack on the media and a cheering argument that the recessin is bringin us all back down to earth, The mag is worth the admission fee for the cover alone: a wonderful late 19th century illustration, showing a collection of radical slogans in the form of a garland around a pre-Raphaelite beauty. A subscription costs just £10 and I think it money very well spent. The Land, The Potato Store, Flaxdrayton Farm, South Petherton, SOMERSET TA13 5IR; www.tlio.org.uk.

New Escapologist: This is a zine produced by the Glasgow flâneur Robert Wringham and its purpose is to help its readers “to flee the humdrum spreadsheet of prescribed reality into an exciting world of one’s own invention.” To this end, the second issue is titled “The War Against Cliché” and offers tips for cultivating your own unique self and shedding received opinion and humbug. There is a handy manifesto by Idler webmaster Neil Scott and a nice practical final page, which invites readers to send in ideas for businesses that would create a median £356 a week income on just four hours’ work a week. Go to www.wringham.co.uk.