The Liberal

I got a copy of the first edition of the new magazine The Liberal last week. I say new, but one could claim it has 180 years of (mostly unwritten) history as it is consciously based on the magazine of the same title established by Byron, Shelley and Hunt in 1822. That only lasted for four issues, but I hope the new one stays around for a lot longer.

I'd originally thought that it would be for the Liberal Democrats what the Spectator is for the Conservatives and the New Statesman is for Labour and it some parts it is, with articles by Tim Garden on Iraq, Chris Huhne on localism and Shami Chakrabarti on identity cards but, perhaps because it's a monthly magazine rather than a weekly, it has a much wider focus and features original fiction (by Hanif Kureishi this issue) and poetry as well as some more reflective pieces on the arts, culture and philosophy.

It's not perfect - the look and layout of the magazine is a bit dated (compare it to New Humanist - another magazine on a similar scale - for example) and the reviews section at the end is rather brief, though that may be more to the problems of getting review copies (or advance admission to films, etc) for a first edition than a long-term flaw. But, in a nod to the magazine's past, Shelley's 'In Defence Of Poetry' is included, which is rather good for me, as it makes it easily available for me to quote from for National Poetry Day tomorrow.

All in all, I would recommend picking up a copy - if you can't get hold of one in the shops, then contact them through their website and (if they're still as quick responding as they were to me) you should be able to get a copy in a day or two. Personally, I'll probably be subscribing and looking forward to the next issue.