The Hi!! Magazine

I have been trying to convince my friends that the only thing worth reading these days is the Hi!! magazine.

A look through the local newsstands reveals a dismal set of publications. The Sunday Times and the Nation are both worth reading, although the number of interesting stories is entirely dependent on the number of blunders perpetuated by the government that week. If the government, through sheer inaction (if they ever try to actually do something they will surely put their foot in it, but some weeks they do sweet nothing) commits no spectacular blunders then there is little to hold interest beyond the pictures of the pretty girls on the magazine pages. At least these two newspapers are well written and thus readable.

On weekdays the Daily Mirror is fairly good, although its colour scheme is beginning to go a bit over the top now. Again, the newspaper is fairly well written and readable.

As for the rest, the less said the better. I used to love reading the Sunday Observer and the Daily News, until quite recently, simply to understand what the government was thinking. If one reads a few important stories and the editorial, then it is fairly easy to see what they consider to be pressing matters and their view on it (which they presumably hope the public will agree with), but now they have degenerated to the point where they are quite dreary. The Island is quite simply, hysterical. I'm not sure where the editor picked up his journalism but if he expects anyone to take seriously a newspaper that runs front page editorials every fortnight, then he is sadly mistaken. The last time I looked he had not one but two editorials; one on the front page and one inside.

Reaching down into the gutter, one finds the Leader, sloppiness personified. It is badly written, poorly edited and badly printed and brims with half-truths and gossip. Some of their columnists can't even spell. I used to read it, just to get the gossip, but after a while I bgan to think that even the gossip was more fabrication than anything else. I now use it to put my feet on when taking my afternoon nap - I nap on the sofa and since my feet extend over the armrest onto the stool I use it to keep my feet from getting onto the stool.

This finally brings us to the publication that since subscribing to, I eagerly await. The one thing that tells me more about what is going on in the country than anything else, the one thing that can be re-read without effort, the Hi!! magazine.

Entirely free of substance, the one thing that truly reflects the society in which we live in today. I love it.