Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.It may be the end of the world as we know it. The Spectator magazine is about to launch its own website. It announced the move in a recent issue, making it known in a rather stiff- lipped editorial that "New technology is exciting. Next month The Spectator will launch a website, making some of the magazine available to surfers - as we understand they are called - on the worldwide web".
It would be too easy to make fun of a bunch of wheezy old codgers bowing to the inevitable onslaught of new media with all the grace of King Canute (there's something endearingly cheeky about the "as we understand they are called" remark), but the magazine's decision to engage with the Internet is certainly an intriguing addition to the online canon, and the move represents some sort of sea- change in the demographic appeal of the medium. A stubborn bastion of grey prejudice, Conrad Black's favourite magazine doesn't decide to compete in such a young man's game without putting in some serious contemplation.
Of course, the Internet will ultimately prove to be an indispensable tool for the ageing population. For one thing, as health issues become more and more paramount in people's lives as they age, an online database of information about the latest treatments and techniques will be very handy.
There is already plenty on the Internet for the grey generation - after all, The Daily Telegraph, that other bastion of Middle England, was one of the first newspapers to get an online equivalent up and running. There are plenty of online magazines offering serious, non- technical editorial, but I've yet to see one specifically aimed at a more mature audience. This is clearly about to change, but the key to it happening is for the potential readership to be online. Then the editorial will follow.
On the other hand, perhaps it's a bit disingenuous to suggest the over-50s aren't already being catered for. Saga, a magazine for over-45s, has a website, for example, which covers holidays (anything from Torquay to the Galapagos Islands). Older travellers are notoriously enthusiastic about adventurous holidays. I know of one 65-year-old who went trekking in India and came back complaining that his younger companions couldn't take the pace. One travel company offers trekking holidays for over-50s around Mount Everest. The route is the same as that offered by many other companies but this one moves at a more leisurely pace and avoids the higher altitudes of the route.
So while there's no doubt that a market for Internet readers of The Spectator exists, but I do have a word of warning: there's a magazine already online called Spectator, but hopefully not many of Frank Johnson's readers will end up there accidentally. It's based in San Francisco, the liberal heartland of America, and I'm not going to tell you the web address because, well, it just happens to be a sex magazine.
www.worldwidequest.com/ wwa/Ever50sinfo.html
Trekking for the over-50s
www.saga.co.uk
Saga's home page, aimed at over 50s
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments