A former editor of Cambridge University’s Varsity magazine has started a quarterly publication aimed at getting young people interested in politics.
Independently published Politick has been started by University of Bristol lecturer Laura-Jane Foley, who said she has come into contact with a lot of ‘politically disenchanted’young people.
Foley, who has also written for a number of national newspapers, said: ‘Whilst they are very intelligent, they’re not interested in political party politics and don’t vote.
‘I wanted to find some way of tapping into that generation and getting them talking about politics. There’s nothing on the market that’s aimed at them. The Economist is a quality magazine, but is really dense and goes over a lot of people’s heads.”
The magazine is independent and not aligned to any of the political parties, and whilst Foley makes it clear Politick will not be a ‘low-level trashy magazine’about politics, it will aim to be accessible and engaging for young people.
‘There’s nothing in there anyone would be stumped by,’she said. ‘It’s all fun and interesting and engaging. Whilst we are aiming it at young people and getting the word round via social networking sites and student unions, we do hope that it won’t be a clear cut off and it will appeal to a broader audience.”
The magazine has Bebo, Facebook, MySpace and Twitter functions ready to go to appeal to the ‘net generation”. Foley is also aiming to get the word out via student unions and student politics groups, and is confident that a quarterly print title will appeal to her target audience.
She said: ‘It’s not topical in the sense that we’re not reacting to the news, so we have really broad things about politics. In our first issue we have articles about Amnesty and Oxfam and in future issues we are featuring the WWF. It’s about engaging people in politics in a really broad sense.”
The 68 page magazine has an initial distribution of 30,000 and goes on sale in WH Smiths, Borders and independent newsagents on 6 November for £3.99, and is also being distributed through universities.
The first issue also features David Blunkett, Lembit Opik, Polly Toynbee, Charles Kennedy, Peter Tatchell and Michael Howard.
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