Mishra on The Economist:
“According to its own statistics, its readers are the
richest and the most prodigal consumers of all periodical readers; more than
twenty per cent once claimed ownership of “a cellar of vintage wines.” Like
Aston Martin, Burberry, and other global British brands, The Economist invokes
the glamour of élitism. “It’s lonely at the top,” one of its ads says, “but at
least there’s something to read.” Its articles, almost all of which are
unsigned, were until recently edited from an office in St. James’s, London, a
redoubt of posh Englishness, with private clubs, cigar merchants, hatters, and
tailors. The present editor, Zanny Minton Beddoes, is the first woman ever to
hold the position. The staff, predominantly white, is recruited overwhelmingly
from the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and a disproportionate number of
the most important editors have come from just one Oxford college, Magdalen”.
Liberalism at Large: The World According to the
Economist by Alexander Zevin
