In June, 1996, Slate’s editor and founder Michael Kinsleywelcomed readers to the first edition of his new magazine, a venture some said would never see the end of the year. “The name? It means nothing, or practically nothing. We chose it as an empty vessel into which we can pour meaning. We hope Slate will come to mean good original journalism in this new medium. Beyond that, who knows? Good magazines are exercises in serendipity.” Five-and-a-half years later—and who knew the name would now mean so much—this exercise in serendipity reaches over the Atlantic with the first appearance of the magazine’s British offshoot, Slate UK, which will be edited and written from London.
London? Isn’t such a venture (as the American comedian Fran Liebowitz replied when asked why she never took wine to her hosts in the Hamptons) like carrying coal to Newcastle? Isn’t Britain a nation already swamped with newsprint? Yes, it is. But so is America. And why should Britain be deprived of “good original journalism” on the Internet? What we propose is a magazine, modelled on Slate’s original formula, that reads like a weekly, but is updated every day with information, opinion, explanation, and distillations of the news, all cheerfully presented in a spirit of carefree independence. We will look at things from a British, as opposed to an American, perspective, reflecting not only Tony Blair’s new lofty vision of Britain as playing the role of a “ pivotal partner and a force for the good” in the world, but also the widespread skepticism that such pretensions provoke in this curmudgeonly nation.
One peculiarity of Slate UK will be that many of its writers will be anonymous. This goes for the editors, too, who admit only to being British journalists living in London. Anonymity confers greater freedom on contributors linked to other publications. As for the editors, we are so modest about our attainments that we think we could only damage the prestige of Slate UK by revealing who we are. We will leave others to expose us if they wish.
For now, don’t expect too much: Slate UK is more of an annex than a fully fledged, stand-alone magazine. Think of a section within a newspaper rather than a paper in its own right. You will find Slate UK articles where you found this one—on Slate’s home page—where they’ll be listed for a week, under the day they first appeared. Thereafter, they can be found using Slate’s easy-to-use “Search”. Finally, we hope that, like many of Slate’s established readers, you will make comments on the articles you’ve read by turning to one of the magazine’s most successful innovations, The Fray. This is a message board (which you’ll find at the bottom of each page) that allows you to say what you think about what you’ve read—and for others to say what they think about you.
—The editors, Slate UK
You can e-mail the editors at editors_slateuk@hotmail.com.
