Insider: The Idler

Since its birth in 1993, literary magazine The Idler has been devoted to helping people lead more fulfilled lives, and earlier this year the magazine was redesigned and relaunched as a quarterly.

As the spring issue with Britpop star Cerys Matthews on the cover hits the shelves, we asked founder Tom Hodgkinson to give us an insight into the team’s creative process. Here he is on lessons learned, great punch, and playing the ukulele…

In the making of this issue we…

Drank
Doom Bar Cornish ale

Listened to
Roxy Music and Super Furry Animals

Procrastinated by
Playing ukulele

Worked from
Our studio at Royal Oak and from home

Met
Cerys Matthews

Learned
A great recipe for punch

Was amazed by
The quality of work of the typesetter-and-artist team who put the mag together

Was afraid that
The subscribers would see the magazine in the shops before they received their copy

Was most pleased by
A great essay from Richard Godwin on fully automated luxury utopia (above and below)

And everyone should buy a copy because
It’s a magazine that makes you feel better about yourself – most mags make you feel worse

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