The stimulus to write this came from a recent concert, where I pulled out my Guardian Weekly from my handbag during the interval. A woman leaned over excitedly saying: “Is that the Guardian Weekly?” and we gazed at each other in wonder as two members of an endangered species might. “Have you written a Good to Meet You yet?” she said. “You must, there are never any from England.” So I am writing this from near Cambridge.
Back in 1979, in my mid-20s, I went to Sierra Leone as a VSO nurse and persuaded my father to buy me a GW subscription. It was passed around the whole volunteer community and usually ended up being used as toilet paper. Ten years ago I became reunited with what felt to be an old friend and realised how much I missed the balanced global perspective. I now read it cover to cover, starting on page one and thereby leaving the best until last with the reviews and Nature watch. I then pass it on to my husband, who goes straight to the Crossword and Sudoku. I work as a counsellor and so see on a daily basis the effect of world issues on people’s lives.
Last Christmas I gave a subscription to my son, working with a charity in Cape Town, and my daughter and soon-to-be son-in-law in London. It gives me enormous pleasure knowing that wherever my family is, we are all reading the same thought-provoking journalism.
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