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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World

Good to meet you ... Michael Barton

Guardian Weekly reader Michael Barton
Good to meet you ... Michael Barton

It is 50 years since I left England, although, at the time, I didn’t know it would be permanent. However, when I was 16, and lived in Portsmouth, England, I decided to have the Manchester Guardian delivered for myself, as I had a poor opinion of the daily newspaper that my parents read.

After a brief spell in Ireland, I lived and worked as a young architect in Bermuda. Here, I had a habit of reading the Guardian Weekly on the balcony of the Bermuda library, under a huge acacia tree.

After Bermuda, I moved to Canada and continued working in architecture and urban design. Here, I was able to pick up the Weekly or the daily paper at a newsagents. When I moved north in 1986 I finally took out a subscription to the Weekly, and now that I am living in Norway I continue to subscribe with my Norwegian wife Anne.

The world has changed in many ways since I was 16, and now we have instant information online. But, as we have seen, not all of this information can be relied upon, and some of it is disinformation at best.

I can say that the Weekly has been a part of my life for almost 60 years. There are always intelligent articles that you can rely on, excellent reviews of books and films, and some humour as well.

So keep up the good work, and “Here’s looking at you”, Guardian Weekly.

If you would like to appear in this space, send a brief note to guardian.weekly@theguardian.com

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