There’s often a lull in the news cycle in August, as much of Europe holidays. Not so this month, I am sad to say. Your latest edition of the Weekly captures the terrible events in Spain last week, as terror returned to the streets of Europe. And it leaves most of us, I think it’s fair to say, wondering when such deadly attacks will ever end.
We keep you up to date on the tensions with North Korea. Pyongyang signalled alarm as annual US-South Korea joint military exercises began. And, as the newspaper went off stone, Trump announced an escalation of America’s military involvement in Afghanistan, though failed to provide much detail.
Though summer is on the wane here in the northern hemisphere, there’s not much rest on the news front.
As the edition hits the presses, I would like to bring you a small piece of personal news: my departure as editor of the Guardian Weekly.
I have never been very good at goodbyes. But after more than nine years at the Weekly, five of them as your editor and four as deputy editor, it is time for a change. Come the end of August, I will depart the editor’s chair for new challenges – a master’s degree at SOAS, at the University of London. I’ll be taking on Japanese studies, something that’s a great personal interest. As a (much) younger journalist, I spent many years living and working in Japan. Although I have lived in Hong Kong, San Francisco and London in the years since, I’ve maintained a love of the country and its culture.
In my time at the Guardian, and on the Guardian Weekly, I’ve found new ways of seeing the world. I’ve worked with lively, intelligent, insightful journalists. In any given week, I read widely, from around the world, and find I know a little about quite a lot.
I’ve captured some of the biggest news stories of our time: the election of Barack Obama; the Paris climate accord; the Fukushima meltdown; the continuing rise of China; the migration crisis in the Mediterranean; the terror attacks in London, Paris and now Barcelona; and the twists and turns of the Trump administration.
I often say in my editor’s blog (which you receive as an email) that we produce the Guardian Weekly with you, our readers, in mind. And I’ve meant it. I have scrutinised each edition, each headline, each story, thinking, questioning, reworking and aiming for a newspaper that’s edited with creativity, accuracy and integrity. I trust that I have (on balance) delivered.
I have had the immense pleasure of leading the team here at the Weekly – experienced and dedicated journalists who approach the week with intelligence, energy and with a wonderful sense of humour. I leave the Weekly, and you, in their expert care.
It’s a big world. It’s time for me to get out from behind this desk and take up some new challenges. Thank you for reading our newspaper, for sharing your letters and other contributions, and for proving, week after week, that you care deeply about what happens in the world. It has been an honour.
