Magazines - entertaining or demoralising?

I subscribe to Private Eye
I used to love Vogue in the 90s, but no longer
My dad passes on his old copies of The Spectator (we are a politically diverse family!)
I sometimes buy Derbyshire Life, in an aspirational sort of way.
Women's magazines are generally awful, and far too many ads in them.
I must look into getting The Oldie.

Aveline I’ll admit to a sneaky when it is at a doctors office or at my MIL’s when she is getting DH to do chores for her. It’s a bit like a cup of tea, cosy and comforting.

Country Life occasionally and the Financial Times on the weekend. My elder son and dil bought it when they lived here in pre pandemic times and I enjoyed the crosswords and recipes so kept buying it after they moved. The How To Spend it insert does make me laugh, how the other half live eh? Tbh I enjoy the catalogues from hush, Boden and next rather than the glossies. Those magazines clothing items do not cater for big chested mothers of two adult children .

I love magazines! They have been my 20 minute morning coffee routine for years before the rest of the house woke up.

The only gripe I have now is how thin they are this past couple of years. I enjoy a good fat magazine, even the ads. The Canadian ones I get aren't too trival, and do not focus on celebrities, and I enjoy UK Women and Home, which I can get at my local newsagent/book shop.

Aveline - no, definitely not!

Grandmajean

I used to like Good Housekeeping but don't buy it any more. Got really fed up with the "I love getting older" articles from famous women whose photos have so obviously been treated to wrinkle removal. I also got tired of the Christmas editions where everybody was hosting a fantastic family event . Haven;t bough a magazine for ages .

I so agree, especially about the Christmas editions, which can make one feel very depressed, and the 'getting older - how wonderful' articles which frequently feature Helen Mirren or Joanna Lumley. But my pet hate is the fashion section. Are there really people out there who pay £500 for a winter coat? What madness is this? And then there are the interior design sections 'showcasing' posh houses in the Cotswolds. And I must mention the recipes, lavishly illustrated, which have me yawning before I'm half way through reading the extremely long list of ingredients. No, women's mags are not for me. I much prefer The Oldie which contains interesting and informative articles as well as lots of humour (and ads at the back for 'discrete massages with attractive continental lady'. What's that all about? )

I have Landscape magazine, too. The photography is beautiful. I currently have a cheap subscription to Sainburys magazine, too. Their recipes are usually pretty quick and easy and the non-food stuff is all reasonable stuff, too, that you might find in their stores.

Now I think about it, I also took out a sub to some puzzle magazines during lockdown last year, to keep my brain cranking over!

Yes I feel the same about the ones I read, I don't buy any , one is free via our bank account and I feel like you most of the articles try to sell you some type of surreal lifestyle , I might download another on my kindle via kindle unlimited but I am just glad I don't pay the £2/3 cost of them.

Does nobody admit to reading the People's Friend?

I bought the other ones in the co-op and used the self service checkout

my mum in aw asked me to send her the magazines with the sex in when she came out of hospital so I sent her best, woman, womans own and take a break i also put some of my old country living magazines in to level it out

The New Scientist is my go-to, American Scientist at a push & The Spectator from DM all keep my mind running.
'She' was a good, diverse read - since I was about 14.
I do like the fashion mags at the hairdressers - good to see what's current, then adapt to my budget.
Feel I've done the housey, honey ones as the same themes keep coming up.

The only one I buy regularly is Woman's Weekly. I went to one of their focus groups some years ago and they explained that they work more like a monthly and tend not to do celeb stuff because they are going to press so far ahead of distribution. I sometimes buy Landscape because it has interesting articles.. Long articles as well, not the half a page some of them fob you off with.

I very occasionally buy one as a treat. I’m interested in the stories of women who have actually achieved something not the vacuous celebrities who are normally featured. The fashion and beauty is usually way beyond what I can afford.

I get the London Review of Books and Private Eye. I don’t recall ever seeing a superwoman, women’s fashion or recipes in either, though Private Eye occasionally advertises men’s shirts and shoes.

I can’t imagine why anyone would waste money on ‘women’s magazines’ - the ones in my dentist’s waiting room seem to focus on celebrity gossip about people I have never heard of.

I stopped magazine reading several years ago, due to repetition and those same celeb superwomen.
I now enjoy the gardening magazine that comes with my RHS membership.

I used to buy gardeners magazines but found they rotated items every couple of months so stopped buying them

Yes, I buy around 4 women’s mags a week, always enjoyed reading them,

I have Amazon prime which has
Free online magazines which I
download to my fire kindle.

The features and colour pictures are the same as with the shop bought magazines.

I prefer House style and gardening magazines.
Occasionally hobby type magazines.

I used to like Good Housekeeping but don't buy it any more. Got really fed up with the "I love getting older" articles from famous women whose photos have so obviously been treated to wrinkle removal. I also got tired of the Christmas editions where everybody was hosting a fantastic family event . Haven;t bough a magazine for ages .

We get the magazines from the Saturday and Sunday papers. I have to agree. The clothes rarely start below £200 and usually are for short anorexic teenagers. Classics if ant are way beyond the purse of your average pensioner.
Yes, too, to the superwomen- they look 12 when aged about 65, etc.

We get the Radio Times, which sometimes has interesting articles in, and a Saturday and Sunday paper with magazine supplements. Apart from that I don't buy any.

Though I've just been at my sister's for a few days and have enjoyed reading hers!

I have never really read Women's magazines, except at the hairdressers or doctors surgery - when will they reyurn.

I have always preferred house magazines, I also get quite a number of magazines and journals through my membership fo different groups, mainly archaeological, DH gets the New Scientist and The Spectator.

I haven't bought a magazine for years. They do tend to glorify the superwomen who seem to have perfect careers, beautifully decorated homes and look 25 even though they are in their fifties (airbrushing?).

I get a subscription for Woman's Weekly and Yours magazines from my kids every year and I enjoy them both. I know the type of magazines you are referring with the 'Wonder Women' articles in them - I never buy them but am given the odd copy now and again. They always annoy me!!