Standpoint (magazine)

Infobox Magazine
title = Standpoint


image_size = 200px
image_caption = "Standpoint" #1, cover dated June 2008
editor = Daniel Johnson
editor_title = Editor
frequency = monthly
circulation = 20,000 / month
category = Politics, world affairs, arts and culture
company = Social Affairs Unit Magazines Limited
firstdate = June 2008
country = flagcountry|United Kingdom
language = English
website = [http://www.standpointmag.co.uk www.standpointmag.co.uk]
issn = 1757-1111

"Standpoint" is a monthly British cultural and political magazine. It put out its premier issue at the end of May 2008 - the first launch of a major current affairs publication in the UK in more than a decade.

The magazine describes its core mission as being "to celebrate western civilisation", its arts and its values – in particular democracy, debate and freedom of speech – at a time when they are under threat. [ [http://www.standpointmag.co.uk/about-us Standpoint magazine's mission statement] ]

The magazine is broadly centre-right in orientation, but aims to include a 'broad church' and to capitalize on the realignment of political attitudes in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Notable features of the magazine include dialogue interviews, in which two experts, often with opposing views, discuss an issue of contemporary importance. An edited transcript of the conversation is then published in the magazine. Recent examples include playwright Simon Gray discussing the role of theatre in society with critic Charles Spencer, the former Chancellor Nigel Lawson discussing global warming with Tory policy chief Oliver Letwin, and authors of biographies of Mao and Stalin comparing their respective subjects. The magazine also devotes significant space to new poetry and the visual arts. The first edition included new drawings by David Hockney.

Standpoint is self-consciously transatlantic in both style and content, in the tradition of "Encounter" magazine. It has also been compared to America's National Review, which greeted the launch of Standpoint by publishing an article ending with the words "Rejoice, and subscribe!". Considering itself a rare pro-American voice in the UK, it aims to introduce American writers and American intellectual style to British readers. [ [http://www.standpointmag.co.uk Welcome to standpoint | Standpoint.Online ] ] [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_11_60/ai_n25489364M]

Standpoint’s regular columnists include Nick Cohen, Douglas Murray, Emanuele Ottolenghi and Alain de Botton. Well-known contributors to the magazine have included Clive James, Andrew Marr, Jonathan Bate, Michael Burleigh, Ian Bostridge, Julie Burchill, Robert Conquest, George Walden and Paul Wolfowitz. Among those writing foreign reports for Standpoint are the blogger Michael Totten and Michael Young, the Opinion Editor of Beirut’s "Daily Star".

Bloggers on the StandpointOnline website include Michael Burleigh and James Scott Linville.

The magazine has sought to revive the art of the essay in Britain, calling itself a response to "a market swamped by the journalistic equivalent of fast food". "Standpoint" is based in London and edited by Daniel Johnson [ [http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2008/06/8c07d84f-2300-4b8d-ae6a-08311ce1aeba.html [World: 'Standpoint' Looks To Move The Earth - [Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty © 2008 ] ] .

"Standpoint" ignited nationwide controversy with its launch edition, in which Michael Nazir-Ali, the Bishop of Rochester, called for the Church to regain a prominent position in public life and blamed the "newfangled and insecurely founded doctrine of multiculturalism" for entrenching the segregation of communities. Nazir-Ali claimed that the decline of Christianity and the rise of liberal values in the UK during the 1960s had created a moral vacuum which radical Islam threatened to fill. "We have argued that it is necessary to understand where we have come from, to guide us to where we are going, and to bring us back when we wander too far from the path of national destiny", the bishop wrote. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7422981.stm BBC NEWS | UK | Britain left with 'moral vacuum' ] ] "The Guardian" newspaper devoted its leader to criticizing the bishop, although it described his writing as "neatly underlining " [Standpoint] ’s" expressed intent ‘to defend and celebrate Western civilisation’". [ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/may/30/anglicanism.religion Leader: Bishop's move | Comment is free | The Guardian ] ] Nazir-Ali was condemned by the Ramadhan foundation and the President of the National Secular Society, who accused him of "doing the BNP’s work", but was praised by the "Daily Telegraph" newspaper [ [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2050609/Bishop-of-Rochester-'doing-the-BNP's-work'.html Bishop of Rochester 'doing the BNP's work' - Telegraph ] ] [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2008/05/30/do3007.xml ]

Origins

"Standpoint" was founded in May 2008 and immediately labeled a "Right-wing answer to journals such as "Prospect". [ [http://conservativehome.blogs.com/centreright/2008/05/welcome-standpo.html CentreRight: Welcome Standpoint ] ] The advisory board includes amongst others the celebrated playwright Tom Stoppard, the tenor Ian Bostridge, the Labour MP and former minister Frank Field, the artist David Hockney, Nigel Lawson the former Chancellor and the novelist V. S. Naipaul KB.

* The first issue included art by David Hockney, poetry by Robert Conquest, criticism by Andrew Marr, articles by Ian Bostridge, Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali, Jung Chang, Simon Sebag-Montefiore, Tim Congdon, Michael Burleigh, Douglas Murray, Edward Lucas, Jay Nordlinger, Bruce Bawer and Jonathan Bate.
* The second included a article of Melanie Phillips about the Muhammad al-Durrah affair [http://www.standpointmag.co.uk/node/143/full] , claiming the boy was not dead and that it was a "deadly fabrication".

Regular Columnists

* "The Mole", a different anonymous whistleblower each month, exposing scandals in government or industry.
* "Open Season", a regular column by Julie Burchill
* "The Way We Don’t Live Now", satire on modern life, recently penned by writers Tibor Fischer, Craig Brown and James Delingpole
* "Marketplace", economic analysis by Tim Congdon
* "Points East and West", international politics commentary by Emanuele Ottolenghi
* "The Outsider", political notes by Douglas Murray.

External links

* [http://www.standpointmag.co.uk/ Official website]

References