The Critic (modern magazine)

Not to be confused with The Critic (Victorian-era magazine).

The Critic
border
April 2021 cover issue
EditorChristopher Montgomery[1]
Deputy EditorGraham Stewart
Online EditorBen Sixsmith
Executive EditorSebastian Milbank
Former editorsMichael Mosbacher
Categories
FrequencyMonthly
FormatA4
PublisherOlivia Hartley
Total circulation
(2020)		19,654 (November–December 2020)[2]
Founded2019
First issueNovember 2019
CompanyLocomotive 6960 Ltd
CountryUnited Kingdom
Based inLondon
LanguageEnglish
Websitethecritic.co.uk
ISSN2633-2655
OCLC1140170196

The Critic is a monthly British political and cultural magazine.[3] Contributors include David Starkey, Joshua Rozenberg, Peter Hitchens and Toby Young.[3]

The magazine was founded in November 2019,[4] with Michael Mosbacher, former editor of Standpoint, and Christopher Montgomery, a strategist with the European Research Group of Eurosceptic Tory MPs,[5] as co-editors. It was funded by Jeremy Hosking, a Conservative party donor[6] who had previously donated to Standpoint.[7]

Reception

Mosbacher described The Critic as competing with Standpoint. Mosbacher said that Hosking had been unwilling to fund Standpoint without more of "the culture wars content" that interested him, but Standpoint's board resisted this direction.[6] The Times Literary Supplement described The Critic as having a resemblance to The Spectator, with a mission "to criticize the critics".[8] Ian Burrell of The Drum called The Critic a "contrarian conservative magazine".[6]

In his essay wishing success for the new publication, David Goodhart, founder of Prospect, remarked "Does the world need another magazine of tastefully written… conservatively inclined thinking? Probably not."[3] Peter Wilby of the New Statesman responded "I would say probably yes, so why do we never get one?"[3]

Josh White, writing in Battleground, said "Any Conservative who is aggrieved by the lack of social cohesion in the wake of austerity may pick up the mag and feel his (usually his) prejudices reaffirmed".[9]

References

  1. ^ "About The Critic". The Critic. 2021. Archived from the original on 21 September 2021. Retrieved 25 September 2021.
  2. ^ "The Critic" (PDF). Audit Bureau of Circulations (UK). 11 February 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on 26 September 2021. Retrieved 26 September 2021.
  3. ^ a b c d Wilby, Peter (13 November 2019). "The FT's first female editor, the launch of the Critic, and the tuneless Welsh". New Statesman. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
  4. ^ "Welcome to The Critic". The Critic. November 2019. Archived from the original on 26 September 2021. Retrieved 24 September 2021.
  5. ^ Hope, Christopher (14 September 2019). "Three intellectual magazines to launch as right and centre-left engage in battle of ideas". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 8 February 2020.
  6. ^ a b c Burrell, Ian (30 January 2020). "Does Britain need another contrarian conservative magazine? The Critic makes its case". The Drum. Archived from the original on 24 September 2021. Retrieved 24 September 2021.
  7. ^ Fortado, Lindsay; Fletcher, Laurence (17 June 2019). "City financier Jeremy Hosking donates £850,000 to Standpoint magazine". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 17 June 2019. Retrieved 24 September 2021.
  8. ^ J.C. (8 November 2019). "Critical moment". The Times Literary Supplement. No. 6084. Retrieved 25 September 2021.
  9. ^ White, Josh (29 May 2023). "A Magazine for Closed Minds". The Battleground. Retrieved 18 June 2024.