Stick to your guns, live long and prosper

There are those who will say it is just whistling past the graveyard, but a fairly upbeat and hopeful prognosis for magazines was sounded this week by the Guardian media section. The article by Will Hodgkinson acknowledged that there is a bit of a bloodbath in some categories in Great Britain, notably the men's category , for instance, where monthlies spawned weeklies that simply cannibalized them. "But the magazines that have stuck to their guns - and the editors that have maintained a sense of integrity - are weathering the storm."

There seems to be a feeling across the consumer magazine board that the monthlies that are going back to their roots are winning out. Nicholas Coleridge [Conde Nast managing director] claims it is a serious mistake to underestimate the intelligence of your readership. "We are seeing no lessening of appetite for long, well-written, well-researched articles," he says. "Although we live in an increasingly bite-sized society, there is still a strong educated middle class who value intelligence and depth."