Bye Bye Observer Woman

So yesterday was a sad day. It was Observer Woman’s last day in existence. Every Saturday night for the past few years, I’ve wondered to myself if it was Observer Woman Day tomorrow. Even on the Saturdays when it had been Observer Woman Day last week so it couldn’t possibly have come round again. I’m stupid like that. So while I was happy as I skipped home from the newsagents yesterday with my Observer Woman nestled in the more weighty pages of the venerable Sunday broadsheet, I was all too aware that this was my last chance to read the funny and smart articles I’ve come to expect from the mag. The supplement is no more but elements of it will be included in the new and improved Observer magazine as part of a streamlining operation that is going on at the paper. The only monthly magazine to survive is the food one. (At least it’s not sport; I really hated it when it was Observer Sport Day.)

What am I going to do without Polly Vernon’s Chart of Lust? I loved that. When an acquaintance of mine once made it into the CoL, I reacted far more enthusiastically than when he’d garnered any boring praise for his actual work. “Wow, he’s really made it!” I noted. And so often it was as if Observer Woman could actually read my mind. When I was in LA a while back I met this ex-male model at a little league baseball game. He became something of a fascination for me and my friend and next thing you know we’re youtubing his 80s Levis ads and reading his autobiography (in which he talks about having sex with Andie McDowell). Well what do you know: a couple of months later, Observer Woman has an interview with him. And that Rachel Cook article with Peaches Geldof - that was one of the funniest interviews I’ve ever read.

All I can hope is that the new Observer magazine will continue to produce the hilarious interviews and interesting features that the team at OW did so well. And at least they folded with an excellent issue that included interviews with Jefferson Hack and Mariah Carey and a Chart of Lust that gave my crush-of-the-moment Aaron Johnson top billing. LE