‘May you go on for decades to come . . .’

‘Your magazine is a total delight. I clutch it close to my person when it arrives, in the way that children do on the arrival of a new Harry Potter. I, for one, would not mind at all if you put up the price a bit. It is extremely good value. Beyond that material consideration, it is a wonderful breeze of fresh air. I have spent decades teaching literature in universities, and it has become rarer and rarer to find writing that is well written, let alone witty or “humanistic”. You are among the present pioneers in reviving a style I loved in my youth, when writers could carry immense learning or experience lightly, and write about almost anything in a way that extended one’s life, rather like those marvellous movies in the fifties when the screen widened and widened and one was off, around the world in eighty minutes. When did writing become brittle, narrow, jargon-ridden, and often arrogant? Every article you publish demonstrates that there is abundant life in the old art still. I do hope you will go from strength to strength. We need you.’

‘I am 81 years old AND broke but I have missed you so much! The next four issues, please.’