So here's the thing, and I know you can't build a commercial strategy off this, but I am quite happy to subscribe _even when the content is free_.
I see your work as a kind of public good, for much the same reasons as you outline in the close of this piece. I am fortunate enough to be able to contribute towards its continued creation, and so I do so. But I do that because I want this kind of content to be encouraged and to be free as a counterbalance to all the whack-a-doodle BS that is out there. Not because I am seeking any particular reward.
It's the same reason I subscribe to Origin Stories, or a bunch of other Podcasts that I could get for nothing. I think it is important, I am able to support it, so I do. And in return I get the knowledge that other people not so fortunate as I continue to have access to high quality content on subjects that I believe matter to all of us.
It's the 'public good' bit you mention that hits the target for me, though I concur with the rest of the sentiment too. Subscribers want to be informed, sure, but I suspect that since 2009 and turbocharged since 2016 we desperately, because of the tory client right-wing press, want this information to get out in whatever way it can. If we can enable that and have it be our contribution to some kind of change then we should. I hope the fact that subscribing to news feeds like this, papers like The Byline Times and The New European et al & the pods, as you mentioned, brings this info to people who can't afford it but can make a difference at the ballot box.
Re subscriptions, is there anything you could do around free books as a reward? There’s obviously yours (just finished; excellent), though people who subscribe to you will probably have read that. But maybe there is something you could do with your publisher for related things at a discount?
Think I'd struggle with that. But I could send people the books I've got sat piled up on every bloody surface of the flat and simultaneously make the place habitable.
Hi Ian...when Twitter was still bearable (& I was still on it) your clear writing, black humour & fierce anger helped me enormously in trying to deal with Brexit.
Now I’ve found you again on here I would happily subscribe & support your writing but when I press the ‘Manage Subscription’ button it tells me this can’t be done via the app...& I only have a mobile not a laptop, PC etc.
Let me know if there’s a solution & I’ll crack on with subsidising your louche lifestyle/ vital buccaneering journalism (delete as appropriate).
You may be able to do it in the browser of your mobile: just copy the link for Oan’s Substack and paste it into the browser URL bar. You can’t subscribe on the app because Apple (maybe also Google?) want their 30% if you do and Substack doesn’t want to give it to them. But in the browser it should be the same as a PC.
The "ceaseless churn of unassessed, under-analysed law" just about sums things up under this current administration - a sort of bland, bureaucratic authoritarianism by stealth perpetuated by mediocre middle managers who are clearly or of their depth - but at this stage of the game, I don't have much hope the next lot will be any better...
Hi Ian, big fan of this and Origin Story. An idea for how to increase subscriptions... One of the things I get really frustrated about it how to make a difference on the issues that are important to me. Whilst it is great that you're introducing and discussing topics that I barely know about, is there a way that you could also use this platform to generate ways forward and momentum on topics and issues that are likely to unite the bulk of your readership? I think people would be far more likely to pay if as well as being more informed they feel it would also contribute to making change
I never heard about statutory instruments before. In France we have an equivalent named the constitutional 49.3 which remains in the sole hands of the prime minister. As a result, French ministeries are less powerful than English ones. I have heard you don't really have a constitution in England. That could be a good start, to hope suppress or limit statutory instruments. I do not recommend the French constitution, however. I think rather of a Diplomatic Regency that would help define a good, universal constitution and ultimately leave the choice to each free countries to adopt or not this constitution, through referendums. And also they could chose wether to become constitutional monarchies or remain republics. The republics are dying under the assaults of rogue state sponsored populists, while the constitutional monarchies seem to resist better. Hence the idea. Give England a real, good constitution first, and promotes it silmutaneously abroad. A Regency Council could automatically give a veto right to any human who validated a Ph.D thesis, regardless of his nationality. I am not saying that doctors makes no mistakes, but a lot of doctors, and hopefully ALL of them, can give some protection against the clowns.
One would hope that the prisons element could be the fodder for an entertaining PQ at Home Office questions Or would it be MoJ? Anyway good way to embarrass a mi sister by throwing their words back at them.
So here's the thing, and I know you can't build a commercial strategy off this, but I am quite happy to subscribe _even when the content is free_.
I see your work as a kind of public good, for much the same reasons as you outline in the close of this piece. I am fortunate enough to be able to contribute towards its continued creation, and so I do so. But I do that because I want this kind of content to be encouraged and to be free as a counterbalance to all the whack-a-doodle BS that is out there. Not because I am seeking any particular reward.
It's the same reason I subscribe to Origin Stories, or a bunch of other Podcasts that I could get for nothing. I think it is important, I am able to support it, so I do. And in return I get the knowledge that other people not so fortunate as I continue to have access to high quality content on subjects that I believe matter to all of us.
This is lovely.
It's the 'public good' bit you mention that hits the target for me, though I concur with the rest of the sentiment too. Subscribers want to be informed, sure, but I suspect that since 2009 and turbocharged since 2016 we desperately, because of the tory client right-wing press, want this information to get out in whatever way it can. If we can enable that and have it be our contribution to some kind of change then we should. I hope the fact that subscribing to news feeds like this, papers like The Byline Times and The New European et al & the pods, as you mentioned, brings this info to people who can't afford it but can make a difference at the ballot box.
Re subscriptions, is there anything you could do around free books as a reward? There’s obviously yours (just finished; excellent), though people who subscribe to you will probably have read that. But maybe there is something you could do with your publisher for related things at a discount?
Think I'd struggle with that. But I could send people the books I've got sat piled up on every bloody surface of the flat and simultaneously make the place habitable.
Hi Ian...when Twitter was still bearable (& I was still on it) your clear writing, black humour & fierce anger helped me enormously in trying to deal with Brexit.
Now I’ve found you again on here I would happily subscribe & support your writing but when I press the ‘Manage Subscription’ button it tells me this can’t be done via the app...& I only have a mobile not a laptop, PC etc.
Let me know if there’s a solution & I’ll crack on with subsidising your louche lifestyle/ vital buccaneering journalism (delete as appropriate).
Sorry to hear this and thanks for trying. Charles may have a solution below. All money goes to smoking jackets and long cigarette holder obviously
You may wanna spend some on Charles Arthur as your tech bro going forward. That worked a treat.
You may be able to do it in the browser of your mobile: just copy the link for Oan’s Substack and paste it into the browser URL bar. You can’t subscribe on the app because Apple (maybe also Google?) want their 30% if you do and Substack doesn’t want to give it to them. But in the browser it should be the same as a PC.
All sorted. Many thanks.
The "ceaseless churn of unassessed, under-analysed law" just about sums things up under this current administration - a sort of bland, bureaucratic authoritarianism by stealth perpetuated by mediocre middle managers who are clearly or of their depth - but at this stage of the game, I don't have much hope the next lot will be any better...
Huh I was wondering why I hadn't actually been charged for this yet. Not looking for extras tbh, I thought I was just paying for the content.
Hah well thank you
Hi Ian, big fan of this and Origin Story. An idea for how to increase subscriptions... One of the things I get really frustrated about it how to make a difference on the issues that are important to me. Whilst it is great that you're introducing and discussing topics that I barely know about, is there a way that you could also use this platform to generate ways forward and momentum on topics and issues that are likely to unite the bulk of your readership? I think people would be far more likely to pay if as well as being more informed they feel it would also contribute to making change
I never heard about statutory instruments before. In France we have an equivalent named the constitutional 49.3 which remains in the sole hands of the prime minister. As a result, French ministeries are less powerful than English ones. I have heard you don't really have a constitution in England. That could be a good start, to hope suppress or limit statutory instruments. I do not recommend the French constitution, however. I think rather of a Diplomatic Regency that would help define a good, universal constitution and ultimately leave the choice to each free countries to adopt or not this constitution, through referendums. And also they could chose wether to become constitutional monarchies or remain republics. The republics are dying under the assaults of rogue state sponsored populists, while the constitutional monarchies seem to resist better. Hence the idea. Give England a real, good constitution first, and promotes it silmutaneously abroad. A Regency Council could automatically give a veto right to any human who validated a Ph.D thesis, regardless of his nationality. I am not saying that doctors makes no mistakes, but a lot of doctors, and hopefully ALL of them, can give some protection against the clowns.
If only someone would write a book about this.
One would hope that the prisons element could be the fodder for an entertaining PQ at Home Office questions Or would it be MoJ? Anyway good way to embarrass a mi sister by throwing their words back at them.
Yes - of all of them that's the only one likely to be picked up, because it plays into Labour's tough-on-crime narrative.
MINISTER. Good grief autocorrect.
Great article on important topic. (Did you mean "complement" rather than "compliment" about the Misuse of Drugs Amendment Regulations 2023?)
FUCK. Yes.