I've just opened the latest package from the IET and once again I'm wondering why "E&T" (a generalist publication with articles on things like robotics, snippets of news and letters from disgruntled engineers) is accompanied by "Member News" (also a generalist publication with articles on things like robotics, snippets of news and letters from disgruntled engineers)? Surely it would be more economical (e.g. thin out the ranks of journalists that our inflated subs support) to have just one publication?
And another thing - is there any chance of raising the intellectual centre of gravity of E&T, which languishes somewhere around the Sunday colour supplement level, to (say) that of the old IEE Management Journal?

David

Well said.

How about somebody setting up a vote on the acceptability of E&T as a replacement for the publications it replaces? The argument appears to be that we need a glossy thing that's 'accessible' to 'everyman', but it's only available to members. At the level E&T appears to be written, I don't buy the argument that we're all non-specialists outside our disciplines - we're still engineers! And the 'everyman' that would want to read such a publication is likely to want to read it precisely to get something more technical than the popular press, of which there is already plenty.

Are the journalists who write the articles in any way specialists in the subjects - it doesn't look like it?

And, by the way, what's the point of including June events in the July issue?

-------------------------
Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.

I would rather read the June events in July over Jack's blog.

I'm reassured by these comments on E&T as, for me, it goes from the packaging to the pile in one easy movement since IMHO the current magazine is neither about engineering nor technology and now I know that I'm not missing anything. I just unsubscribed from the electronic version since, when I read it on my BlackBerry, the only parts which have any real text are the advertisements, the rest is all links and there's no real way of knowing anything about the article.

On the other hand I haven't found out how to unsubscribe from the job adverts like the one today "Looking for a change of engineering career?". No I ******* am not and I don't want to receive this sort of posting but I can't find how to top it arriving.

-------------------------
Mike Wrigley
Past Chairman, French Network