The Economist‘s persistent marketing of their lifestyle magazine, Intelligent Life, may be working on me. Occasionally, they send free copies to Economist subscribers. The Spring 2009 issue is excellent, as is the magazine’s website. Favourite bits so far:

• Veggie recipes for meaties - I like the look of the bread soup.
• The return of the ‘power breakfast’, with a good breakfast restaurant recommendation for Chicago.
• A photo essay about India’s bonded labourer Dalits, which was very moving, but which I can’t find online. I may post more on Dalits. Their suffering seems so utterly incomprehensible and shameful.
• This piece on drinking alcohol comes pretty close to my position and experience.

Counterbalanced against this, there were some poor articles too. The ‘cover story’ – on the (over)use of the word ‘iconic’ was utterly mundane.