My disdain for The Economist is equaled only by my bewilderment at the number of otherwise intelligent people who believe that it is good. Writing in the New York Observer, Tom Scocca nicely sums up what is bad about the world’s most over-rated newsweekly. The money quote:
The audience for this is not people who care about the world, but people who believe it is important to care about the world.
Meanwhile, over at Crooked Timber, Henry (quoting James Fallows) gets a few licks too.
My own writing, for certain purposes, is based entirely on styles gleaned from The Economist. They put the fat in fatuous and provide the distinctive lead coating for my hot air balloons.