Sir, – Congratulations on your new look. I approve, but I have two observations.
First, the five-day weather outlook is hard work without the text that accompanied it heretofore. If space is an issue, why not consider reducing it to a three-day forecast with words?
Second, I was appalled to see the word Jasus in your Letters page (November 6th). Surely, everyone knows the correct spelling is Jaysus? – Yours, etc,
Sir, – Congratulations on the new layout, you are 99.9 per cent of the way there. We can now fold the paper while we do the crosswords and Sudoku.
Please spare a thought and find room to include Lanzarote in your list of yesterday’s weather. Some of us still dream during the long winter months. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – I am delighted with the new format of The Irish Times. I can now read it in the bath without fear of damp corners. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – No, no, no, no . . . please return An Irishman’s Diary to its usual place at the top right corner of the Letters page.
While we readers want to support your efforts, some things are sacrosanct and shouldn’t be messed with. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – Why no mention of any US city in your new-look, revamped temperature charts? Good to see, though, that you managed to fit in those bastions of the Irish Diaspora such as Kinloss, Kirkwall, Lerwick, Stornoway, Tiree, Wick, Biarritz, Cagliari and Port Stanley.
Shurely shome mishtake? – Yours, etc,
Sir, – You are kidding nobody – The Irish Times is heading for tabloidification, and no amount of spin will change this. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – Now that your Diarist is superior to the Diary and your designers’ designs force lowly readers to become consumers, can they design something at once digestive, emetic and laxative in case our unwonted consumption sets off other basic functions? – Yours, etc,
Sir, – The redesign has left The Irish Times looking far less distinctive and authoritative, and the “Story of Why” campaign has been an irritating and baffling failure. It is presumably too late to give us back our newspaper, but one reversal that should be made as soon as possible is to remove the totally superfluous keywords that now interrupt news reports: an innovation which, like other elements of the redesign, you seem to have imported from the tabloids?
Perhaps you have been advised that your readership is no longer capable of concentrating for more than a few paragraphs and requires the distraction of these meaningless interventions; I suggest you grant us more respect. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – I would like to congratulate you on the new designed Irish Times and to repeat two words from the paper: smart and refreshing. The heavy lines at top of pages, page design, extra bold headings and the type face are very attractive to the eye.
Two most striking aspects of the new design are the Comments and Letters page; and the Bulletin page. The Letters to the Editor are more readable and the Irishwoman’s Diary sits better at bottom of page. The crosswords in a vertical format are easier to manage with games together. And after all that, the back page reminds us of the past and shows the distance you have travelled. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – It’s amazing! I can now actually see my husband’s face as he reads the smaller format of The Irish Times! It can only be a good thing for marital harmony. Thank you. – Yours, etc,