If you are a Spectator subscriber, the plastic wrapper in which your magazine arrived this morning is probably already in the bin in the kitchen. By now it has been joined by two sodden teabags, four strips of bacon rind and a couple of eggshells. Try to steel yourself now, pull on a pair of Marigolds and retrieve it. Because printed above your name and address on the slip of paper inside is something called your subscriber number. Write this down on a piece of paper and keep it somewhere safe.
In the next few weeks, after many months of development, the Spectator launches its iPad and iPhone application, use of which is completely free to Spectator subscribers. Or, to be exact, it is free to Spectator subscribers who can find their bloody subscriber number, whatever that is, for God’s sake, damn it. So I thought I should remind you to record this number now to help avoid any hypertensive episodes.
I have been testing earlier versions of this app for the past few months. It is worth the wait. Should you have an iPad or iPhone, it lets you download a digital version of the Spectator to your device from the early hours of Thursday morning. This means subscribers need no longer wait an extra day for their copy to arrive. It means expatriate subscribers no longer get their news a week late. And if you are spending the weekend with friends, it means you can enjoy your subscription from the discomfort of their rain-soaked cottage in the Cotswolds.
What is most surprising, however — something I did not anticipate a few years ago — is that you may also use this app to read your Spectator even when you have a paper copy to hand.
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