# The May 2024 Reader's Digest will be its last issue in the U.K **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** magazines-newspapers\ **Created:** [May 30, 2024, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-may-2024-readers-digest-will-be-its-last-issue-in-the-u-k/1002257 "2024-05-30T05:29:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DKW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dkw/32/3118_2.png) [@DKW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DKW)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2024, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-may-2024-readers-digest-will-be-its-last-issue-in-the-u-k/1002257/21 "2024-06-06T05:00:00Z")
My mother subscribed to this when I was a child, and I avidly read every issue that I could get my hands on. The quality wasn’t always top-notch (most of the jokes fell a little flat), but it had some pretty riveting stories and occasionally even tugged my heartstrings just a little. I never picked up on the conservative slant (in 80’s Hawaii, the three levels of edge were family-friendly, Frank DeLima, and very, very gross porn). Looking back on it, yeah, it was definitely on the conservative side, and the vast majority of takes were from a pretty specific worldview (read: whiter than a bag of marshmallows dipped in flour in the middle of a snow field). There were certain times I found a certain character annoying or off-putting and couldn’t quite explain why, which speaks to how much the overall mindset of the magazine’s publishers differed from my own. Whatever, it kept my mind occupied during those endless pre-Internet summers. Life goes on. ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2024, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-may-2024-readers-digest-will-be-its-last-issue-in-the-u-k/1002257/22 "2024-06-06T08:27:35Z")
In British Reader’s Digest, it was always I Am John’s Liver. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2024, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-may-2024-readers-digest-will-be-its-last-issue-in-the-u-k/1002257/23 "2024-06-06T09:08:56Z")
I like getting takeout from Long John’s Liver. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2024, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-may-2024-readers-digest-will-be-its-last-issue-in-the-u-k/1002257/24 "2024-06-06T09:14:08Z")
oh and they hated unions too … every issue or two had some story about how unions were nothing but fronts for organized crime … ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2024, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-may-2024-readers-digest-will-be-its-last-issue-in-the-u-k/1002257/25 "2024-06-13T22:34:39Z")
It seems they never got around to doing _I am John’s Left Nut_, though I think they did do _I Am John’s Prostate_ ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2024, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-may-2024-readers-digest-will-be-its-last-issue-in-the-u-k/1002257/26 "2024-06-13T22:41:40Z")
I’ve never read the UK one but my girlfriend’s (in the 2000s) mum used to have US readers digests in the bathroom and I thought they were really abhorrent They were like 2/3 “grandmas lemonade recipes your grandkids will love” and then 1/3 horrible scare stories “lock your backdoor or illegal immigrants will kill your family!”. ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2024, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-may-2024-readers-digest-will-be-its-last-issue-in-the-u-k/1002257/27 "2024-06-13T22:45:03Z")
Most of the articles were syndicated around the various world editions of RD, so I expect we got much of the same stuff. My uncle got given a bunch of copies from time to time, and eventually they got passed on to me. I never bought it, and neither did he (which I suspect is part of the reason why it’s ceasing publication. My mother worked for British RD shortly after the war (I think it was one of her first jobs) and she never had a good word for them. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2024, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-may-2024-readers-digest-will-be-its-last-issue-in-the-u-k/1002257/28 "2024-06-13T22:48:52Z")
> [@Mk\_VII](#): > > It seems they never got around to doing _I am John’s Left Nut_, though I think they did do _I Am John’s Prostate_ They actually did! Only they called it, “I Am Joe’s Man Gland.” Great title, as it got me to read the article. But as I read it when I was about 13 or so, my reaction was “Holy shit, they never taught us that in health class!” ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2024, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-may-2024-readers-digest-will-be-its-last-issue-in-the-u-k/1002257/29 "2024-06-13T23:03:12Z")
I must have missed that (unless the British edn opted not to carry it). ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2024, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-may-2024-readers-digest-will-be-its-last-issue-in-the-u-k/1002257/30 "2024-06-13T23:43:12Z")
They had a horrible story about a guy who was hiking with his cousin. He was attacked by two guys, who then also framed him for rape (and murder?) of his cousin. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2024, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-may-2024-readers-digest-will-be-its-last-issue-in-the-u-k/1002257/31 "2024-06-14T22:42:33Z")
I Googled that phrase, and the first thing I got was this. TL : DR - it’s about the prostate. > **[I Am Joe’s Man Gland (Revised): Prostate Health for Queer Men](https://lavenderhealth.org/2015/02/23/i-am-joes-man-gland-prostate-health-for-queer-men/)** > > Readers of a certain age will recall that present in almost every physician’s office from the 1950s to 1980s were back issues of the monthly Reader’s Digest, a compendium of condensed literature an… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-may-2024-readers-digest-will-be-its-last-issue-in-the-u-k/1002257.md?page=1)