Economist humor

Re David Shaw’s very good piece on the Economist (July 20): His pointing out their way with photograph captions brought to mind two very funny ones:

1. A year or so ago the magazine’s cover was a photo of Kim Jong Il standing on a dais, receiving a delegation from China or the U.S. The caption: “Greetings, Earthlings.”

2. A couple of years ago there was a flap in the U.K. involving a university professor who was pushing the theory that the Holocaust never happened. One of the Brit tabloids took him on; he sued it for libel and lost.

The article covering his having lost the libel claim featured a photo of him talking on a phone and looking grim, or at least very serious. The caption: “Bad news, my fuhrer.”

Fred B. Griffin

Los Angeles

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Not only are the articles in the Economist “intelligently and lucidly written ... known for [their] irreverence -- particularly in headlines and photo captions,” but they are completely devoid of “political correctness.” What American magazine or newspaper would dare caption the photo illustrating an article on the removal of a homosexual priest as “[Archbishop] Williams weeds out the pansies”?

Frank S. Buzard

Rancho Palos Verdes