Marking a Milestone
Editorial
Helen Sandler
This is issue 250. Feel free to shout ‘Wow!’ (I think on this occasion we are permitted an exclamation that is more Beano than Planet.) When Ned Thomas founded Planet magazine in 1970 to cover Welsh topics that were not being covered elsewhere, he did not foresee it would run so long. In fact, he shut it down in 1979, during the period of the vote on devolution. But he relaunched a few years later with Welsh Arts Council funding and with John Barnie employed as editor shortly after. Planet came under attack from Labour, Conservatives and the police for the stories and perspectives it covered, but would not die.
As Mike Parker said, in a 2020 intergenerational lockdown Zoom to mark fifty years of Planet, Ned Thomas is the embodiment of the magazine’s strapline: he is the Welsh internationalist. Ned talks of ‘stumbling into Welsh politics’ back at the start, and being accused of a ‘nationalist plot’. The magazine drew leftist writers to it and other, often stifled voices, including pro-devolution opinions.
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Helen Sandler is Planet’s guest book review editor for 2023. She runs Tollington Press, publishing new books by women; and co-programmes Aberration, the LGBT+ arts night in Aberystwyth.
