...the Pet Shop Boys. One Kate Bush cover does not buy enough goodwill for this horror to continue. The next Morrissey cover and I'm off.

NO pictures of Iggy and/or Bonio would be better.

It's an attention-grabbing photo (major star) and a headline ("Bono on trial") that'll pull in the uncommitted or the anti's. I look forward to my subscription copy finally arriving...

If, and only if, someone PhotoShops "TWAT" across his forehead.

There's more to quality than grabbing attention, and when I scan the magazines on the shelves, seeing an unadulterated Bono on the cover of a previously unheard of magazine would be enough for me to decide it wasn't worth investigating further.

it means you can leave Bono in the loo for a month.

.. if only the subscription copy would turn up... Iggy still missing in the post (or the postmaster has decided its not suitable...)

I'l give it to the end of the week and then subscriptions helpline here I come (again......)

everyone a list of the major articles and let people choose their own cover star.

So this month you could have

Clive James
Blur
Al Kooper
Micky Eavis
Regina Spektor
or Mel Smith

staring out at you.

I am never that swayed by covers then again i only subscribe to 2 magazines and buy private eye. More than happy to let the word lot agonize over these things and gently rib on their dodgy choices but I buy ever so and if the odd bono brings in new readers and means I continue to have some thing to read I'm more than happy.

...the phallically adorned CD sleeve; don't get me started.
Can we move onto another theme now please mister illustrator?

The family hated the Iggy cover so much that the issue was shoved face-down into the murky depths of the magazine rack instead of lurking face-up on the LP12 for browsing during repeats of You've been Framed. Consequently, I haven't read it all yet.

at least we don't get the Fab Four or Dylan on the cover every other month (unlike certain other magazines).

him staring up at me. And his look to me says 'what have YOU done about world poverty lately?'

And my first thought was 'this is going to ruffle some feathers on the website.'

has definitely stirred a great deal of opinion on these very pages. So why not in the mag as well? And Bono is probably more cover friendly than Mel Smith or Clive James.

was told Bono's head would be on the front cover, and was duly anticipating it to be dripping and on a pike...Damn you, Word magazine

I see it's a collection of views about the I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For hitmaker, some of which appear to give him a good kicking. Should be entertaining. These major cultural figures stimulate discussion. I enjoy good writing about any artist, regardless of whether I buy their records. This is what I used to find with Q in it's heyday. In fact it can be more interesting with a big name everyone has a view on. How about Liam next month? ;-)

when there were beards on the cover.

she has warned the next copy will be binned if it is Paul Weller !

Hepworth: Look, Mark, you've got to stop putting naked pensioners on the cover. Last month's retail sales were the worst ever! Can't we stick with U2 or The Beatles or Oasis like everyone else, just to get the advertisers off my back?

Ellen: How about if we write 'Twat' across Bono's forehead?

Hepworth: No.

Ellen: Okay.

I'll take a subscription.

works for others

My fault for living in the remote county of West Sussex. And 5 days in France coming up with no Word Mag to browse...

There. I feel better. Also i like the way he wears sunglasses pretty much all the time, and those are a particularly good pair. Just this side of 'Caribou' era Elton.

Also why do people cancel their subscription/ stop buying a magazine just because they don't like the cover?

Corking CD this month btw - good work, CD-compiling-work-experience boy.

... and nothing against Bonio, but that's a horrible, horrible picture, can't he afford to be photoshopped a tad?

Any potentially controversial covers could be sent out in brown paper wrapping with 'PORN' stamped on it. I'd be much happier if my postlady thought I was following natural urges rather than looking at pictures of wizened old men.

I must admit to feeling an air of indifference when I saw Bono's face on the cover, but the first article I turned to was the section on Bono, so I guess the cover worked for me.I was curious to learn if respected writers and journalists thought Bono was God or just an annoying twat. He seems to come across as an okay kind of small Irish bloke, but should he still be wearing sunglasses at his age and does he wear them when asleep, in train tunnels and during love making? Therefore, interesting comments by David Hepworth on Bono's shades;the secret part in his success for sure.
My favourite other piece so far, is Giles Smith's glorious column on Radio 5 and Simon Mayo-totally spot on, give both men a medal. Giles is a welcome addition to the Word Parish.Perhaps we could have Giles on the pod programme on week if he's at a loose end. By the way,I receive my subscription issue on time every month and I live miles away, on the planet Mars.

Some interesting tracks on the CD this month. Pity about the face on the cover.
I still remember seeing it(them) in 1987 and that bloke on the cover walking on stage singing 'Stand by Me' for the first number. Dreadful gig only saved by the bald one in the woollen hat playing acceptable guitar.

...I'd also like to cancel my subscription.

"Anbeckdote"

Plank-spankingly awful.

Shame on you, Murray.

Many have suggested that He Who Has Not Found That For Which He Has Been Looking would look much better with his face suitably embellished with the word "TWAT". People.. there is no crime in using a Magic Marker.

And for anyone considering putting WORD in the smallest room, I'd suggest you don't because 1)You stay there too long and get piles and 2)Andrex gets more off and flushes away more easily. But it did let me know that a moustache doesn't suit Bono, even if he did have TWAT writen on his forehead.

In defense of Bono - The gigantic ego is a given, but only someone with a gigantic ego could believe himself capable of making a real difference in the fight against HIV in Africa,or able to convince first-world leaders to forgive third-world debt. At least he isn't sitting on his millions. I care about these issues too, but a rock star has the ear of a lot more people than a kindergarten teacher does, so I'm happy that Bono is striding about the world agitating people. I've not read the cover story yet, as I am still waiting for my magazine to be rowed across the ocean and delivered to my mailbox here in Atlanta,GA.

What the hell happened here? Did you get rebuffed for an interview? Whence the bitterness and begrudgery? Shame on you Mr Ellen (if it was you) for greenlighting such a mean-spirited little piece.Hazel Davis's ignorance in particular is breathtaking - and Eammon Forde's wee rant was shot through with the sort of surliness you'd think he'd have outgrown by now.'The Irish media were to kill the careers of nearly every band in their slipstream' For fuck's sake! Apart from the fact that he singularly ignores the efforts of Hot Press to champion other new bands, the argument itself is fatuous and thick. Would he accuse the British media of queering the pitch for all post-Beatles bands? Maybe he would. I won't be cancelling my subscription but I hope next month's issue is better, not just in terms of the cover story, but over the whole mag. For the first time ever, I found Word to be a quite unsatisfying read.

And possibly the hubris one too...

and I haven´t read the new issue yet but, for the love of god, would ye stop the incessant whingeing about Bono. Sure, musically, he´s not as good as he used to be. Sure, he may come across as arrogant and preachy, he´s a rock-star after all. Sure, he´s a tax-exile and doesn´t always practice what he preaches. Ahm...where was I ?