Editor’s Note

Few things feel as self-absorbed and pretentious as writing an editor’s letter. At worst, it’s the media industry version of having an Instagram timeline populated only by your selfies. At best, it’s glorious opening credit music — not as memorable as the

Game of Thrones theme song, but not as embarrassing as the one for Walker: Texas Ranger.

I had been threatening to write an editor’s letter for weeks, after even more weeks of being advised to do it. But when the time finally came, I found myself on deadline day, frantically googling “how to write an editor’s letter”.

That wasn’t much help. Soon, I was reading Graydon Carter’s farewell editorial from when he was leaving

Vanity Fair. Then I agonised over whether Tina Brown (Tatler, Vanity Fair, New Yorker) had touched on the topic of editor’s letters in her memoir, The Vanity Fair Diaries.

And what about Anna Wintour — what do her ed’s letters say each month? Did she or any of the 654 editors at Vogue ever give relevant advice in their several documentaries on how to be an editor?

I mean, no pressure. This isn’t stressful at all.

It’s no wonder, then, that many an editor’s letter is about themselves — that’s at least one subject some people have expertise in and can talk about at length, with confidence. The problem with that route is it fails to take the audience into account — nine times out of 10, they don’t care all that much about your life.

There was, however, something that Carter wrote in his letter (give it a read, if you haven’t) that really resonated with me, and which I would like to share: “I have no real management expertise or vision other than that I want to produce quality journalism and I don’t want to bore the reader.”

In a nutshell, this is my (and the team’s) approach to content at Lifestyle. In each edition, we aim to have articles that, in various and hopefully original ways, explore a particular theme. From death and scent (not together, don’t worry), to art and artificial intelligence, the best editions are often those that form a single — but not simple — picture.

This week’s edition deals, very loosely, with human rights. In a touching and raw yet gentle piece, Haji

Mohamed Dawjee explores the right to die a dignified death; John Vlismas speaks to Sue de Groot about removing the morbid from mortality; Lisa Witepski writes a thoughtprovoking piece about post-human rights; and Yolisa Mkele explains why the idea of human rights in a South African context is laughable.

Whatever your thoughts and feelings are on the things you read in Lifestyle this week (and please feel free to share them with us), we can only hope for one thing: that we don’t bore you to that very death you have a right to.