Cover Story

How we put together the Christmas double issue

Every year, around May, a call goes out for pitches for The Economist’s Christmas issue. It feels odd, as the blossom drifts and the sun warms, to be thinking about the last issue of the year. But putting together 50-odd pages of colourful, witty, thought-provoking features takes a long time.

First there are about 60 pitches to whittle down to around 18 pieces. There needs to be a balance in the final selection of stories: some history, but not too much; reporting from a range of places; some subjects touching on business, finance, economics or science; and, ideally, a bit of fun.

Amid a number of ideas about China, two stood out. The first was about the Wenzhounese, a group of emigrants who are making an outsize mark abroad. The second was a piece about reading Tang poetry, which the Chinese celebrate as the pinnacle of their civilisation, in translation. Both stories tell the reader about China in a way that reaches far beyond the news, deep into the country’s history and far into its hinterlands.

The pieces touching on business, finance, economics or science came in a variety of forms. A story about how Hollywood studios are preparing for the copyright to run out on some of its most beloved—and profitable—characters is as entertaining as the stories about to slip into the public domain. Care had to be taken with the illustrations. We wanted them to be reminiscent of those in question but had to avoid any legal pitfalls. The final illustrations are delightful, with our very own superheroes busting free.

As always, the pages are beautifully designed by our graphics department. Look carefully at the pages of the story about the death of grid cities in the print edition and you will notice that the text has been designed to echo the shape of city blocks. The illustration for a piece about the lessons we can learn from the great inflation of the 1500s has riotous abandon to it which is in keeping with the description of Europe at that time.

The photographs that go with a story about the Baduy, an ethnic group that the author describes as “the Amish of Indonesia” because they shun modernity, are particularly striking. The story is centred around Herman Jarkan, once part of the Inner Baduy. It was only possible because Mr Herman has left his village and ancestors’ way of living—the author would not have been allowed to visit him when he was still an Inner.

Five pages on the intricacies of the nitrogen cycle might seem like a daunting prospect, to both editor and reader. But our essay on “the wibbly-wobbly circle of life” is a joy—clear, precise and enlightening. It explains how human politics and economics are now thoroughly intertwined with a natural cycle that has been at work for billions of years.

From the circle of life to the news cycle: a piece about the would-be philosophers of Silicon Valley was affected by what was happening in the world more than most. We needed to take into account the meltdown of Sam Bankman-Fried’s empire and his subsequent arrest without turning a long-planned feature into a news story. A brief mention added late in the day meant that the article felt suitably current without detracting from the original structure.

We put as much thought into the digital presentation of these stories as we do into how they appear on the printed page. A data-led feature on dogs explains the factors that affect the popularity of different breeds in a variety of countries over time. The data is fascinating in the print version but in the digital one we were able to make far more of it available and allow readers to play around with it.

This is my second year editing the Christmas issue and the joy of doing so does not diminish. Each individual feature is a delight and yet together, they are even more than the sum of their imaginative, thoughtful parts. Bringing them together is a treat. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I have.