To Our Readers

The London offices that we now inhabit look out on Somerset House, a masterpiece of 18th century design. The art treasures of the Courtauld Institute lie within its ornamented corridors, and its well-proportioned courtyards house handsome offices, restaurants and shops. Canaletto, along with other artistic admirers, painted a view of its sweeping façade along the Thames. When we look across the river at newer, uglier office blocks, we realize Somerset House represents a kind of perfection that succeeding generations did not — could not — improve upon.

And the thought fills us with dread. That’s because we were installed here a few months ago to improve upon something that is as close to perfection as you can get in the newsmagazine field. For 78 years, Time has been the Somerset House of newsmagazines: elegant, balanced, highly polished, a red-bordered icon recognized around the world. How could we dare to change it? Answer: carefully. With this issue we gingerly introduce some modest design flourishes and a few new departments. The former, like our recently restyled table of contents, will (we hope) look so appropriate you’ll think they’ve been around for years. The latter you can’t miss. Among them:

Person of the Week, a figure dominating the week’s headlines, for good or ill. This from the magazine that has brought you the Man (now Person) of the Year since 1927.

Biz Watch, a digest of the week’s major stories in commerce and finance, to accompany our redesigned World Watch news summary.

Global Agenda, a new weekly column by former Economist and Newsweek editor Michael Elliott.

Style Watch, a page on the latest in fashion and design.

Profile, a word portrait of an intriguing person in the news.

These changes are intended to make Time more interesting and more relevant to the lives of its readers. And since most of the readers of this edition live in Europe, you can expect to see a tighter focus on things European. Effective this issue, we’re increasing the number of editorial pages, extra space that will go largely to European news. But the definition of news is changing in this globalized, post-cold war world, when political divides are being replaced by concerns about prosperity, its pursuit and its consequences. So we’ll be expanding our coverage of business and technology. We’ll be focusing on the growing debates about the distribution of wealth and health, the efficacy of genetic engineering and technology generally. And, like all good European editors, we’ll be trying to keep our fingers firmly on the region’s pulse, our minds focused on divining what’s on your mind.

To that end, and to give this new-look Time a good send-off, we commissioned MORI, the respected public opinion research firm, to survey the attitudes of Europe’s 21- to 35-year-olds — the first generation to come of age with Continental unity as a reality, not just a dream. We asked them about such topics as nationality (a third consider themselves more Europeans than nationals of their home countries), genetic engineering (most support it, with limits) and the Internet (a surprisingly small number get their information from it). We even asked about sex: reassuringly, most expect to remain faithful to their partners for life. We present the poll results in this week’s cover story, which was written by Romesh Ratnesar, edited by James Geary, designed by Paul Lussier — who also crafted our new look — and reported by Elinor Shields and our European bureaus. The story describes how members of this age group are increasingly crossing borders to work and play, and erasing the divisions that have beset Europe for centuries.

We profile several young Europeans who embody this new spirit and are making a splash in politics, business and the arts. Among them is the 26-year-old Spanish actor whose face is on our cover, Penélope Cruz. Senior Editor Jess Cagle spent time with Cruz last week in Los Angeles and even got her to answer the MORI poll questions: yes, she considers herself more European than Spanish. (For her views on the E.U., globalization and sex, you’ll have to read the story.)

We’ll be introducing more surprises in the magazine over the coming weeks. But Time will still be Time, and news will remain our focus, as it has been since 1923. And though we’re loath to fiddle with a formula that has worked for decades, we realize that change doesn’t have to be bad. Just after we wrote this letter’s opening paragraph, we did a quick Internet search. Turns out Canaletto had been dead for eight years when the cornerstone was laid for Somerset House. He had actually painted an earlier Somerset House, no slouch in the aesthetic department but not quite the graceful building that rose on its 16th century ruins. And the newer one itself has been altered substantially by subsequent architects and planners. See, you can improve on perfection.