Dear Economist Magazine, when I first met you in 2015, I thought you were the kind of woman I’d like to date. You were smart, well presented, and had a broad general knowledge. These are the kind things I like in a woman. You even knew how to spell and punctuate correctly, which is a bit of a lost art these days. And I must confess, I do find brains a turn-on in a woman. And you had those big red banners on your website behind your signature. We all know about women in red. I started asking you out. I called you Eci-pooh. You called me Ricki-dick.

Then in November 2016, you told me your subscription rates were going up. I thought you were starting to be a bit of a high maintenance girlfriend, so I told you I wanted to break it off. You sent me a rather brief email back saying you’d got my message. That was OK. I didn’t expect you to be that happy. A couple of days later you sent me another email asking if I’d take you back. Well, I didn’t.

But since then you’ve kept taking money out of my credit card. That’s just not fair. And when I asked you to stop, you asked ME to prove to YOU that YOU broke off our relationship in 2016. That’s a pretty strange response.  It seems you have a turn-me-on button, but not a turn-me-off button. My bank have told me that I’ll have to cancel my credit card here in Australia, and get a new card issued with a new number that you don’t know.

I know that you live in England and I live in Australia, but we are both from pretty similar cultures. You’re not supposed to stalk ex-lovers. It’s just not cricket, my dear.

I’d rather not involve lawyers, that really should be a tactic of last resort. So why don’t you just return my money and leave me alone? I’ve emailed you enough, and it’s just become a drag. . You’re not my girlfriend any more, OK?  Just accept it and move on.

Best wishes,

Richard Snow

28 September 2017

Immediately after I published this blog article, I went to the Economist Magazine (not the subscriptions area, but in the editorial area) and went to a feedback form on the contents of the magazine. I gave the magazine 1 out of 10 for how happy I was with them, and in the explanation box I put a link to this article. I also emailed copies to executives and writers when I could work out their email addresses, and to people in their accounts area. 24 hours later I got an email telling me they were processing a refund. Miracles happen.