The power of the magazine-reader relationship has caused headaches at a council in Cheshire, after a pensioner waged an 18-month campaign to have a subscription to Money Management reinstated at his local library.
Graham Tilston, 65, from Chester, began his battle in 2004 after his local branch replaced the FT-published specialist financial guide with Money Observer, because it was £2.50 cheaper.
After writing to his local council and getting no joy, Tilston then moved on to complain to the local government ombudsman and finally contacted his local paper for publicity in his crusade.
Tilston said he felt the magazine was not just a specialist title, but was also "beneficial to ordinary working men"
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like himself, and denied claims from librarians that the magazine was not being read by very many people.
Money Management editor Janet Walford has supported Tilston in his battle, saying: "Mr Tilston is right: Money Management contains a lot of good information, and if the government wants people to be well informed, it would be more useful to have our publication on the shelves than some of the rubbish paperbacks they have in libraries these days."
However, Tilston’s fight seems to have reached an end: the council has refused to enter into any more correspondence on the issue.
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Tilston said: "The government has said it wants to make people more aware of pensions and savings and MM can really help with small investments.
"They say it is a specialist magazine, but I believe it can be beneficial to ordinary working men like myself.
"Now they stock Money Observer, which costs £2.50 less a month but isn’t as good."
A spokesman for Cheshire County Council said: "We have done everything in our power to help Mr Tilston with the issue he continues to raise.
"After several letters and countless hours of officers’ time, we now consider the matter to be finally closed."
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