GOSSIP AT THE OFFICE.- Communicative activities.

British reading habits.

British people watch a lot of television. They are also reported to be the world's most dedicated home-video users. However, this does not mean that they have given up reading, in fact they are the world's third biggest newspaper buyers; only the Japanese and the Swedish buy more.

In Britain, newspaper publication is dominated by the national press. The morning newspaper is a British household institution; such an important one that, until the laws were relaxed in the early 1990's, newsagent's were the only shops that were allowed to open on Sundays so that the people could buy their papers. Another indication of the importance of the papers is the morning "paper round". Most newsagent's organize these, and more than one half of the country's readers get their morning paper delivered to their door by a teenager who gets up around 5.30 a.m every day to earn a bit of extra pocket money.

In Britain, each of the national papers can be characterized as belonging to one of two distinct categories. The "quality papers", often called Broadsheets and "the popular papers" or Tabloids.

Broadsheets are usually printed on large pages and they report national and international news in a serious tone since they cater for better educated readers. The most important quality diaries are the Daily Telegraph, The Times, The Guardian, The Independent and The Financial Times. As a curiosity, many broadsheets measure approximately 11 or 12 inches wide and 20 or more inches wide, which make them really difficult to handle while reading them, that's why today, sizes are being reduced so that people can read them easily while commuting to work. In fact, The Independent was the first newspaper in 2003 to downsize to tabloid format.

On the other hand, Tabloids sell to a much larger readership. They contain far less print than the broadsheets and far more pictures. They use larger headlines and write in a simpler style of English. While the broadsheets devote much space to politics and other "serious" news, the tabloids concentrate on "human interest" stories which often mean sex and scandal. The most important tabloids are The Sun, The Mirror, The Express and The Daily Mail. By means of curiosity, it can be said that tabloids get their popular name after the name given to compressed tablets marketed as Tabloid pills in the late 1880s. In these pills, the medicine was condensed in a small space, like gossip and other information are condensed in Tabloids.

Regarding popularity, Tabloids sell about six times as many copies as the broadsheets. According to the selling figures, The Sun is the paper that sells most, followed by the Daily Mirror, The Daily Mail and The Daily Express. If we have a look at the broadsheets, the one that sells most is The Daily Telegraph, followed by The Guardian, The Independent and The Times. However, there has been an improvement on past decades. In 1950, for instance, tabloids sold 20 times as many copies as the broadsheets. Education seems to be having an effect on people's reading habits.

To finish, it can be said that together with the newspapers, in any well-stocked newsagent in Britain you will also see rows and rows of magazines catering for almost every imaginable pastime. There are a few weeklies dealing with news and current affairs, and weekly, bi-weekly or monthly publication dealing with fashion, art, literature, travelling and Britain's favourite: Gardening and DIY

Dear Abby is one of the most popular magazine columns in the world. People usually write to them when they have some kind of problem and they need some advice.