Contract Publishing

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Francis Beckett is the freelance editor of U3A News, the national magazine of the University of the Third Age (U3A.) He is also U3A’s media spokesman.

The U3A organises learning opportunities for those on their third age – that is, those who no longer work full time or have responsibility for children. It has more than 230,000 members in more than 750 local U3As.

He is also the media spokesman for the Fire Brigades Union.

In the last 15 years he has created, designed, edited and produced more than 20 magazines: often managing the whole process, from planning to printing, from commissioning writers to supervising designers, from advertising to distribution, and everything in between.

They include:

  • The Commission for Racial Equality (since merged into the Equality and Human Rights Commission), which asked him to help create an entirely new kind of magazine.

    The CRE had produced newsletters designed to keep those involved in race and community relations aware of the latest news and thinking. It wanted something much more ambitious: a magazine which also spoke to opinion-formers in politics, journalism and industry, and could take its place alongside the Economist, Spectator and New Statesman. In January 2006 Francis Beckett helped the Commission to launch its new bi-monthly magazine, Catalyst, a forum on matters of race and the community. It lasted until the demise of the CRE itself.

  • The Association of MBAs: Francis devised, launched, edited and ran for seven years AMBA's first ever monthly magazine, Ambassador, until it was replaced by a fortnightly magazine.

  • Department for Education and Science: Francis edited Insight, the DFES magazine of education and business, until the magazine was wound up after the 2001 general election.

  • The Strategic Planning Society: Francis redesigned and relaunched its magazine Strategy.

  • The British Council: Francis wrote, edited, and annually updated the British Education Guide, aimed at persuading overseas students to study in Britain.

  • National Aids Trust: Francis created, launched, and edited NAT's monthly magazine AIDS Matters.