[Hebdomad]

Another vote for The Economist. And I've never thought of it as 'empire centric'... I once read The Spectator (a UK only magazine really) and I felt ill for some hours afterwards.

I was going to make a thread about this (something I read in The Economist, New Year edition) before but I couldn't be arsed. But apparently someone found a link between brain tumours and paedophilia. A guy was arrested in the US on charges of amassing child-porn and before they could charge him it was discovered he had a brain tumour. After a while his brain tumour left him, and so did he desire to amass child porn. After a while it came back, and so did his desire. The economist linked this into a discussion on free-will. The point is, The Economist is interesting (assuming they're not lying or anything).

I quite like The New Scientist as well, although I've only read the occasional issue.

I wouldn't read journals unless there's a specific topic you want to read about, like articles on the Norwegian Parliament or something. You could subscribe to a database of journals, but I find magazines far more pleasant to read and I only read journal articles if I've an intense need to learn about something specific.