The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister papers The Guardian and The Guardian Weekly, whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993, it takes a social liberal or social democratic line on most issues. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.
The first issue, published on 4 December 1791 by W.S. Bourne, was the world's first Sunday newspaper. Believing that the paper would be a means of wealth, Bourne instead soon found himself facing debts of nearly £1,600. Though early editions purported editorial independence, Bourne attempted to cut his losses and sell the title to the government. When this failed, Bourne's brother (a wealthy businessman) made an offer to the government, which also refused to buy the paper but agreed to subsidise it in return for influence over its editorial content. As a result, the paper soon took a strong line against radicals such as Thomas Paine, Francis Burdett and Joseph Priestley.
The Observer may refer to:
The Observer of South African Affairs was a Port Elizabeth based newspaper of the Cape Colony, that was published from 6 July 1876. In the 1880s it underwent a series of name changes, to the Port Elizabeth Spectator (May 1886 - September 1888), and the Spectator and Evening Mail (September 1888 - January 1890).
It took an extreme pro-imperialist "jingoist" stance and strongly opposed the "Cape Liberal Tradition" that was centred on Cape Town and dominated Cape politics at the time. The Observer, together with the Grahamstown Journal of Robert Godlonton, championed the reactionary British frontier settler lobby in pushing for harsher expansionist policies against the neighbouring Xhosa people. It called for restrictions on the multi-racial Cape Qualified Franchise and for a separate, British-dominated, Eastern Cape Colony.
The Observer ran a series of satirical cartoons, starting with its first edition on 6 July 1876. After the 27 June 1878 edition, the resident cartoonist, Charles J Barber, moved to the rival Port Elizabeth publication, The Cape Hornet and was replaced by William Howard Schröder who had just moved from the Lantern newspaper of Cape Town. The cartoons attacked both the neighbouring Xhosa people, and the liberal Cape government which was restricting the settlers' expansion into Xhosa land.
Slowly awakening
On the ground in forest
I can barely stand
The icy bite of winter is tearing my flesh
Few steps ahead
Hidden among the trees
Corpses unlighted by thin moonbeams
Pale faces in pain, they found no peace in death
Getting close, staring at their eyes
Their mouths frozen in silent cries
I know each and every one of them
I remember the pain
Jealousy, tortured me
Sadness, transformed me
Hypocrisy, angered me
Rancor, fed me
Frustration, mutilation
The faded color of my eyes
Powerless in front of the lie
My rage is waking up
In my back sounds of gluttony
I turn in around to face a different me
Weak with emaciated face
Suddenly I fall in the abyss
Jealousy, tortured me
Sadness, transformed me
Hypocrisy, angered me
Rancor, fed me
Pale faces in pain,