To Our Readers

With regret and considerable envy, we must report that senior writer Rod Usher has decided to seek a quieter existence. After 36 years as a journalist, a dozen of them with TIME, he intends to concentrate on his career as a novelist, his new house in Spain, his wife Angela and the good life of an Iberian squire. This is a fine thing for Rod, who has certainly earned a place in the sun. But it's bad news for journalism.

Born in the U.S. but raised in Australia, Rod joined the Melbourne Herald as a copyboy back...