Oh, the times they are a-changing, all right. Think back a mere five or 10 years and try to imagine a nation of Irish males, entering a newsagent and casually, with not one whit of embarrassment, stooping to pick up a men's magazine. A music mag, fine; a motoring journal - almost educational, but a thick glossy packed with fashion as well as sport, architecture as well as cars; it would have seemed a little bit, well, funny. So it is an indicator of the changes in Irish society that Himself, which claims to be Ireland's first men's magazine, was launched at the Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin on Thursday with a big laddish breakfast.
For those wondering just how far down the path to designer bathrobes and Dualite toasters Ireland is venturing with this men's mag business, the food was a reassuring presence. There wasn't a whiff of the fancy croissants and espresso coffee beloved of the suave Arena magazine-reader; this is an Irish men's magazine, and the bleary-eyed guests were offered bacon butties, stout and black and white pudding. "It's very much my own opinion of what Irish men would like to see in a magazine," says editor Daire O'Brien. "It's fairly fresh and irreverent and it's aimed at the normal reader of no great intellectual pretensions. It isn't all `tits and girls' but neither is it full of architecture and jazz, a formula that wouldn't reflect anybody I know."
Daire is a proud and unmistakeable Corkonian, educated in Trinity College, Dublin, who came to Himself after stints in Business and Finance magazine, the Sunday Tribune and on RTE's Primetime from 1995 to 1997.
"Business journalism has always been my thing; that and investigative journalism which is the stuff you can really get your teeth into."
He got involved with Himself after spotting an advert in The Irish Times last year placed by publisher Kevin Kelly and Ann Reihill, publishers of Image magazine. "At the first interview I just went along and told them all my ideas - oh, and I looked fairly smart as well. But it was when I was called back for the second, then third interview that I really started putting the work in."
He brought Emily Hourican on board as assistant editor "because I wanted a woman on the team".
Educated in UCD and with a background in the independent film industry, Emily also has an immaculate journalistic pedigree: her father, the late Liam Hourican, was RTE's reporter on the North for many years.
The first issue is a 147-page colour magazine offering articles such as "GAA Chic" (on the growing profile of the GAA), a piece on recruitment consultants, and Daire's own report on two days spent in the company of snooker player Alex Higgins, which he laughingly subtitles "my diary in hell".
There is also a more light-hearted piece that claims to "debunk the myth of the Irish nurse". "We wanted to have some great shots of Irish nurses but most of them declined," her says. Which leads us nicely into the Loaded question. Loaded, in case you've been in Djibouti for the last year or two, is a lads' magazine, full of lager, footie and topless girls. Before you think "Plus ca change, another Penthouse", you should know that Loaded claims to be ironic when it says "Phwahh, look at those baps!", although many people would doubt whether the magazine's readers are quite so ironic when oogling. The London-based mag has become a signifier for all that is considered "New Lad", because its unashamedly "dumbed down" approach has influenced most men's magazines available these days.
"When Loaded first came out I thought it was really fresh and new," comments Daire. "But I think the market has changed now. Too many magazines offer a very `dyed in the wool' blueprint of a certain lifestyle. Himself certainly won't be didactic about the kind of lifestyle we think you should lead but neither will it be dumbed down. The `lad' thing is such a media tag; Irish society is much more drawn together socially than that label allows."
"I think it will create its own market," he says. And sure, himself's the one who should know.
Daire O'Brien: editor of the new magazine Himself. Photograph: Eric Luke