Is the Guardian worse than it used to be?

Pretty compelling evidence that it has never been good:

- Argued for martial law during the Irish famine
- Supported the confederacy
- Editorialised for white supremacy and "unfaltering confidence in our right to rule over the native population by virtue of inherent superiority"
- criticised suffragist direct action
- dismissed Palestinian rights in the founding of Israel

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/may/07/guardian-200-what-we-got-wrong-the-guardians-worst-errors-of-judgment-over-200-years

haha i cant be the only person that opened that and crtl+f-ed "iraq"

2 save u time: "no results found"

🤔🤔🤔

i've talked to more than one person who has defended the guardian as not totally irredeemable by citing its strong stance against the war, it's amazing what people remember and how

ctrl+f Starmer "no results found"

The Obs was full tankie while the Graun was neutral/opposed iirc.

this needs to be ten times as long. no mention for example of publishing explicit defences of islamophobia (by name!) at a time of unprecedented state violence against muslims. or the trans eliminationism they've been pushing relentlessly lately which has literally killed people. minor shit like yvette cooper and owen smith and dave miliband is merely embarrasing in comparison. this riskless water under the bridge shit will still be taken for bravery by those who want to believe

how about publishing known sex pests like michael white and nick cohen (tip of the iceberg) while posturing as some kind of feminist publication (in order to attack muslims, black women, sex workers, trans people...) - maybe we'll get a mea culpa for that in 50 years

Don’t forget Hadley Freeman defending Woody Allen on at least two occasions

i read the TERF’s woody allen article so you don’t have to: it’s execrable stuff pic.twitter.com/B1ka1ZJtJE

— wanton dialectic-haver (@sharcoal) May 29, 2020

forgot about that there's so much awful to keep track of. burn it all down

Observer:

It is difficult for a leader of the opposition to be heard so soon after the election of a new prime minister to whom voters delivered a resounding majority and who is broadly considered to be performing well. The expectation that Labour could transform its fortunes just 18 months after its historic 2019 defeat, its worst showing in almost 100 years, was always unrealistic.

Note: "broadly considered to be performing well".

they;re v quiet on the old observer today, but that whole editorial is an amazing exercise in putting your fingers in your ears

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/may/09/the-observer-view-on-labour-performance-in-the-elections-keir-starmer

There was no position on Brexit that would have avoided losing the party votes.

The Guardian / Observer / John Harris position of attacking JC for Labour failure, till someone else is Labour leader, then blaming long-term trends beyond the leader's control.

Meanwhile:

Internally, in the name of party unity, he has shied away from addressing hard truths with his membership about the need to speak from beyond the activist comfort zone.

These people have not noticed that he has deliberately atttacked and alienated most of his activists, and as a result of his actions there is no-one left to knock on doors, or even send the party a fiver a month.

they have noticed, they just want him to do more!

What activists?

Rawnsley has been well paid to know about these things for over 30 years

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/may/09/keir-srarmer-act-urgently-rescue-labour-from-plight

Thus, unlike most of us, does not notice that KS's Labour, rather than 'slowly bouncing back', has performed worse than JC's, nor that socialists have locally outperformed KS's Labour.

i think if you consider that rawnsley etc are not really being paid to do analysis but to craft a narrative you can read these columnists with different expectations

lol at them getting his name wrong in url

They just got it wrong in the wrong way!

This adaptation was sadly so bad that I had to turn off after 20 minutes.

Lucy Mangan gives it 5/5.

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2021/may/09/the-pursuit-of-love-review-absolutely-glorious

"comments (666)"

lol i read the first para of Lucy Mangan's review and thought 'no, this will be bad'. glad the pinefox has gone there so others don't need to.

Or maybe, just maybe, Lucy Mangan is right and the pinefox is wrong? Heresy on this thread, I realize.

If we're gonna be spoilsports I'll go straight to the part where art is subjective and thus neither the pinefox nor Lucy Mangan can be "right".

Lucy Mangan has never been right about anything in her life

In my experience there are very few exceptions where Graun critics give stuff 5 stars and it is any fucking cop at all. For me maybe some of the Classical music reviews have been spot on occasionally. See also Peter Badshaw, a film critic who is only slightly better than Commode and occasionally gets the gush over Nolan and other such waste.

This opening in today's @MarinaHyde piece about David Cameron has one of the best end-of-paragraph pay-offs I can remember reading. I've not even read the rest of the article yet, I just wanted to share the joy. pic.twitter.com/yZeTqYlVs2

— Peter Walker (@peterwalker99) May 14, 2021

Cmon man, that’s a pretty good joke from 10 years ago

a lame autocorrect joke is a great pay-off? it feels more hitting the bottom of the humour overdraft.

so desperate to get in there first, he posted it before even finishing it off... reading the Hyde column that is.

is david cameron a standup guy? he's certainly a complete comedian

give me her job

sorry Mark but that was very sharp but lacking the thermonuclear brilliance you feel when you've followed Hyde since 2009 and the memory of her comedically using rhymezone to such devastating effect for years has a cumulative hilarity to it.

you also have to do the thing where you say 'when i was at school we used to say...' (even better if you can make it like oh idk something famous from a tv show nobody watches anymore like friends) or some other fatuous setup at the ouset so that you can use an irrelevant pun/metaphor throughout the article. Something about how Cameron, having been shown up, is all skirt and no knickers (as we used to say at school). Commando Cameron if you will. (blah blah blah some stuff about how he hit up all the other little men in his platoon texting them for favours "I'll be there for you, cos your there for me too" - Not this time dave)

That's a good analysis.

Mark S joke quite good too.

"The government seems to be following the lead of the late, lamented Dr Frasier Crane (don't write in about Kelsey Grammer, kids), and wishing the population of Britain 'Good Mental Health'. I suppose after everything else they've tried over the last year, it's worth a go."

amazing number of 'don't think they'd take too kindly to you disparaging Shrek in the RED WALL' type responses to this

Shrek at 20: an unfunny and overrated low for blockbuster animation https://t.co/VgqMqEXbu8

— The Guardian (@guardian) May 18, 2021

This is what happens when a whole section of your newspaper is sponsored by Bill Gates. pic.twitter.com/lt1pAPYjm0

— Alan MacLeod (@AlanRMacLeod) May 25, 2021

I was going to say that one's old and I'm sure we've covered it before, but it's only from the end of last year so not that old.

Only saw it today but yes now come to think of it this topic has been covered.

I could have sworn there was another pro child labour advert in the Graun a couple of years back (definitely before 2020) as well, or maybe they just keep running the same one.

Chiles labour

he's bad again now, lock that thread!

nobody can touch chiles right now. he's been in a league of his own for several years, but he keeps pushing the ceiling upwards. a generational talent pic.twitter.com/KJDVL1Wp3E

— Stan Cross (@tristandross) May 26, 2021

I admit I love to hate read Mariella Frostrup's advice column, but this week's problem is a classic in unthinking privilege.

In summary:

The problem

I have reached the point where it all feels hopeless and I want to explore ways of feeling happier single, to quell this desire to find a mate. My daughter is the most wonderful thing to have happened to me but, growing up, it was a relationship I thought about and desired more than motherhood. I’d like to want that less, to spend less time thinking about it, to be happier with my lot and accept that I may live out my days single.

Is it possible to achieve something like this? To dial down my desire to find a partner and find a better life as a result?

The response:

In my 39th year, having failed to find a father for my hoped-for children, I decided to take advantage of what I did have, which was independence and solvency. For 12 months I forgot entirely about dating and instead sought stimulation elsewhere, a sabbatical in Brazil, an acting stint in The Vagina Monologues and a trek in Nepal. It was in those foothills that I met the man with whom I now have two kids. I am grateful to this day for my decision to stop seeking more and enjoy what I had. By default, it brought me everything I had secretly hoped for. Thanks for reminding me! And I hope that you find similar satisfaction.

lol is that trolling? omg

Really playing all the hits there!

Dear peasant,

Have you considered being #blessed? Don’t answer that I don’t give a fuck. Kisses, Marionella

"Thanks for reminding me!"

no need, the pleasure is all mine

Wow! It's like Marge's dream come true- for me! Isn't that great, Marge? For me.