Is the Guardian worse than it used to be?

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.

that goes against all of Daniel Johnston's advice on finding true love. i don't know who to believe.

Just went for a swim in a river. What happens now? Do the Guardian contact me directly to write an article?

— Olly Barratt (@ollybarratt) May 31, 2021

doesn't he require a reference to a spare flat in London and a pic looking smug as fuck in a huge designer kitchen as well?

Guardian shilling for office landlords *again* today pic.twitter.com/ZAJ3ZEdWRi

— Horse (@bojack90s) June 3, 2021

I LITERALLY quit my job at The Guardian because of rampant transphobia.

I loved that job, the digital team were absolutely amazing but I had to leave 😭 https://t.co/uzaLbEA4UH

— Jessica (@bananapixelsuk) June 6, 2021

It's Mariella Frostrup's last column for The Observer this week.

Another trek in the foothills of Nepal coming up?

Didn’t see a reference to last column in the Observer - but I guess she’s busy with her newish Times radio job.

the story xyz linked to is also the subject of a particularly foul comment piece by sonia sodha

which i will not be linking to. i should learn my lesson to stop clicking guardian links on a sunday.

idgaf btw if matthew parris 'one of the founders of stonewall' thinks supporting trans rights is 'extremist.' despite taking their name from a historical event led by trans women, stonewall has a long shameful history of refusing to represent trans people. anyway fuck the nasty vindictive press of this country

if these people gave a shit about women's shelters they would be angry about austerity but they don't and its so fucking obvious and its infuriating.