Is the Guardian worse than it used to be?

speaking of

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2016/oct/06/diversity-is-a-boon-but-were-losing-our-sense-of-community?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Giles Fraser ‏@giles_fraser Oct 5
I'm a committed socialist. But I definitely prefer Tories to liberals. That's why I like May's speech. She is the anti-Cameron

um, ok then

oh good, accelerationism

at least it's an ethos

I don't think that Fraser is really an accelerationalist, he's on more of a blue labour/red tory kick, and has been for some years now

it's the utter confidence and authority with which he spews this shit

I always enjoy a good Giles Fraser Thought for the Day, by enjoy I mean marvel at the fatuousness of.

I MEAN THE PROBLEM WITH YOUR ETHNICS IS THEY KEEP TO THEIR OWN KIND, DON'T THEY? THEY DON'T WANT TO LEARN THE BLOODY LANGUAGE.

Trust is good, but not trusting outsiders is bad. Diversity is good but lack of cohesion is bad. Friendship is good but not the kind you get on the interet. Business likes diversity but business is bad - right? The past was ok but we don't want to go back to the past. Crikey, this is confusing, no wonder poor Giles can't work it out.

Brexit and the new mood in politics is misunderstood as a hostility to outsiders, though it is easily purloined by racists. Rather, it is a cry for community, for togetherness, for the local, for mutuality, for social solidarity. Theresa May, the vicar’s daughter, wants to find all this in a return to the past. That’s the wrong answer. But at least she’s answering the right question.

what an unfortunate misunderstanding, thank heavens Giles is here to set us right! is there any case for "Lexit" that isn't based on this "ppl say they hate foreigners, but what they actually mean is that they agree with me" wishful thinking? (aside from accelerationism, I guess?) iirc correctly during the referendum he was pro-brexit but also said that we should have *more* immigration?

ime lexiters broadly believe that 1) the eu has become a fundamentally neoliberal institution & 2) the single currency is a recipe for disaster. which is kinda hard to argue with tbrr, but imo it's a long unconvincing road to 3) therefore the UK should leave it

larry elliot voted leave "in order to shake things up" well be careful what you wish for mate

There are also leftwingers who are against freedom of movement because it's part of globalisation, treating workers as resources who are expected to move around the continent as capitalism requires. Job low paid or non-existent? Get on your bike and move to another place where you're more in demand.

never feel lower than when giles fraser is trolling me with his hobbit morality in 2016

Larry Elliot is really beginning to piss me off...I had been a fan of his columns for some years, but he's now writing crap like this:

Will dearer food and the coming squeeze on living standards will prompt a change of heart about Brexit? Remainers should not bank on it. Life has not been great for many in recent years anyway. What’s more, Britain is a country with a streak of cussedness that delights in having its back to the wall.

Britain is a country with a streak of cussedness that delights in having its back to the wall.

Pretty sure that can't be England he's talking about.

Pixie geldof interview: frowns on paparazzi, links to salacious paparazzi pics.

paper edition doesn't have any papped photos.

Yeah they should offer the bonus content to those who actually pay.

Free glossy pamphlet of pap shots.

page 44 of the magazine "Nearly everything in the house is secondhand" says the owner of Aerende, which will sell you, on page 47, a £185 duvet cover and a £7 bar of soap.

https://www.theguardian.com/membership/2016/nov/09/with-trump-victorious-time-to-support-fearless-independent-journalism

Jesus Fucking Christ. I think I would genuinely prefer one of those 'Cheer yourself up with a gingerbread latte!' offers.

rolling thread of shaming PRs who make omg-eyecatching references to the election results to promote their artist shite fucking paper

Naomi Klein entering her Scott Adams phase

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/nov/09/rise-of-the-davos-class-sealed-americas-fate

I thought the article couldn't be as crass as the subbing made it out to be, but I was wrong

Jesus Fucking Christ. I think I would genuinely prefer one of those 'Cheer yourself up with a gingerbread latte!' offers.

lol you stole my criticism!

Did you actually say that? Not consciously nicked, honest, but it's the sort of thing that sticks around.

https://twitter.com/rmkf/status/796278820546482176

That shit is everywhere right now in fairness.

it is insufferable tho, all day on twitter today and yesterday

xpost, yeah! awful.

From the other thread:

Hillary is definitely going to delete this email

<liveyourc✧✧✧@yplan✧✧✧.c✧✧>

That's the kind of guy we want leading the free world

(BIG GIF OF TRUMP AT WRESTLEMANIA)

Have you ever taken out Vince McMahon live on WWE? Nah, didn't think so. Have you ever set up your own university? Oop, no, you haven't. And I bet if someone gave you a small loan of a million dollars you wouldn't even know what to do with it. Sounds like Donald just clotheslined your libertarian, democratic opinions right out of the window.

But seriously, before you go home and start building your own wall around your property to keep out all the post-apocalyptic raiders you'll be fighting off after the nuclear war, maybe go out, take one last gulp of fresh air and hit up some the hotspots in London we've been stockpiling for just such an eventuality. Believe us – these are the memories you'll cling to after all else has crumbled in the wake of WWIII…have fun!

Just gonna take my mind off the rise of fascism by standing around a gas burner eating a £12 burger while some twat plays a Gorgon City tune.

the thing is, I actually did go out last night - so maybe they're onto something. the place i went wasn't tweeting at me.

Yeah I mean I'm exactly the same, but that kind of marketing is almost guaranteed to make me want to go almost anywhere else.

The Guardian using it as yet another opportunity to rattle its begging bowl is a terrible look as well.

yeah i unfollowed anyone who made posts like that.

at least the Guardian isn't publishing "sensible", best-of-all-possible-worlds leader columns arguing that Trump might not be so bad, like the Times:

Britain in many ways is well positioned from his victory. With a Scottish mother and investments north of the border, he has far more affinity with and affection for these islands than Mr Obama. He has also said that Brexit Britain will be at the front of the queue for any trade deal. Mr Obama had said that the United Kingdom would go to the back, a policy that is very likely to have been followed by a President Clinton.

As a political neophyte, Mr Trump will have to operate as delegator-in-chief. He must surround himself with experienced advisers, especially at the Treasury, State Department and the Pentagon. And as a businessman it is not unreasonable to hope that he will promote competence over ideology.

Washington’s checks and balances remain in place. Congress may be Republican but, if it endorses irresponsibility, the party will pay dearly in the 2018 mid-term elections. In the meantime Mr Trump has vowed to govern for all Americans, including those dismayed by his victory. His first job as president will be to prove their fears misplaced by showing more restraint and generosity of spirit than we have seen so far.

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/comment/american-revolution-jv3bsjzj2

Being Scottish is OK now, is it?

http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/media/woman-chooses-coffee-over-safeguarding-guardians-future-20161121117565

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/nov/27/photographs-of-historic-england-challenge-downton-abbey-myth?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

"challenge"

excavations-of-neolithic-settlements-challenge-flintstones-myth?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

sure going to enjoy that coffee this week.

I have bought the Guardian today.

How is it, compared to how it was at some point in the past?

well, there's no manchester edition any more...

pinefox if coffee's not your thing then maybe hot chocolate or herbal tea- lot of places have quite a range now

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CyRbHqsXgAA1bsT.jpg

Amazing

Davictoria Cormitchen at your subservice.

verily, a take hotter than the earth's core

does not fempute

I like buying and reading the print Guardian. It mostly comes across better in print than online. Nowadays it is also like a tiny gesture of financial support.

Tim: that's really the nub of the question, isn't it, in many ways?

I think the answer is: it is in many ways as good as it was - say 10 years ago - but has gradually cut back so that various things it used to include are no longer there.

But this could be a good thing from the old POV of 'there is too much in the paper, I'll never get through it!'

- especially as I try to read the whole paper, or all of it that I can deem worthwhile.