Is the Guardian worse than it used to be?

never read her before but the article julio linked to above is witless eg "Radiohead and Björk, Ross's favourite examples from the million-selling end of the avant garde, are by no means the twin apexes of intelligent rock music."

'Pretty much anything' but this, then?

Would look at anything else of hers, as long as its not about classical or jazz - I am open minded like that. xp

Cultural journalists (if that's what she is) and non-music arts critics generally know nothing about classical or jazz or music in general

I wasn't reading her opinion as if she was trying to be an expert on a genre I liked, tbf, but I always enjoy her writing. Would commission.

to be fair, Labour could do worse than rebrand themselves Forgiveness Political Party

Sure. She made it clear that she was not an expert and I like that but I guess whenever I glance over a writer going on a jazz/classical excursion it is frustrating to latch onto and look for what you know and like in it, rather than have a go at different types of music for the unique properties it might offer.

Lost a lot of time to this http://random-guardian.appspot.com/

tried it and got the pavement article...

god that costner article is appalling....like she never once proves his motives are bad or wrong. i read that he has invested about 24m in this project, even if it is a heap of bollocks at least he's trying. also the southerners/incest line in it is just jan moir level.

This is good: http://guardian.gyford.com

ok wtf at this

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/lostinshowbiz/2010/jun/17/jordan-alex-reid-wedding

this column is bad enuf when marina hyde is doing it

idk why the guardian is doing lame whogivesashit.jpg celebrity gossip anyway

also, the gingham shirt done up to the top button... im just not seeing it

idk why the guardian is doing lame whogivesashit.jpg celebrity gossip anyway

Well it's either that or repping for a Tory government so they might as well become Now

idk why the guardian is doing lame whogivesashit.jpg celebrity gossip anyway

you don't? seriously???

It is a fair question really. How much impact do you think the Graun's Jordan coverage has on its circulation?

very little

pageviews, quite a lot

http://guardian.gyford.com/

i REALLY like this

i dunno. the guardian's celeb coverage takes a sort-of-not-really-but-really "we're above all this" tone (even though they aren't) which i doubt is that appealing to people googling "jordan". or are its core readers just getting thicker? ah, now i see it.

people googling 'jordan' aren't rly going to notice an 'above all this tone'?

"above all, tits" tone

you're thinking of img search, really

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/blog/2010/jul/02/welcome-to-guardian-co-uk-for-former-times-readers

This is very possibly the smuggest thing I have ever read.

News blog – most commented

1. 1. Lady Gaga tops 10m Facebook fans (44)

As this is a sales pitch, I've been asked to mention that the new Oxford Book of Parodies says I'm one of Britain's best parodists, dead or alive. You can work out which.

jesus effing christ

oh god just stopped reading now

if i were an ex-times reader i'd probably be getting out my bank card

£2 a week isn't *that* much

yeah

the times is shit tho

disregarding all the terrible blogs (easily done), the guardian website is pretty good

If I were a Times reader I'd be jumping ship to the Telegraph website really.

We've never quite understood your fascination with Giles Coren, especially as his much more talented sister Victoria writes for us twice (yes twice) a week, but each to their own

that's probably true

they both appear to be fairly dreadful ppl

lol ismael

we don't really "get" why you plebs like jon gaunt, especially as we have richard littlejohn

Victoria *is* nicer - friend has known her since childhood, friend is not fan of brother.

Victoria's pretty fucking obnoxious in her own right. And Giles is a better writer. But also restaurants >>>>> poker.

victoria is definitely the better (and more sympathetic) writer

though does ilx think anyone is a good writer anywhere? like even most of the mentions of marina hyde are people slagging her off

Marina Hyde is also kind of smug and not very funny.

you see? sorry if you don't think marina hyde is an incredible writer then we have very different ideas of what good writing is.

I think we evidently have very different ideas of what "incredible writing" is.

yeah m hyde can def write

As baronet's daughters go, I'll take her over Sam Cam any day.

like not thomas de quincey level but for sure better than david brooks or shaun custis

You know the reaction you get with stand-up comedians? That's the reaction I get with Marina Hyde.

^^observational comedy

i have even read marina hyde on f***ball, that's how much i love her writing

though does ilx think anyone is a good writer anywhere? like even most of the mentions of marina hyde are people slagging her off

I think the answer is maybe no! I get the impression people here find the column format pretty insufferable? (I do too but I don't read a news-source so it's not really relevant)

Her tone worked great for the political diaries she used to write. "Aren't these politicians ridiculous" is a lot more fun for me than "aren't these celebrities ridiculous." But maybe this is just a way of saying the better her subject matter the better she is.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jul/03/conservatives-cameron-labour-blair/print

There are columnists and writers I like a lot in the Guardian/Observer - David Conn, Will Hutton, Deborah Orr, David Mitchell, Nancy Banks Smith, Andrew Rawnsley has his moments.

What I don't like about Guardian columnists in general, and Marina Hyde in particular, is the combination of faux-mateyness and "we are so above this, aren't we?" Also she is NOT FUNNY, which surely is the point in the first place?

That said I don't think I can remember an essentially frivolous Guardian column annoying me as much as this crap Philip Roth from the Independent.

matt dc otfm

i did like marina hyde more back in the day, but seems really full of herself now. also giving a shit about celebrities/pretending to give a shit about celebrities/being ironic about giving a shit about celebrities/etc. is really something i don't give a shit about.

Piers. Morgan.