Is the Guardian worse than it used to be?

pinefox, that is a strange claim about anderson re: prose. I mean my only exposure to him are those endless lrb articles, but there's nothing really there that makes me think 'yes, a master'. Just seems to chug along, telling me more stuff, then more stuff again, then some more stuff. And then I forget the stuff.

and it was only about bloody Cyprus !!!

wtf is this supposed to mean you tit

i have mixed feelings. he's a comic figure in lots of ways. but 'in the tracks of historical materialism' is a straight-up jam.

of course in the matter of the greatest living English prose writers there is always your other favourite - Michael Wood.

Just bought this: http://www.amazon.co.uk/New-Old-World-Perry-Anderson/dp/184467312X

It has a WHOLE CHAPTER on boring old Cyprus, will soldier on regardless.

xp
ah yes I think we may just have wildly different expectations of good non-fictional prose.

another funny PA story: when he published a series of critical essays in the LRB in the early 70s on key conservative thinkers -- oakeshott, hayek i think, forget the others -- e.p.thompson sent him a note saying "these are rascals! please stiffen your tone"

The LRB was going in the early 70s?

started late 70s/ early 80s IIRC?

Maybe New Left Review?

just looked it up -- it's from pel's obit for thompson, in 93:

"‘What’s Perry up to these days?’ he enquired. Tariq mentioned something I’d written on conservatism in this paper. ‘Yes, I know,’ Edward replied. ‘Oakeshott was a scoundrel. Tell him to stiffen his tone.’"

no sorry yes it's the early 80s -- never spill coffee on yr laptop, i have to use a difft keyb for k, 7, 8, and 9 :(

scoundrel! even better :D

i think the essays were collected into a handbook of villainy

I once searched the LRB archive for PA and found a lot of stuff on conservatives around the early *1990s*, actually!

maybe that was what memorious Mark S meant, or maybe not

perry anderson's book of the sand

I think it is a general fact about PA - quite probably increased as time has passed - that he likes praising conservatives and right wing thinkers

the people he despises are people in Labour parties, social democrats, US Democrats, liberals etc

there may be a name for this phenomenon

PA's 1980 book on EPT himself is also magnificent

it's true that PA is comical

but then it strikes me that most great modern non-fictional writers are

because they have a schtick, they are so imitable, they become a cherishable caricature of themselves

Can I just defend the Perry Anderson article on Cyprus, and note that his stuff on Turkey should be read w/a Diamanda Galas CD in the background.

I have read all of those -- think all of the ones on Italy, France, Cyprus, Turkey, Germany (England isn't valid) were all put together in a book about the European project.

A project which might fall apart in the next five years so get in while you can.

He wrote an iffy sorta article on the Historical novel last month which was the basis for a fairly classic ILB thread, btw.

That book is the one I linked to above. Looking forward to reading it.

Oops sorry Neil was skimming through...

given perry's snobby hostility to the idea that aggregate political value can emerge from the stunted perspective of masses considered individually (absent the guidance towards class action of the great radical minds of the day viz p.anderson), it's quite entertaining that he thinks aggregate political value can emerge from the stunted perspective of nations and banks considered as class actors (absent any attention paid whatever to the great radical minds of the day viz p.anderson)

he is both learned and readable however, as landed conservatives often can be

Like him more in terms of learning -- always interested in which cultural bits he'll talk about (always films or books, but seldom music (of course)).

But yeah otherwise its a bit too 1984 at times.

Sometime in the modish noughties, between the denouement of Britpop and the advent of skinny jeans, the concept of ironic clothing was born.

aaaaaand stopped

Laurie Penny and Nick Lezard, together at last

it's gone up to £1.20

£1.20! what's with that

lol

I believe that Green Day are a good band

:ooooooo

i'm so glad i found a place to live which isn't that place to live

The pink hair is possibly a giveaway in that regard.

I am down with this hilarious sitcom idea if it includes a camero appearance by Julie Birchill and a scene when someone has to hide Zizek in a cupboard.

the pink hair is new, she didn't have it last time i met her

Oh yeah, I suggest "A Penny for the Guy" xp

#regression

They could do an episode where she joins the RCP but also has to get a job as a driver for DHL to supplement her journalism income. They could call it "Red Laurie, Yellow Lorry"

I've just noticed that going to guardian.co.uk now (from here in the US) redirects to guardiannews.com and the window title (that appears in the top of the tab) is 'Latest US news, sport and comment from the Guardian | guardiannews.com | US Network front | The Guardian'
All further links still go to guardian.co.uk/
P sure this must only have happened v recently?

Weird, here in Australia it's staying on guardian.co.uk. They're obsessed with penetrating America for some reason, so maybe they're forcing an awful "international" site on you much like what BBC News does now.

Oh yeah, there's a US portal now. At least you're allowed to choose.

US advertising money.

adblock plus tho innit

Adblock plus is the best thing I ever did. I haven't put it on the work computer and the US ads on the Guardian site are 'this one weird old trick' but for car insurance or something.

The AdBlock Element Hiding Helper extension (FF) is indispensable. It lets you hone in on annoying frames full of text ads, competitions, plugs for the site's other brands etc, and obliterate them completely.

£1.20. I didn't buy it today.

Was discussing the price rise in the pub with the missus tonight. Decided I would happily pay a subscription to the Guardian, providing it was hypothecated. Would happily pay £500 per year providing it went toward a salary for Nick Davies, Nancy B-S, Larry Elliott, Veronica Horwell, Barney Ronay, even Polly T. Would not want a penny going to, eg, Hadley Freeman, Tim Dowling, etc etc.

hadley freeman is offensively trite and a woefully muddled writer, plus how do you pay a fashion columnist who apparently hates fashion?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/mobile/guardian-kindle-edition

UK: £9.99/month, £0.99/issue
US: $9.99/month, $0.75/issue
Rest of world: US$17.99/month, US$1.99/issue

Undelines the Guardian's play at the US market. Hoping the ipad app won't have this sort of ridiculous structure but not confident tbh.

I bought it today. I had to root around in my pocket for a 20p piece, which was an awful thing to have to do.

Why are you guys reading Hadley Freeman's fashion column in the first place?

i remember the arguments in the letter pages when it went up from 50 to 55p

hadley freeman's written some great pieces of late. the one on nafissatou diallo, the dolly parton interview, the like a prayer post. also i'd think it fairly obvious from her fashion column that she likes fashion but thinks the fashion industry can be silly-going-on-appalling, which...is how most journalists think about their particular fields tbh.

larry elliott? just another economics writer who keeps the subject as clear as mud for me.