Is the Guardian worse than it used to be?

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.

there seems to be a threatening tone to Sodha's piece, like step in line with liberal establishment bigotry Gays, or we'll strip away your hard-won rights next. Because that is the rules of the game. Not that I've read the fucker!

fuck stonewall forever

some of these people do give enough of a shit about women's shelters to threaten for being inclusive & are more than happy to get them shut down by if they can. these are the same people who enthusiastically support deporting migrant women for prostitution. in fact it's hard to think of any state violence against women they don't support, for feminist reasons ofc

It’s dismal, uk “liberalism” is a busted flush

This is what infuriates me about “circular firing squad” talk, I am soft and would love to believe there were a fruitful coalition to be made with a putative “soft left” but the reality of stuff like this makes it frankly intolerable. Along w the hate there’s a real cowardice to it, like if we go along with the targeting of trans ppl (or GRT or whoever) surely we will be left alone, which a) reprehensible b) dream on pal. The very idea of solidarity is seen as a bit silly to these fucks, indulging them is a hiding to nowhere

Then they will tell us that you can't win elections by believing in anything

Cunts

One thing I’ll say during my sad-about-town today I saw lots of ppl out for pride & I do have the sense that my and younger generations are way more onside & will see this “I’m just ~concerned~ about the safety of women, real women I mean” garbage for what it is

wins otm.

and i share the hope. frankly people i know just laugh at it.

stonewall finally got its act together on trans rights about half decade or so ago, which is why the whole uk establishment (including the guardian) is currently trying to tear it apart so i can't get behind 'fuck stonewall forever'

before then though my impression is it was pretty dreadful & it's not like it had a good track record even on gay rights, up until 2010 it was actively lobbying against gay marriage for baffling reasons - not some sort of principled anti-assimilation stance, it was all nonsense about "it would cost the taxpayer too much", "gay people don't even want it" etc.

otm

'fuck Stonewall' is a no when the right-wing press are trying to beat them up rn.

For #PrideMonth the UK press has declared all out war on @StonewallUK Europe's largest LGBT+ rights advocacy charity. These are just from the last 24hrs. There's been a negative article nearly every day in June. As in the 80s and 90s, the UK press are out for LGBT+ blood. pic.twitter.com/RRW7Ik80gs

— David Paisley (@DavidPaisley) June 7, 2021

not just the press of course, the government is completely on board too

This is two years old but I just came across it.

https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/society-and-culture/with-cancel-culture-political-correctness-has-indeed-gone-mad

"With “cancel culture” political correctness has indeed gone mad".

Former music journalists are bad vibes man.

— The Trashies (@TheTrashiesUK) June 6, 2021

I listened to the
You're Wrong About episode on Political Correctness yesterday which was pretty interesting. Hadn't quite taken in that the term's original usage was either a derogatory external descriptive or an ironic one used by people who were aware of the irony. But that goes into where it came from and how the idea was mainly abused. Had just viewed it as something that never worked because it ignored the dynamic nature of exchanges and people being aware of ironies so a kneejerk set of rules was absolutely wrong but it addressed an existing problem. Just seems to have been a label pinned on people who were quite happy with the abuse