Is the Guardian worse than it used to be?

holy shit

sadly not it seems

We’re really passing off a factual claim that a performance of The Wall was Nazism now? RFK Jr is bad enough as is, why this need for irrational hyperbole? It’s too broad of a pattern to be just one commentator’s misguided hot take isn’t it.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jul/19/robert-kennedy-jr-racist-antisemitic-xenophobic-views

Earlier this summer Kennedy touted a meeting with Ice Cube, a rapper who issued bizarre antisemitic tweets, and publicly defended musician Roger Waters, who was embroiled in controversy after donning a costume intended to evoke Nazi attire at a concert in Germany.

As the son of former attorney general Robert Kennedy, and nephew of former president John F Kennedy, Kennedy has caused one of America’s most storied political dynasties with his toxic views.

Guardian sub-editors, never change

Guardian politics liveblog on by elections states:

Ian Dunt, the political commentator and author of the superb How Westminster Works … And Why It Doesn’t, has posted a good thread on Twitter arguing that what is really significant about the byelection results is what Uxbridge says about how easy it is to mobilise opposition to environmental measures.

Superb.

It's also rubbish. The candidate did sing their tune.

oh word? https://t.co/WCiPQ6S0nW pic.twitter.com/hfjNkDFpZs

— skibidi war OSINT guy (@ElonMusgraves) July 21, 2023

"we gotta be more ecofascist" -- Labour 'strategist'

I know I know, Toynbee, but nonetheless *retch*

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jul/21/misery-sunak-glee-davey-joy-starmer-our-panel-byelection-results

Thought this was hilariously bad from Gaby. Burning bodies can't vote.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jul/20/green-revolution-cost-of-living-crisis-heat-pump-car

Sure, but the Tories are betting that right up until the bodies catch fire, they can be persuaded to vote against their interests, and I'm not sure they're wrong.

The article's main point seems solid - "go green but pay for it yourself" is a canny way for them to pay lip service and shift the blame.

This is the main headline today. What a disaster that focus groups have dominated our politics.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jul/29/i-realise-how-serious-it-is-voters-in-england-support-action-on-climate-crisis

Telling ppl 'no you can't have your square metal box you cunt' is going to turn out really badly for all of us.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/aug/03/sheryl-crows-20-greatest-songs-ranked

What the world has been crying out for.

lol i wonder if the writer watched the same totp rerun I did

I feel like maybe 20 songs is too much for anybody, just pick a tight karaoke 3

20 songs is just "I really enjoy this artist's work, listen to all of it"

Observer article written by a Spectator editor contains the statement that KS

"will benefit from leading a party that tends to see criticism of the leader as deeply disloyal".

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/aug/13/keir-starmer-gender-politics-labour

Isabel Hardman is a Vichy white feminist who married a sex pest; what are the rights of the women who accused her partner of this, only to see him leave the Labour Party to escape tribunal? How did they feel when that little fucker got ennobled by Boris Johnson (who has been shamelessly cruel to the women he’s been through)on top of that? And if she’s given frank feedback about this in public, how long before she cries abuse?

You're correct, Suzy. The whole story is grotesque.

I hope Fleet Street burns to the ground and takes all those gender critical pricks with it.

One thing that particular, bad article above (again, by a Spectator editor, for the Obsever) makes me think is: UK 'conservatism' and 'liberalism' are now not very distinguishable. They're like friendly neighbours who are happy to pop in and out of each others' garden parties. Real opposition doesn't exist in this world.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F35YE_mXMAAPnuB?format=jpg&name=medium
They need to pension Polly off to Tuscany. Writing this about the baby killer nurse jfc.

to me almost all writing about violent crime is disgusting and useless

And exploitative. Same goes for 'true crime'.

yeah, the exploitation is why i find it disgusting

A couple of locked twitter accounts have been carefully casting doubt on this conviction. I haven't followed it closely myself, but watching Polly (who probably fired that article off from Tuscany) and some others go on about this, when this could be quashed down the line, is something.

I don't know if it is possible to write a piece articulating the doubts is possible, but these people think of themselves as sharp, independent thinkers.

"she didn't look like a killer" = "I expect them to fit certain racial and class profiles because I am a bigot" because otherwise what does a killer look like?

it's the stuff of zone 1 lib dinner conversations, oh yah doesn't look like a born criminal at all.

A couple of locked twitter accounts have been carefully casting doubt on this conviction. I haven't followed it closely myself, but watching Polly (who probably fired that article off from Tuscany) and some others go on about this, when this could be quashed down the line, is something.

justice4lucy.com looks available

https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2023/sep/02/gareth-southgate-englands-most-polarising-figure-is-just-sticking-to-football

I know Southgate's answer to Henderson was not good enough (and as pointed he could have easily gotten rid of him), but it's not exactly a great spectacle to see melt man from terf rag dancing on his grave either.

Vote Labour.

"We're all trying to find the guy who did this" https://t.co/H5AtBhuWHI pic.twitter.com/bPmzHieeoN

— Tom Blackburn (@malaiseforever) September 6, 2023

i love the "might appear desirable" bit, poor idiots are mistaken about their own best interests

Article in which the author is exposed to the awful conditions delivery drivers work under and the sub-minimum wage pay they receive, acknowledges that companies take advantage of undocumented migrants to keep labour costs down and then finishes with this line. Liquid Guardian. https://t.co/FORxIo0sXp pic.twitter.com/GBWBJN0RgA

— Hats fan account (@bluenilehatsfan) September 15, 2023

is "liquid x" a thing now?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uJC3pcEVUU

Since 1994

i'm familiar with the ref. hadn't heard "liquid <not football>" before though.

guardian pie all over his face

Another week, another Sonia Sodha article in the Observer

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/sep/17/teachers-need-guidance-to-resolve-issues-gender-identity-in-classroom

bigotryisfree

It’s a TERF talking point to read the Cass review rn

I kind of wonder if there's anyone at Guardian nervous about articles in the opinion section reading as reporting - the one 'I' in there was "parents I talked to"

fair dos to Marina Hyde for looking back at what she said about “Sachsgate” at the time and not liking what she sees

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/sep/19/brave-victims-russell-brand-misogyny-deserve-full-support

It's ok until she recommends a book by Sarah Ditum, apparently a notorious TERF/SWERF.

ahhh fuk i knew there had to be a catch

of course there's receipts

Kinda glossing over exactly how you covered it at the time a bit here aren't you pic.twitter.com/wQ0oS8sL58

— Rob Incognito (@MrPostsGood) September 19, 2023

fucking yikes

you have to make some thorny choices sometimes when your job is to be the most celebrated and utterly hilarious arch-cynic columnist in the UK and regularly impress some of the worst people in the country.