Is the Guardian worse than it used to be?

Funnily enough, I quite like the Guide, partly because Joe Queenan and Byron Coley sometimes write for it, partly because it means I no longer have to buy that useless piece of toss Time Out anymore.

1. The simplification of the accusation may just echo what it asserts about the target (just as 'Dumbing Down' is a dumb, dull phrase);

2. If I don't like Triviality, why don't I read nothing but 10-page reports from the former Yugoslavia? It would be hypocritical of me to say that I simply wanted them to be SERIOUS and SOLEMN and RESPONSIBLE all the time. No, that's not it.

What I mean, I suppose, is that too many features, esp. in G2, now look dashed-off - half-hearted, half-baked, unconvincing, just cliché pies really. Today's Lara Croft piece was just the latest of a million examples. It feels (the terms are problematic here, I know) JOURNALISTIC in a bad way - trite, unconsidered, full of crowd- pleasing Received Ideas - rather than JOURNALISTIC in a good way (that is: dogged, resourceful, brave, mentally agile, snappy and what have you).

It's the world of second-hand Lifestyle phrases that bugs me. The way that adults can still write a phrase like "*that* dress" and not hang their heads in shame.

A rider to all my bile, though, is that my previous, more impressed impressions of the Guardian may just reflect youthful impressionability. (Sentence!) Maybe the same kind of crap used to impress me that now feels rubbishy, faux-zeitgeisty and embarrassing? Maybe, but I suspect it's a bit of both.

I agree about Queenan too. But most of all, I agree about Thomson. There's almost no point having a thread about Thomson, because people who know what they think about him already know it all and would just send in superlatives.

What the paper still has going for it: George Monbiot's column, the Diary, Steve Bell, giving review space to Ians Sansom and Penman, and the tv columns of Nancy Banks-Smith. (When N B-S finally pops her clogs I will have to think very hard about buying the paper.)

What is leading the paper ever closer to the abyss: consistently terrible pop coverage (honorable exceptions: Maddy Costa, Betty Clarke); the fatuous new Saturday mag (Zoe Ball on dressing? match the celebrity with the pet? that awful woman talking about words that should be banned??); Charlotte bloody Raven.

I agree with you there. They sucker you in with the G2 front cover (and the masthead of the main paper), but when you get to read the cover story it often appears cobbled together and lightweight. I imagine it must be difficult to fill that space with high quality stories day in day out though.

I actually like Peter Preston's awkward, staccato opinion pieces, come to think of it. But not the pompous ones of Hugo Young. Freedland is sometimes good at summing political issues up, but usually he 'sums up' too much - there's too much glibness in the way he marshals it all. (I admit again, though, that it's easy - even glib - to call someone glib.)

Penman strikes me as a red herring. I can see that he doesn't do that to you, cos you have some kind of investment in his career. I agree about Sansom (great left-back, mean penalty, blah blah) - in fact I think that the whole Saturday book reviews section is quite possibly the best feature of the paper. EXCEPT of course the footy. Heroes? How could I forget David Lacey?

BUT I think that you are wrong about N B-S. It doesn't surprise me that older folk make that judgement about her; it does rather surprise me coming from you. She has skills, I guess, but she's terribly repetitive; uses the same lines on the same topics year in year out. It's all too - yes - glib and easy, while dressed up to look aged and thus wise.

I only read it for the Guide and the job listings. Not that either has been particularly helpful lately... ;-)

There's a lot of irritating stuff, yes. My favourite columnist is George Monbiot, by a mile. Something I like about the Independent when I do get it is that its liberalism is less metropolitan and more about the common good. Needless to say, though, the Guardian's series of articles on public service under that very title were awesome.

Today's G2 seems designed to add fuel to my (f)ire: one page of 'Style' after another, including a column on Why We're So Disappointed That Madonna Employs A Stylist.

Also good in Guardian: John Patterson re. cinema.

oh god, ask hadley today is just... tooth-grinding.

"today"

"At what age is a man too old to wear band T-shirts?"

Martin McCall, by email

"About 15 - that young enough for you, Martin? And to follow one rhetorical question with several more, what in God's name is the point of band T-shirts anyway? To show your allegiance to a band? Do you think anyone else cares? To impress onlookers with your esoteric musical knowledge? See previous reply. To make people stare at your bony chest? Again, I refer you to the first answer. To show that you once attended a live gig? Wow, like, a pair of golden headsets to the guy in the Nirvana '91 T-shirt. In case you happen to bump into the lead singer on the street, he sees that the two of you are kindred souls and therefore invites you to join his band and you then go on the road and have all the manly bonding sessions followed by groupies that your heart could desire? OK, I'll give you that one, although this does suggest that you still harbour the fantasy that you might bump into Joey Ramone in Waterstone's.

"As for ladies in band T-shirts, give me a fricking break. First, gals, a badly cut, poorly made, oversized T-shirt is good for nothing other than wearing to bed and the gym. Second, too often women who wear band T-shirts appear to be going for what we shall call Groupie Chic. It is a style amply modelled by Kate Moss in recent years, and can pretty much be summed up as skinny faded black jeans, ankle boots, a ripped band T-shirt and a cropped fur jacket. In other words, a girlified version of Marc Bolan's or Keith Richards' wardrobe, as though the woman has been so busy, um, sleeping on the band bus she hasn't had time to clean her clothes, so she's now wearing ones belonging to her musical companion. This column has no time for such nonsense."

Yeah, because women have *no* interest in music whatsoever except for sleeping with musicians. What CENTURY is this cretin from?

I think I stopped wearing band T-shirts by the time I was 23. It wasn't necessarily a conscious move tho. I doubt I will ever wear one again tho - I guess it seems lame unless it's an old obscure or overlooked thus hip act (even this I dunno about). I don't notice many people over 20 wearing them. Does Matt DC still have that Save Ferris T?

I only want to sleep with musicians if they are hot as they are (their musical ability is pretty irrelevant in fact).

dear teh grauniad - a long time ago/we used to be friends...

It went downhill after I left.

or were you PUSHED?

http://homepage.mac.com/alexinnyc/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2007-09-02%2015.37.57%20-0700/Image-D15E03FF59A011DC.jpg

heh. (sorry alex, no harm intended)

http://www.abc.net.au/sport/thesportsdesk/images/200607/20060707henrydive_derblog.jpg

xp

i was being harsh really. i don't care what's on other people's t-shirts that much. just trying to work out why i stopped wearing/wouldn't wear band t-shirts myself.

Any t-shirt which isn't plain white clearly sucks that's why.

i couldn't agree less

I still wear band t-shirts if I like the band. Why not? I don't *define* myself or my personality by my music tastes any more, I haven't done that since I was about 18. But that's not the same thing as wearing a band t-shirt.

I suppose the fashion journalist in discussion cannot fathom the idea that clothes are just something you put on, rather than a definition of or statement about your personality.

This is definitely something that happens as you age - or rather, has happened to me as I aged. There's a subtle difference between Statement Clothes and just things you put on.

Guardian editorial worldview circa 2007:

http://www.astucia.co.uk/images/sce/galibier%20tunnel%20_three.jpg

why else would you buy a band t-shirt if not as a statement or definition of personality?

I didn't know it was a band t-shirt okay?

because you're cold xp

In the past I've usually just bought them as a keepsake of a gig I've enjoyed. The piece tracer quotes is idiotic fluff, obv. I'd be embarrased to admit I'd written that.

Because you like the design? Because you like the music? Because it was given to you (this is where most of mine come from)? Because it was a souvenier?

x-post

you wouldn't actually buy a band t-shirt because you liked the design but not necessarily the band tho...would you?

because you like the music = statement/definition of you/your taste

given to you = not you buying

you wouldn't actually buy a band t-shirt because you liked the design but not necessarily the band tho...would you?

No, plus I've only ever bought them @ gigs.

because you like the music = statement/definition of you/your taste

Probably yeah, but w/smaller bands there's also the knowledge that in buying it, yr helping to supposrt the tour.

i actually bought a comets on fire t-shirt solely because the design was so awesome. (it was at a gig, but they hadn't come on stage yet.) then i heard the music and i liked that too. i suppose if i hadn't liked their music, or thought it was boring, it would have posed a problem.

a friend of mine, who shall remain nameless so that alex in nyc doesn't stalk and kill him, bought a huge iron maiden patch when he was 14 and sewed it across the shoulders of his denim jacket. he had never heard a note of iron maiden, but he wound up becoming the biggest iron maiden fan i know, and even sung in a band later, where his vocal style was almost inseparable from bruce dickinson's.

my take on this: do not read hadley freeman.

this resolution made some time ago, stands as strong today as it ever did.

it's a crass and deliberately invidious piece of writing. such an attitude, if sincerely held, could be turned around on pretty much ANY choice of clothing. so forgeddaboudit

the last band t-shirt i bought - robyn!

alan i can't help myself, i know i'm sick and need help.

is there a thread for best band t-shirts? must see

Taste is something that I have. It does not define me. Clothes are something I wear. The statement I am making is "I don't really care about clothes any more."

If I'm going to make a statement about clothes, I'll wear a bright green paisley jacket to a dronerock festival where everyone else is in leather.

I suppose my Hawkwind t-shirt is a statement, it says "ha ha, I'm wearing a Hawkwind t-shirt, I care nothing for fashion, I am wearing the shirt of a band so deeply uncool you can suck my left one because I love them!" But it's certainly not a statement saying that I want to f*ck any of Hawkwind or that I have a musician boyfriend whose Hawkwind t-shirt I'm borrowing, which is the assumption of that article.

> I don't notice many people over 20 wearing them.

*SOBS*

> you wouldn't actually buy a band t-shirt because you liked the design but not necessarily the band tho...would you?

EAR t-shirt with the putney on the front = great. EAR live = terrible. (EAR on CD = ok, plus pram and stereolab were supporting)

As I said elsewhere FUCKING HELL

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/jul/29/a-moment-that-changed-libido-richard-ashcroft-on-stage-the-verve?

15 nights at the Fringe

I’d lost my libido – then I saw Lord Ashcroft on stage and it came bursting back.

You too, Tom?

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/aug/02/five-couples-separate-money-diaries-revealed-all-partners

He hates the term “digital nomad”; it’s a sentiment shared by Lara, who learned Spanish on moving to the city and participates in local housing protests in an attempt to mitigate her impact on gentrification.

Several of these awful couples are doomed

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/aug/07/could-uk-ever-run-out-of-water

The headline of this article was amended on 7 August 2026 to refer to England and Wales, rather than the UK. Also, the average usage of 139 litres of water a day is for people in England and Wales, not in the UK as stated in an earlier version; and the 47bn kilolitres of water extracted from the environment in 2023 was in England only.

... still the headline on the front page though.

mind your own fucking business m8

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/aug/09/the-hill-i-will-die-on-earphones-music-humanity-headphones

You can c+p that for everyone of those articles, just pure shite.

If this twat had to travel on public transport every day he would soon realize there's not enough earphones in the world.

it's cunts like him that i'm shutting out

music of humanity christ alive. yes ofc my bad my central line journey in the morning is pure koyaanisqatsi.

Turn off that ventilation system — you're removing the perfume of humanity

that noise on the central line cuts through all headphones, no noise cancelling can touch it

victoria line too

Maybe, because it’s none of your business.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/aug/13/taylor-swift-has-put-her-love-story-out-there-so-why-wont-she-let-us-see-her-wedding-dress

A Polly Filla who is actually called Polly…

Is that one of those "Fake name" bylines?

No, she is real - Miranda Sawyer had her on a podcast recently.

Cheers.

Daughter of Robin Corbett, Baron Corbett of Castle Vale

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brtcb-DmuuA

He was chairman of the all-party British Parliamentary Committee for Iran Freedom

Lol. What a shame he missed these times. Past is prologue etc.

Miranda Sawyer - I remember reading her book on midlife crisis and thinking how much she really needed to get over her fixation on the 90s for her own mental health. Since then we’ve had a Britpop book and a 90s podcast.

Come on, the living she makes from recounting those days is a lot more on point than reminiscence by some of our male peers. She probably has the best contacts book of ‘90s people and hasn’t made enemies or written in a self-serving way so if someone’s gonna make bank from those times, might as well be her.

Bless.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/aug/17/young-people-brexit-burnham-europe-opportunities

I wonder who she's related to.

The guitarist in Echo & the Bunnymen?

No, his two girls are Alice and Greta.

i really liked this piece:

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/aug/19/a-moment-that-changed-me-my-husband-died-and-birds-began-behaving-strangely-towards-me1

typo in that link

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/aug/19/a-moment-that-changed-me-my-husband-died-and-birds-began-behaving-strangely-towards-me

i think it's obviously true that other animals can sense when you're wounded. this happens all the time with pets, for instance.

https://www.theguardian.com/gnm-press-office/2026/aug/19/a-statement-on-guardian-journalism

Looks like the interactions with Jason Arday began a year ago (when he approached them?), then they spent a year/months investigating what exactly?

They then publish as he becomes a story?

This statement isn't adequate.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/sep/05/marina-hyde-guardian-columnist-answers-readers-questions

Clearly, politicians are worse than useless. Who would you pick as prime minister?
Eric, Newton Abbot, Devon
JK Rowling.

I think the one about Thatcher is worse

marina hyde does not understand how the media works, her career is contingent on her never understanding this

There are still some heavily invested continuity Corbynites out there who will imply that two or three critical columns I wrote about their absolute boy had something to do with him losing his second general election on the bounce in 2019. To which my reply would be: “Yes, dear, I’m sure they talked of little else but my columns on the doorsteps of the ‘red wall’. 

this "red wall" is a concoction of the same spectator garden party crowd and not a real thing, and yet

she is assuming that older swing voters in semi-rural northern constituencies are not the people reading her columns, does she think it's all coal miners up there? has she actually thought about this?

she understands how the media works, i assume she doesn't lie awake at night wondering why somebody pays her to share her thoughts about politics

she's performing a part, whether she really believes it or not I don't know, and not sure it matters.

she understands how the media works, i assume she doesn't lie awake at night wondering why somebody pays her to share her thoughts about politics

yeah this was my response too. shes v clearly confortable operating in the media ecosystem. about the only good thing about her is that she serves as a useful bellewether for dogshit opinions you will encounter among supposed liberals. she really is the worst and while i get mildly defensive about US people going “rainy terf island”, which ofc isnt rong - it’s just “other people saying stuff look to yself” irritation - MH really is the best example of that criticism. great vehicle for media nastiness and the way the middle mass coo over her is revolting.

A journalist embarks on a wild good chase that might – or might not – be informative about the male condition

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/sep/08/the-castle-by-jon-ronson-review-bizarre-tales-of-modern-masculinity

wtf is a wild good chase?

wild goose chase

grauny old habits

34m ago
14.28 BST
As voters head to the polls for primary elections in New Hampshite, Some Democrats worry the Granite State could become a sleeper risk – a state where Republicans control the legislature but haven’t won a Senate race since 2010, when Kelly Ayotte, the now-governor, captured a seat.

lol good one

Marina Hyde is leaving the Guardian.

It's now 1% better lol

Correct

Leaving to focus on the JKR4PM campaign now that she’s gone off Nigel

Two headlines on the front page of the Guardian website use the phrase "slam dunk". I have to confess I had to Google whether this was a good or bad thing.

A couple of things struck me about The Guardian today. Firstly, they've managed to run no less than four articles about Sydney Sweeney:
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/sep/14/sydney-sweeney-prediction-ad-sports
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/sep/14/ariarne-titmus-comments-sydney-sweeney-sexualising-womens-sport
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2026/sep/14/a-double-entendre-in-every-crevice-what-beyond-near-naked-tennis-is-sydney-sweeneys-game
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/sep/14/sydney-sweeney-advert-global-backlash-what-women-in-sport-look-like

I'm reminded of the time the newspaper decided not to speculate on Taylor Swift's sexuality by running four articles over the space of two days denying that they were going to speculate about Taylor Swift's sexuality. To make things worse they don't even have a high-resolution gallery of the offending images of Sydney Sweeney, especially they one with her in a basketball hoop. Elsewhere they do have a print-quality image of the cover of Kylie Minogue's Fever, so obviously they can get hold of high-resolution images, what with them being a legitimate former broadsheet.

Secondly I was struck by this article, written by someone who appears to have swallowed a wasp:
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2026/sep/14/dream-uni-bedroom-insta-glow-up

I know we're supposed to play the ball, not the man. But the really does look as if she has swallowed a wasp. I've seen a person swallow a wasp, and they look just like that. Notice how I say "a person", because I'm not sexist.

The article is Your dream university bedroom: how to get that Insta glow-up. Why did it annoy me? I was expecting a load of adverts for £150 soaps and tips on how to shave some money off Le Creuset pots, and also tips on how to turn your student room into a podcasting studio, but to my annoyance the advert is all relatively sensible. So I can't even be angry about it. And that makes me angry.

Guess what Marina Hyde's column today is about?