Why is Julie Burchill so obsessed with class?

[sundayrose10]

She is a huge Cheryl Cole fan because Cheryl is working class and hates Lily Allen because Lily is from a middle class background.

Most of her articles mention class. Why?

[ColonelBrandonsBiggestGroupie]

She is a moron imho. She and Tony P deserved each other.

[claig]

Because she is obsessed with herself and has a chip on her shoulder.

[Yekke]

Because she came from the working classes and now finds herself affluent and mixing with those who might once have been considered 'above her'? As far as I remember she is pretty much a self-made woman who went to Uni later in life. For some people no matter how much they succeed in life, if they come from the working classes they seem to be constantly aware of the differences between themselves and those they now mix with and often are quite insecure about it.

[Mumswang]

Because she is a crashing bore

[BornInAfrica]

Champagne Socialist - but a very clever writer. I love her work but don't much like anything else about her!

[Yekke]

Also, her Dad was a militant unionist or somesuch I believe? You surely can't grow up in that environment and not be class-aware.

[LineRunner]

She bullshitted her way on to the NME when she was very young and challenged the whole rock music establishment. She could be a grand dame of music journalism now if she wanted to be, but she seems to want to develop (futilely in my view) an 'edgy' status in journalism in general and so she finds lazy comfort in the class divide.

[sundayrose10]

I recently was reading her oldest son's interview. Confirmation for me that she is just not a nice person.

[claig]

She is an angry socialist class warrior. I think she is a bit of a pseud. But, having said that, she is very clever and livens things up with her views. She is a character, even if I disagree with most of her views.

[ThatVikRinA22]

so how many journalists in that scene are working class? julie birchill and danny baker are....who else (oh and my mates neice - she is)!

so how many people come from a working class background and stay essentially working class? media is a very middle class environment.

[ThatVikRinA22]

ds reckons most of her views are 'put on' anyway....

[razzlebathbone]

She's very good entertainment. I don't really care what she says, there's just a certain joy in reading it. It's often outrageously daft.

[ThatVikRinA22]

ds?? i mean dh. i doubt ds knows who she is!

[hester]

Because it's her USP.

[Yekke]

In some ways I'm surprised at the dislike of her expressed here. JB was, after all, one of the first to pull the Mail over it's anti-women views, particularly those held about single mothers. Then again she's pro-Israeli and I've noticed that this is not a popular view on MN. Neither, no doubt, was her decision to leave her son behind when she left Parsons.

[Rosebud05]

I don't think she's more class obsessed than any other journalist. She just talks about it in a different way ie raging SW polemics rather than 'whilst we were on holiday in the Seychelles blah de blah de blah'.

[atosilis]

Have you ever heard her voice? She is a playground bully and will pull the "izit coz I'm working class?" at the drop of a hat.

[claig]

Is Paul Morley working class? I think he is pretentious, like Tony Parsons.

[Rosebud05]

I used to quite like her column in the Guardian in a 'I wonder what she's got to say this week' sort of way, which is the exact opposite of the experience I have with Tim Wotshisface who writes the leader column at the moment as he actually churns out the same lot of bollocks every week.

[5DollarShake]

She has a massive chip.

But I enjoy her writing, even when I disagree with it.

[claig]

Julie Burchill used to write for the Daily Mail, as well. Pseud?

[claig]

What is Julie Burchill's opinion on global warming and climate change? I may have to change my mind about her, if she has got that sussed.

[suburbophobe]

People need to get beyond the class system, it really is SUCH a bore.....[yawn]

SO LAST CENTURY dahling!

[claig]

I think she is fantastic, always prepared to speak her mind. She gets a lot wrong, due to her angry socialism, but she is right about the greens and global warming, not like those global warming pseuds. She knows her onions, and defends the working class against the hypocrite greens. She challenged the green defender, George Monbiot, who is definitely not working class. Good on her. Her flaws are minor in comparison to her correct views.

www.guardian.co.uk/politics/blog/2008/aug/06/michaelwhitespoliticalblog217

[claig]

She has written a book called 'Not in my name: A compendium of Modern Hyppcrisy'. It sounds liek a must read, and the greens feature in it. She is a star. I hope the Daily Mail has her back again as a correspondent.