Liz Jones - I do feel a tiny bit sorry for her but she still has no self awareness

[QuebecBagnet]

Article in the DM today about how she's getting evicted from her rental cottage as the landlady wants to sell. Focus of the article is renters with no security - which I agree is an issue.

So she talks about how when she was made bankrupt she struggled to find somewhere to rent. Had to put all her nice furniture in storage. She has spent 59k "decorating" this cottage - new kitchen, underfloor heating, etc and has now lost all that.

I'm sorry but 59k would be a 50% on a 2 bed terrace in many cities in the UK. I don't know maybe she couldn't get a mortgage for the rest. Though surely she didn't spend all her savings on this cottage. And how did she have 59k if she was made bankrupt a few years ago?

Anyway the thing which really bugged me is she says women of her age have had it harder than "generation rent". Really? Had it harder when she had the opportunity to buy property (and did so) when it was a quarter of the price it is now. She spent years writing about her luxury lifestyle, her horses, trips to Paris, expensive skincare, expensive yoga classes.

I have limited sympathy for someone who has spunked a very good income on frivolous shit and moans about being skint especially when they continue to make shit financial decisions.

Still wish I knew who the Rock Star was. Was Jim Kerr the most likely suspect?

It’s a very good advert for the property - she’ll probably get some money back and it looks good in the DM photos. Better than in the estate agent ones anyway.

I have no sympathy for her whatsoever because she never learns from her mistakes and it is always, always someone else's fault that she is in the mess she is in.

Liz thinks she deserves and is somehow owed the right to live a lifestyle she just cannot afford. Liz could have had an extremely nice and secure life, her current woes are entirely of her own making and she's had more than enough wake up calls to change her ways.

Bloody hell...£59K on a property she doesn't own. That's just batshit crazy. Unless she's vulnerable for some reason, it's just irresponsible and spoiled.

I remember reading something she'd written about plastic surgery - she'd just had a face lift - along the lines of she couldn't believe how much she'd spent on anti-ageing products over the years, when a face lift was the only thing that worked.

I agree, she looks more youthful than she is.

I think she has many mental health issues; she comes across as deluded and almost unaware that other people exist. She moved to Yorkshire (I think it was) and denounced all the locals as toothless yokels in her column, and then seemed surprised that they turned against her.

There was also an irritating article where she wore a fat suit for a day and claimed she therefore understood what it was like to be morbidly obese.

Another column I remember (going back years) - she met up with some bloke she fancied, who had a girlfriend (she knew this, she gave him an acronym referring to the 'girlfriend'). He brought the girlfriend along with him, and her column spewed vitriol against this poor woman, saying that she was thick, young enough to be his daughter, boringly dressed etc.

Goodness knows what she was thinking of to spend an amount of money on a rented house that could have bought her a terraced house in some parts of Yorkshire.

My conclusion is that her issues override any common sense or self-awareness.

Had admitted it wasn’t Jim Kerr, especially as Jim Kerr had/has a partner.

I think she’s made him up.

*she admitted even

I remember reading Liz Jones' column in You magazine every week when I was in my teens and couldn't believe it when I found out it wasn't fictional! I couldn't believe it! Does she still write in You?

I read her first 2 column compilation books, the first one was great (about her marriage etc) the second was dull, about her menagerie of animals .
Is David still on the scene or did he escape!?

I do often think of Liz Jones' beloved Snoopy cat who died aged 24 after eating a daily diet of organic prawns. And whenever I put bath oil in the bath I think of Liz's penchant for an oily bath! I think she may have had a big influence over my formative years, although I could see even then that the woman has major issues.

Wasn't there speculation that the rock star was Robert Plant?

gosh she lived in an 8 bed house all by herself? I live with DH in a 2 bed flat and frankly if we weren't planning to have a child, i would not be moving to a 3 bed flat as we are very happy here. A bit annoying not having decent bike storage as we only have an ex bomb shelter as bike storage but not enough to justify moving...

Probably more likely to have been Wayne Kerr 😂

There are parts of the UK where you can still buy a home for £60K.

Sanctimonious tit.

It would where I live. Still plenty of terraced houses circa 100k and less.

Yes - you could easily get a flat for that where I live, and you can get a terrace for not much more albeit it might need decorating and not be in the poshest of areas. Better than being homeless, though.

Do people genuinely move to a place where they have zero connections just to buy a house. I am not against moving, i moved from asia to London when i was 19 years old and have lived in three different countries. But when I moved (for education/partner/work), it was for my own personal reasons and was unconnected to housing. I do own a property with my husband but if we couldn't have afforded to buy in London, i think we would just have rented and saved up money to buy a property in a cheaper location for retirement purposes (but in an area we would wanted to move to anyway). Perhaps in my home country where there are subsidies for citizens buying government housing but I would have had to buy as a single at 35 as my DH is a British citizen. But I would not move back to my home country to live in it, may just get permission to get renters in it until I grow old (and maybe at that time, i would feel more ready to leave London, but thats at least 35 years down the line).

I find it sad that people have to move to a place just to buy a cheap house. Different of course if you like the place as well and the cheap home is just a bonus.

Plenty in West Yorkshire:

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/125563757#/?channel=RES_BUY

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/128955812#/?channel=RES_BUY

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/128463314#/media?channel=RES_BUY&id=media3

She moved to Yorkshire (I think it was) and denounced all the locals as toothless yokels in her column, and then seemed surprised that they turned against her.

That was Somerset she also bewailed the fact that the small local shop did not stock Illy coffee and that the assistant in the shop looked like they had special needs (her words not mine) and much more besides and was shocked the locals didn't take to her. There was a column she wrote and it read like she wanted her London friends to come and visit her to join in the mocking of the locals rather like the Victorians visiting Bedlam to laugh at the inmates.

Liz then repeated the same sneery, dismissive attitude towards locals when she moved to Yorkshire - as I say never learns.

Oh dear, what a shame, never mind.

Whoever the 'Rock Star' is/was I think they took out some kind of injunction/sent a legal letter to her regarding the stuff she was writing in her column about them and other members/wives/partners in the group.

Whoever he may be he definitely doesn't want his name associated with her which doesn't bode well.

Not a scrap of sympathy, I knew Nellie the horses owner - Nellie went there on a retirement loan, as she needed to live somewhere with someone on site and the owner was struggling to find suitable accomodation for a sound but very old horse where she lived. LJ was looking for free horses to look after, and offering luxury levels of care.

LJ didn't look after Nellie well AT ALL and ignored instruction from owner, and then lied about her and berated her in her column and let her know Nellie had died via the column.

When we bought first time it was in town we had no connection with and fact housing was affordable was main draw. We were working in Manchester as young professionals and chose to buy over renting in fashionable area like Didsbury /Salford Quays. That set us on our way.
Lady in article appears to have no ties or family where she lives and has lived all over England but usually in expensive places. If you are freelance only needing to be in London occasionally then you can live wherever. Houses can still be bought for 60,000 in east lancs former mill towns.

I think its a balance. DH wanted to live in zone 2 (which is where most london renters live and probably hope to buy) but we couldn't afford the nice areas in zone 2. So we bought a flat in zone 3. I pointed out to DH he never lived in zone 1/2 anyway, always lived in zone 3 so it was good enough for us.

I can see moving out a few zones for affordable housing (but still reasonably near to work and family) makes a lot of sense. I find it really sad that people have to move thousands of miles for the sole purpose of affordable housing (or be homeless in their 60s). It shouldn't be a race to the bottom.

I mean, I wouldn't think its tragic if i had to buy a flat in St Albans (in Herts) instead of East Finchley as its still a few stations away from my MIL. Its a town we have zero connection with. Its 20 minutes to central london on the fast train. It just wouldn't have made financial sense as we would have to pay high transport fares and need a car on top of it so it was good we could afford to buy in London.

What a bonkers thing to do. We are renting while trying to buy a house, having moved from Scotland to England. Rent is £900 and I wouldn't pay a penny on anything to improve or add to this house.

loathe the woman ever since she tried to pass her dogs off as assistance dogs (I have a genuine one)

I've been reading Liz Jones for years. Very entertaining but you really have to take everything she says with a pinch of salt. Eg. On the property listing it says the kitchen and bathroom fittings are owned by the current tenant. It's madness obviously to have done that but I'm sure she'll be getting some money back.