to think Libby Purves is a ponce

[Coddywhump]

in teh FABBO BACK times2 they have " a letter i wish id written" and hers is to " my oxford tutor"

rollseyes

and that makes her a ponce how exactly?

Some one who procures prostitutes?

That's a side of Libby I have never heard of before.

I really like Libby Purves - she's intelligent, articulate and witty.

So she went to Oxford. So what? Would you have more respect if the letter was to her polytechnic tutor?

It's just inverted snobbery.

?

Libby is intelligent even funny

Sha has little time for non ambitious people.

Its in the jean Libby, leave them alone,
takes all sorts.

Another big name lady. Gabby Yorath-Logan,

shes in love with luxury. Missed the boat by not being born a Princess.

Gabby is not forthcoming like Libby. She hides
her views but it doen not wash. Gated house...gated mind, alas. Try and talk her out of it.

does she need to say "my oxford tutor" get over it lady

given what else she has achieved I think it highly unlikely that bragging 'I went to Oxford don't you know' is her motivation for phrasing it that way.

rolls eyes back at Cod.

I like Libby Purves. Lay off.

she's lovely makes me wish I was 15 years younger and a BBC employee so i could be her friend

Ebay here I come!!

Oi! Come back here with those!

YABU. Libby Purves is intelligent, witty and compassionate. One of my favourite people on Radio 4 and I used to enjoy reading her pieces in the Times before they started charging!

I also really like Libby Purves. I don't have a problem with her mentioning Oxford at all.

I can't understand why anyone would?

I like her too.

Oooooh, I don't like her (she is smug) and I know her a teeny tiny weeny bit in rl.

I hate Libby Purves. I bet she thinks we are all boring people. She is only interested in you if you sailed single-handed round the Cape of Good Hope whilst riding a unicycle. Or if some distant relative was a member of the aristocracy and you can re-tell their amusing tales of smuggling or stealing the crown jewels or some such high jinks.

It's not been all plain sailing for Libby - her son committed suicide several years ago, but she is professional and carries on.

I must say everyone I know who went to Oxford goes to desperate lengths to say 'oh when I was at oxford' as much as possible.

didn't that horrible victoria derbyshire run off with husband aswell. I like libby clever and funny whats not to like

No, it was Fi Glover's husband who left her for Victoria Derbyshire.

Libby is married to Paul Heiney.

I remember reading her book How Not to Be the Perfect Mother or something, and most of her parenting tips seemed to be predicated on the fact that she could take her baby into work and stick it under the desk while she was on the radio. That's fine but we are not all lucky enough to have jobs where we can take our children into work.

I can't forgive her for two things.

A radio debate I heard where she said the children of single Mothers are less likely to succeed at school because " the mother's boyfriend is lying on the sofa watching Sky television all day, so they can't do their homework" I was a single parent at the time and was incensed

And a cosy piece where she exhorted us all not to need the luxuries of this world, but to be happy with the small things like our home, our family, and "the boat on the Norfolk Broads". Well, fuck me, I'm missing one of those.

I liked 'How not to be a perfect mother' I have the revised version. pmsl at some bits of it. I didn't know about her son, thats really sad.

I don't see why she's a ponce for writing that.

To be fair, she probably wrote "to my tutor" or "to professor thing" and the subeditor changed it to that to make it more name-droppy. I think she probably is quite insulated in terms of money, but she has certainly had a hard time of it, and yet she keeps on working, writing, being a generally nice person IMO. I went to a talk she did once and she gave some excellent careers advice/encouragement as well.

her piece about the tutor had a somewhat wistful tone, suggesting she wishes she'd been better at keeping in touch and expressing her gratitude for numerous acts of kindness. Her son committed suicide, which I'm sure colours everything she says and does. I think when a loved one dies, those left behind have a deep sense of life's conversation left unfinished.

I just think what she says in her column resonates from her private life.