to not understand appeal of Caitlin Moran writing for The Times?

[ARealDame]

She always has at least a couple of articles in The Times on Saturday, including her TV reviews, and seems to be heavily promoted there at the moment.

But I often find her writing cringeworthy e.g. this Saturday TV reviewing The White Queen headlines "She Makes Ingrid Bergman look like Someone Stuck Tits on a Turnip". Last Saturday, reviewing exactly the same programme (did anyone at The Times notice ?) the review headlined Battles, Castles and Tons of Fruity Historical Humping. Is she just being crass/offensive for the sake of it? And I find so much of her writing self-adulating plus impossible to make any sense of, a jumble of thoughtless sentences stuck together ... almost like a teenager on speed.

It seems a shame when The Times on Saturday has some enjoyable journalism e.g. the often brilliant Janice Turner, Matthew Paris, Giles Coran, plus some great review stuff of the Arts.

My heart just sinks when I see her bylines and picture. AIBU ?

'And what was the name of that other dark-haired woman who used to do a lot of interviews of celebs? Gah! She looked a bit like Sarah Brightman?'

Chrissy Iley?

I liked Zoe Heller's Telegraph column directly after 9/11 riffly.

I thought it was outstanding letter about life in NYC, and it wasn't just me because it won awards.

It also pissed off Richard Littlejohn who sniped about someone 'who writes about waxing minges' when Heller beat him to one of those prizes. Bitter, much?

Littlejohn is someone from an Essex working class, straight-from-school background like mine.

Should I admire him as someone who's done much better than I have in monetary terms and prolificness, or should I call him as a pernicious twat who writes about the England he used to know from the millionaire comfort of a gated community in Florida and an addiction to re-runs of The Sweeney and Only Fools And Horses?

It's so hard to know what to think. Thank goodness for media commentators who tell us.

"I only pray you look fookin' magnificent yourself."

I do.

You really are dyed in the wool Fleet Street hey limited

You don't have to be a media commentator to know mindless jealousy when you read it.

Boo hissss.

Hurrah for you Twatkins.

I hope you earn as much as Caitlin too. Winner!

I earn more.

bravo Twatkins

I hope I am a regular reader of your work too.

Other than here of course!

I do look rather magnificent, now you mention it.

lottapianos You named that tune in one with Chrissy Iley. Wrote with outrage about her horrid little dog being rejected as the horrid little dog in a Lloyd Webber production. I don't think even Sarah Brightman ever scraped those levels of lunacy.

Of course it might have been the kind of hilarious in-joke the Sunday Times magazine is keen on, that the vast majority of us plebs don't get. Or she might be a bit strange.

I don't think Sarah Brightman is a lunatic btw. I think it's the perils of being a woman with a commitment to her art who's divorced from a rich, eccentric and differently-talented man that people want to keep in with.

I find her a bit try-hard - all the gurning (seriously, why?!) and banging on about drinking and smoking and eyeliner and 'hey I'm so cool, I talk about vaginas' gets a bit tedious.

But if you can get past all that I think she's very astute. I guess she could be described as a bit feminist-lite but compared to many of the pointless Kardashian-esque role models around for young girls today I think she's OK.

She does herself a dis-service with her manner imo (the description of her as the school show off is spot on) but I guess it's helped her build and maintain a high profile so she's not going to stop now is she?

I take your point about being a regular reader snooping.

The beauty of writing op-ed pieces is being able to conjure them up from the contents of your own head in short order rather than doing the slog of door-stepping and research. Which is like, proper journalism.

Sometimes you don't have to go to the trouble of thinking of things for yourself. Features editors ring you because they know you've had breast implants/wear fur/took drugs and are generally ker-razey.

I learned that a long while ago. It frees up so much more time than when I had to put in any leg-work.

I like Esther Walker (aka Mrs Coren). I read her book recently and though her attempts to subvert the 'North London yummy mummy' stereotype she may or not herself be now came across as often forced, it was generally an enjoyable read. But I was a bit iffy when I read her recent Standard feature about testing expensive buggy's and pram's, though I'm more annoyed with the editor who thinks that her readership has a typically huge disposable income.

And I agree with Cutitup and Handmini about Twitter. Some of the 'Twiteratti' clearly spend a lot of time on there so invariably you get a good sense of who they are based on what they tweet to their followers and what they reply about. As we saw last year with C.M, I.K and Grace Dent, sometimes they come across in a not-so-nice way.

'Wrote with outrage about her horrid little dog being rejected as the horrid little dog in a Lloyd Webber production' Such gruelling lives these columnists lead, eh? Truly heartbreaking stuff

Someone upthread mentioned the MN webchat with CM. How on earth could I have forgotten!!! The fawning was indeed both shameless and stomach-churning. I thought CM came across as totally charmless and massively irritating. There wasn't even a hint of a thank you for the MNers who had bothered to message her questions and heap tons of undeserved praise on her. To use a favourite MN word, she acted very 'entitled'

I absolutely loved Grace Dent (and still really enjoy her writing) until I heard that she threatened to get some poor bloke fired because he made some admittedly very rude comments about her appearance.

I steer clear of Twitter myself but apparently CM never responds to mere mortals on there, only celebrities

Yes it was Chrissy Iley I was thinking of thankyou Lottapianos

*I grew up in a council house too. I was educated at state schools. Neither is a badge of shame or glory.

I agree that most people in professions do not come from privileged backgrounds. I didn't. There should be more of us.

But it doesn't mean I have to praise people I don't rate who didn't go to Oxbridge or share my genital arrangement any more than I have to think Boris Johnson is a genius for quoting memorised lines from fairy stories*

All of this post is truly brilliant. Do I sound like CM? Irony.

p.s. forgot to clarify it was limitedperiod's contribution that was so good. I also grew up in a council house, I mean so what, it doesn't make me a heroine if my writing and/or integrity is in question.

Whichever bitter journo started this thread, get back to your dull, conventional crap. You're the type I skip over* How I laughed at this. A bitter journo?! . Maybe I'm Giles Coran !

Who is Sarah Vine, as OP I've been accused of being her? I will check. Maybe its a compliment .

Sorry, third post.

Sarah Vine is Michael Gove's wife. Surely shum misshtake Ed?

Well, you learn something new every day .

I think she's funnier than any up their own backside Commentator/academic
The types who drone on about paradigms and waves but wouldn't know funny if it stoated em
Caitlin is a funny top bird

if it stoated em - arf, classic SM

Sarah Vine writes about make up.

What interesting conversations she must have when she and her husband get home at night

No deadlines today ARealDame?

Just wondering....

You seem heavily invested in this thread snooping. Why's that?

Lottapianos you should have seen the fawning on the Richard Bacon chat. He commented that his life hadnt changed that much since the baby arrived and that he often goes out and leaves his patient wife at home with baby.
If that had been a non famous bloke posting the same thing on the Relationships board he would have been verbally roasted on a spit.
Also gives a real insight into why the sleb mags sell so well and who is buying them.