To think AA Gill must be the most joyless journalist on the planet.

[Vintageclock]

He just moans and drones about everything. His restaurant reviews are almost unreadable and he seems to make a point of despising the kind of television programmes that the Hoi Polloi love. Why doesn't he just go and live on top of a tree someplace where he can look down on the rest of us, lip curled with total disdain.

I find Zoe Williams otiose, though I am grateful to her for introducing that word to my vocabulary. It's one of her favourites.

Zoe Williams is great. I don't rate Grace Dent though.

Alexa Chung actually looks ill in the flesh.

I'm liking your inside information Nancy - more!

Am totally shocked at the level of bitchiness on here. I thought all you mummies were sisters under the skin - even if you are all jealous and wrinkly old hags. Alex Shulman and I are old friends and she has a hugely-paid job in the meeja unlike you lot who just spend your time slagging off more successful women.

Sorry Nicker! Fervent apols to Adrian.

Alexa Chung looks like a young woman gripped by an eating disorder. Her thighs are the same width as my forearms.

I like Schulman. She is real. But again Nicker don't make the rather lazy assumption that our criticism is born out of envy or jealousy. I cannot speak for all the women on here but I have a great career which I enjoy and have been very effective within. I am certainly not jealous.

As for Sisters Under The Skin that is lumping women together and acting as though we are one amorphous mass. You would never use the phrase 'Brothers under the skin.'

LOL at Nicker.

This thread is making me very happy, and we haven't even got as far yet as Barbara Ellen, India Knight and Bryony Gordon.

I don't just spend my time slagging people off; I have a badly-paid meeja job too

Have just checked and haven't found any wrinkles either. And nor am I am botoxed plastic faced 'Mummy' like some I could mention.....

Bryony Gordon

The person who thought working on 3am was about going to lovely parties rather than the relentless slog of going from one soulless venue to another to be insulted by no-marks and then to have your newsdesk scream at you for having no stories?

I've met Shulman too. She seemed nice and wore a lovely dog-hair-free dress.

But her Mail column was badly-written and beyond bizarre.

When I read Lorraine Candy's witterings I wonder whether executives are reading it too, because I doubt the readers are.

I wonder how much it costs. But then the Mail has money to burn and prides itself on having fabulous writers, even if that's patently untrue in many cases.

All power to Candy's elbow, but it seems a waste of money, unless it tests really well.

I somehow doubt it because she never gets anything like the pick-up that Shona Sibary does.

Limited If you want to watch money being burned, read Sarah Vine's column. It seems to be being ghost written by an eleven year old. I truly cannot believe she is being paid to write about dogs eating her shoes (as I may have said already).

I have read some of Alexa's writing for British Vogue and it wasn't too bad actually. However what her copy looked like pre editing may be very different. She did comment that she loses weight when she is under pressure and talked openly about the sadness of her break up w/ Alex. I find Hadley Freeman pretty vacuous. Kind of a pot and kettle situation there.

I feel sad about Hadley Freeman, because I think she's probably a really nice person. She's just not a very good writer.

Actually, I don't know why that makes me sad. She obviously got lucky.

She's certainly being positioned for other things.

Why oh why is the 'talent pool' so small though? I am so tired of the same old, same old columnists spread across the print media. Surely some of them have some talented offspring they can promote ?

They're staffers. Cheaper to load them with more work than eg approach excellent hacks currently carving out a substandard living in SE London, to mention just me a few...

Also loving this thread. I like Lucy Mangan. But not that other one, Cavendish.

The Guardian lot are beyond awful.
All armchair politicians.
The writing and views aired on MN are more perceptive, original and amusing than anything in a newspaper which is why it seems the site is trawled through by journalists and quoted endlessly.

Moon Exactly. However Lucy Mangan clearly did her research on MN for last Saturdays column because she mentioned labial dye and there was a thread on that not so long ago. I read her and did the MN >.

No sorry, can't bear her.
Smug so and so who mistakenly thinks she is a politician.

Chunter, chunter motherinferior from a different bit of London.

Marking place to comment later when read all posts.

I really like Lucy Mangan, she often makes me laugh out loud and in her defence the labia dye story was all over the internet last week. Not to say she doesn't pop into MN for inspiration though.

The last India Knight thread mysteriously went poof. People must be watching...............

Where would all these female columnists be without their families to witter on about or celebs to slag-off? None of them ever says anything erudite, original or even interesting. If I have to read one more paragraph by that irritating woman with the badger hairstyle, Moron or whatever her name is, I shall need a lie-down with Ade while he reads me bits from the Best of Sophocles.

Come on Nick It can't be that bad ....

I'm no fan of CM. Not since her vile 'Mentals' comment in sly support of Indolent Knight who is the poster girl for snide Mentalist comments.

I enjoy A.A Gill's wrIting. Verbose sometimes, I agree, but his way with words most of he time s marvellous - he is generally a terrific writer and I don't ever remember not agreeing with him about a TV show I'd also watched. His observations on what the 'Tristrams's commission are always 100% spot on.

Loved Coren's article on Saturday on fashion. I'd have loved to have seen Laura Craik's face when she read it.

Darling India can do one. Her column on mental health last year was disgraceful.

Love Kathryn Flett, though her fiction book wasn't’ too good. Down to earth and seems very approachable, same with Sally Brampton.

Can't stand the miserable Cammy Long.

Love Viv Groskop and Liz Hoggard. These are two women who need to have tow columns, not I.K and Moran.

Has anyone read Hadley's recent book?