to want a cull of tediously self-obsessed columnists making up controversies

[EquityDarling]

like this woman:

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/sep/30/sweat-shamed-waited-for-my-coffee-at-starbucks

Someone smiles at her while making a casual remark about her having worked out (wotabitch!!!), she storms out without putting milk in her coffee and has time only to name-drop her expensive brand of workout wear and boast about how far she has run before banging out 500 words of poor-little-me victimhood. I am a proper old liberal leftie, and completely believe that any civilised society should embrace and support writers and thinkers but I just want to line up people like this and shout GET A PROPER JOB!!

You're right limitedperiodonly, I think most people do write for CiF for free hoping to use it as a shop window to get a paid gig.

And the best TV bloggers tend to be independent of newspapers. I watch Strictly and the Apprentice purely because I LOVE the Mighty Monkseal's take on them: monkseal.wordpress.com/

And that's where the feminist= chippy offence taker trope is from.

The Guardian has Sarah Hughes commenting on Game of Thrones. She's brilliant. She knows everything about the books and the show but makes it clear that her blog is strictly about the show so won't tolerate book bores trying to spoil it.

That's not much of a problem now the show seems to have caught up with the books.

She's funny and posits theories and invites other people to comment with no superiority and discusses with them. She even admits it on the rare occasions when she makes a mistake. She's very rare.

Thanks for the Monkseal recommendation OP. I don't watch Strictly but I do watch The Apprentice and haven't found anyone any good.

That sounds good limited. Will look her up. I agree, it's a genuine willingness to engage with the audience instead of show off to them which makes for an interesting blogger.

My thoughts exactly Seriouslyffs - people like that do "the cause" no favours.

Hope you enjoy it Limited. I should say that he doesn't blog along with the show (although he tweets a bit) but posts a day or two after each episode.

For. Fuck's. Sake.

I have seen it all now.

I live in London, read the Guardian, sometimes go out for overpriced hipster coffee and even own some poncy branded gymwear. I'm basically the dream audience for this kind of thing. But even I am like this .

Fuck me, she's really scraping the barrel, isn't she?

Our poor shamed heroine can't even seem to get her story quite straight, though: first she muses on how the woman must have based her comment on her wet hair, later she decides it was because she was sweating. Which is it, mate?!?

But anyway, basically, get a life.

LOL @ herb shaming!

What a daft woman...sweat shamed my arse!

Oh yes, Monkseal is AWESOME about Strictly. He does the Bake Off and Sewing Bee too.

why run 12 miles and still need to drive to wherever you're going?

YY Worra though I know someone who can run a marathon in about 2hrs 40 mins who gets a train from Central London to beyond Richmond and runs back along the river. It's about 20 miles and he says it's a nice run (I'd see running 20 miles as torture) and he does it to break the boredom.

Nice to find a fellow monkseal fan OnlyLovers. I was so happy for him when Erin Island turned out to be REAL!!

Agree with Equity re journalist and politicians getting a proper job first.

As for this one...she was sweaty, probably smelly and standing in a food and drink place. Probably put everyone off their latte. Get a shower first you selfish woman!

Thanks for the Monkseal recommendations. I enjoy the Guardian Strictly blog actually but will check out this other one now too

YANBU. But by the same token we'd also kiss goodbye to tedious bloggers who pen "open letters" and most of mumsnet...

I think it's a pretty open secret now that TPT was 'helped' with her column by a well known and very funny journalist, who is no stranger to the concept of irony, equity...

Stupid woman and her stupid musings on feminism. How the hell does she go from some random woman in a coffee shop queue making idle conversation to pass the time to linking to the struggle for female equality.

Sweat shaming ffs.

Yeah, forget domestic violence and the general abuse of women that goes on day in day out across the world Forget women who have no idea of, or a chance of equality, let alone a chance to sit on their arses being over paid for writing drivel. God no.

Sweat shaming! Now that really is an issue.

Hmmmm, interesting comparisons Maryz and Beyond. I suppose even in the context of CiF, I would have slightly higher expectations of writing that is published on a national newspaper's website. I think an editor still needs to approve copy before it goes online, even if they give it no more than a cursory skim.

With messageboards or blogs you know what you are getting is unmediated and adjust your expectations accordingly.

Yes, I'd heard that too CalonDu. That column was hilarious sometimes, but I am beginning to wonder whether the joke has backfired in a big way since the column has become the prototype for the next generation of columnists (most of whom seem to have missed the joke entirely..)

In the same way, Nathan Barley now looks positively prophetic, as Shoreditch abounds in cereal cafes and popup tediummongers. What with that and the pig I am beginning to suspect Charlie Brooker of having psychic powers.

Oh ffs no yanbu. How dare she been made conversation with while she's sweating!

I was so happy for him when Erin Island turned out to be REAL!!

NO! Really? I missed that bit.

This original article would not be out of place on a MN AIBU thread.

And here it is. It has finally found it's spiritual home. Like a homing beacon, home to roost. Bless.

Yes OnlyLovers! Erin's last dance in her last series was to Club Tropicana, at Wembley with the set dressed as the gayest desert island you have ever seen. It was a truly beautiful moment (reminds self to get a life)

I think she was really, really struggling to come up with something to write about. And ended up with some navel gazing, stealth boasting.

I don't remember that, Equity, but how utterly glorious.