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!!

I think you are right HeighHogh. But the correct answer in that case should always be "step away from your top of the line new model MacBook until you have a proper idea".

I also wonder whether she trawled all of her poor friends on Facebook for ideas first. The journalist friends-of-friends I know are forever abusing fb like that. At least I assume that they still are, as I have hidden most of them out of sheer irritation at being asked for the fourteenth time whether I know "a mother of 4 children or more who is willing to talk about how they feel judged by society!!!! It would be GREAT if they were in the NORTH!!!!"

Equity

I'm sick of Buzzfeed people adding shaming to the end of everything.

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

To be fair to the author, I think she's American and in most cities here (apart from maybe NY, Chicago and Seattle) you need to a car to get anywhere. There are some amazing running trails in the city where I live, but they're completely inaccessible unless you drive to them.

Yes to chronic overuse of "shaming". Shame is an emotion that comes from within. No one can make you feel ashamed unless you let them.

Driving AND going for a coffee.

Not even Fiji Water .

tediously self-obsessed columnists making up controversies

But that's all of them! Even the sport ones! Newspapers will have to go back to looking like this:

Why the fuck is she buying coffee when she's sweaty from exercise? Silly woman.

I love this thread. It has inspired me to go for a run tomorrow. Maybe.

In my sainsburys jogging pants and asda t shirt in case anyone cares. At least a decade old but barely used.

Yeah, me too Stealth. I'm going to go for a run and then grab a coffee, see if anyone sweat-shames me. Although they are more likely to middle-aged-lycra-clad-woman shame me.

Good luck both of you! Maybe take some little coffeemaid sachets with you though in case you are shamed/smiled at in such a way that you are forced to flee Starbucks/local generic equivalent without milk...

Wasn't it Helen fielding who wrote the t p-t column and then wrote the novel about it?

Why the fuck is she buying coffee when she's sweaty from exercise?.

I was wondering this. Coffee is the last thing I feel like drinking after I've done exercise.

Tara Palmer-Tomkinson was ghost-written by Wendy Holden. I would include Bryony Gordon and her ghastly mother who thinks she is Peter Pan in the list; one more reason for not wasting £2.00 on a paper.

Oh god yes Goblin! I really thought Bryony Gordon was a made up comedy character until one of my friends met her and realised that she really is the most self-obsessed person in the world (with the possible exception of a few crazy dictators who use 80 foot gold statues of themselves instead of mirrors)

Tediously self-obsessed reached its nadir with this little gem (also from the Guardian): www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/oct/04/i-married-myself-wedding

Yes, the columnist is writing about her marriage to herself .

It must be quite a challenge, deciding what ridiculous crap to write about.