To think that the Guardian's standards have really dropped lately

[paintandbrush]

like within the last 5 years or so. Once you look past the unbearably condescending tone and amount of PC bollocks, the quality of the writing is so poor! ie. mix-ups between to/too, stuff you would expect an intelligent 12 year old to be capable of.

I appreciate it's hard for papers to survive these days but seriously, it might help if they employed someone literate. Hate to admit it, but I've really enjoyed the Spectator's free trial thingy lately despite not being that much of a Tory. It's nice reading the scribblings of witty, educated journalists who've actually been paid.

It used to be Guardian vs. Times, now it's just sunk into Guardian vs. Daily Fail. Caitlin Moran had the right idea jumping ship.

PS add Nancy Banks-Smith to the list of brilliant Graun writers. She is peerless.

Urmee Khan is, presumably, speaking as a second- (or third-) generation British Pakistani, and feels that Zayn Malik represents the aspirations and goals of that generation. Is that problematic, somehow?

Not really, but it's a bit embarrassing, isn't it? Pakistanis aren't the only established muslim community in Britain, are they?

She comes over as an opportunist and it's equally opportunist of the Guardian to have given her space.

Why didn't she seek an interview with Zayn Malik and more importantly, why didn't they ask for it? People on MN are quick to talk about lazy journalism - well, here it is.

I doubt whether they paid her for it though, which says as much about them as it says about her.

It's not going to set the world alight, no, and it's a bit of a puff-piece but I think the Guardian's doing its best to hear from a variety of voices and speak to a variety of people. By contrast, all the Daily Fail writers have to do in their articles is to confirm their readers' prejudices, and throw in a bit of health/immigration/education scaremongering for good measure.

I think the Guardian's doing its best to hear from a variety of voices and speak to a variety of people

Hats off to the Guardian and to their readers. Have they not heard of Muslims who've been living in Britain for some time and don't all come from a Pakistani background?

Check out this article

Well, it's a stupid bit of click-bait, but most newspapers would be half empty if you took out the stupid sleb journalism and braindead opinion pieces on "cultural" issues. The guardian is somewhat less guilty of this than most.

And Urmee Khan is, according to her profile, not a guardian journo (her previous Graun article was in 2007) but a BBC and Daily Torygraph writer.

I find the Sunday Herald in Scotland is a good alternative to the Guardian. I'm a long time occasional Guardian reader but often find it smug and think it tends to overdo coverage of some issues and ignore others and want to tell me what to think.
Its inability to intelligently debate the fact that many feminists are unhappy with men deciding they are now women just because that's what they want to be is also high handed.
Scottish politics is also completely ignored.

The Guardian just did my head in with its continual pieces written by ethnic second generation immigrants telling their stories of how their Fathers came with tuppence in their pockets. But how they had now themselves have become successful in whatever field they are in and have some cunty blog about the food of their Fathers birthplace, though they live in bloody Islington, drink lattes and have never worked in a field in their lives but their Granny did.

Now that is exactly the story I could write but what I hate is all the pant wetting liberals thinking they are enlightened because they read it. Plus as much as ethnic minorities face racism which I have personally experienced I have had a lot of advantages over my ancestors.

I also hated all articles by men with the "Look, I'm a Dad who wears a baby sling, aren't I great and enlightened". No you are just looking after your kid you fucking tosser.

The Guardian was my paper of choice for 20 years but the last time I got one was free in Waitrose and I used it to line the cats litter tray.

Oh I can't bloody stand that bloke who bleats on about Fatherhood as if he is the only male in the world to ever change a nappy. He really is a navel-gazing bore. Private Eye has an excellent cartoon called 'It's Grim up North London' which very neatly skewers this kind of attitude.

The Zayn article is just ridiculous though because Zayn isn't Muslim. He's half-white/ half-Pakistani. He grew up with his (white) mother and rarely saw his Muslim father.

As a celeb, he is known for repeatably cheating on his fiance, taking drugs, throwing strops, and looking moody. What kind of role model is that for anyone?

It was the 'kafir' reference that was really excruciating. Presumably an attempt to be 'down wiv da (extremist) kids.

What next - an article with a Catholic kid talking about how to explain Christmas to the heretics or the infidels?

Safraz Mansoor is pretty cringey when it comes to that kind of thing. The way he writes about his English wife and how when he met her he thought she was going to be just a "blonde distraction" and being understanding of his family's refusal to attend the wedding. I imagine the ethnicities reversed; not such a heartwarming story.

Oh God. He got a R4 series out of it too.

I find him full of unthinking male privilege. A member of my extended family who comes from a similar background to him was treated far more harshly for "marrying out" because she was female. Like Safraz Mansoor she had a mother who never learned English in 40 years in the UK and who discouraged her kids from getting too close to English people but is not quite as rose tinted about it as he is.

God that's one of the articles that has stuck with me over the years. Also some dreadful ones recently by a young journalist who turned out (surprise!) to be Alan Rusbridger's daughter.

The level of nepotism displayed by the paper is ludicrous but then woe betide any OTHER institution who just picks generically untalented well connected oxbridge kids to fill it!!!

Same way that it's headquartered in the Cayman Islands but made a big deal of the Panama Papers.

Oh god, I don't want to be a total bitch but does anyone remember poor Max Gogarty?
www.theguardian.com/travel/blog/2008/feb/14/skinsblog

No one could ever forget, shins

I know! The Guardian throws a strop every time someone 'connected' is hired somewhere else, yet their own opinion writers are a merry-go-round of peer-kids!

This for those of you saying there's no difference between the DF and the Guardian - this is what the gutter looks like - oh snd yes the article about EMs father

Simon Hattenstone's excellent article on the election for London mayor:

www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/apr/30/battle-london-mayor-dirtiest-fight-zac-goldsmith-sadiq-khan

An absolutely engrossing piece by the biographer Alexander Masters on how he came to write a new biography about a person whose diaries were found discarded in a skip:

www.theguardian.com/books/2016/apr/30/diary-somebody-148-lost-notebooks-life-discarded-alexander-masters

A moving and illuminating piece by Patrick Kingsley on Syrian refugees building a new life in Europe:

www.theguardian.com/world/2016/apr/30/syrian-refugees-one-year-on-patrick-kingsley

All those pieces are from yesterday (Saturday's) newspaper. I challenge anyone to find an article a tenth as well-written, interesting or informative in the Mail as any of those articles.

hackmum yyyy but no doubt someone will be along shortly to link to a rubbish article in Family which clearly will wipe out the value of all the articles you mention ( and which I've had time to read as I'm ill in bed)

I hardly ever read the Guardian any more but I really like Simon Hattenstone. I'm about to eat dinner, but I'll save his article for afters

The Hillsborough article was excellent.
I enjoy the Money section as I think the consumer advice is very good.
I also quite like Sali Hughes - the obvious brand sponsorship puff articles aside.

This article in the Observer today was very moving:

www.theguardian.com/football/2016/may/01/hillsborough-inquest-survivor-adrian-tempany

That Masters piece is quite extraordinary, isn't it? Also, I suppose, why I've never kept a diary.