Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To ask how Liz Jones has a career

75 replies

BewaretheIckabog · 30/12/2023 20:09

She seems incredibly self-centred but lacks any self-awareness.

Her writing is poor and her use of punctuation is interesting.

Does she have any serious journalistic background or does she just write ‘woe is me’ stuff in the DM?

She’s not witty, self-deprecating or funny and does not seem to have any opinions, convictions or interests that readers would follow.

OP posts:
AnaNimmity · 30/12/2023 20:12

She was editor of Marie Claire I believe, so yes, I’d say a relatively credible jouno background.

Id agree she’s a divisive writer, but I guess that’s rather the point of her?

Kitkatcatflap · 30/12/2023 20:14

I used to like her, I even bought the Devon diaries book but she seems so uptight and bitter. It's like she has a glossy magazine version of how her life should be but it never happens. And apparently the rock star boyfriend was a lie.

ANightmareBeforeChristmas · 30/12/2023 20:15

Yes, impeccable credentials as a journalist. Not my cup of tea, but here we are discussing her, which is what her job is all about.

witte · 30/12/2023 20:17

She lost me years ago with Jim Kerr

PuffyShirt · 30/12/2023 20:19

I don’t mind her. She seems terribly wealthy. Does she do more than her diary thingy?

ANightmareBeforeChristmas · 30/12/2023 20:29

The last time I was reading her column, some years ago, she was claiming to be hard up and about to be evicted from a cottage she'd spent a fortune refurbishing. It seemed extremely short-sighted to spend money doing up a rented cottage with high end designer fitments (lick of paint, sure, but new kitchen, no). I guess she must earn well as a journalist whose name is so well known - she's published books and probably got a celebrity-level advance on them.

andHelenknowsimmiserablenow · 30/12/2023 20:34

She has a career because she doesn't hide away anything about her life. She carries on blithely doing things and making decisions that will lead her into bankruptcy, owning loads of horses and dogs, but still travelling meaning she also has to hire staff to look after them, but blaming everyone else for her lack of money. People like reading about her, like they do about Katie Price - so they can judge - Most people in the public eye show only a version of themselves and are polite about others, but she is, here I am, I hate this person, that person, I had bad sex, I had this surgery... its what sells.

whitebeads · 30/12/2023 20:36

I read a little of her column years ago and couldn't bear it. Dull and totally self absorbed. I agree with you OP.

Amplissimo · 30/12/2023 20:37

Well... we're reading her work, aren't we?

So she's obviously doing something right.

Ostu · 30/12/2023 20:39

Lots of people slow down for a view of car crashes.

Bigcoatweather · 30/12/2023 20:43

I read her columns very occasionally if there’s nothing else of interest. I swear nothing different has happened in over a decade - overspending, bitterness, animals, woe-is-me. Quite boring.
I’m not sure why, when there are so many talented and interesting writers out there, she is given priority.

Woush · 30/12/2023 20:44

The last time I read her column was when I bought the daily mail as an actual newspaper. Must have been 10-15 years ago.

I did enjoy her column - on the basis that she's a car crash waiting to happen.

I also liked the column by the journo who had loads of kids (4?) and a great dane dog. Can't remember her name, blonde hair, was it someone Candy?

tothelefttotheleft · 30/12/2023 20:54

witte · 30/12/2023 20:17

She lost me years ago with Jim Kerr

Did she actually date him ?

Lilacanemone · 30/12/2023 20:59

I gave up reading her column years ago. It was like ground hog day. Depressing, repetitive and somehow grubby.

QueefofSheena · 30/12/2023 21:02

Haven't read anything by her for years but I used to be on the threads about the pretend rock star boyfriend. The consensus was that she made it up, heavily hinting it was Jim Kerr. He was in a relationship and IIRC sent a cease and desist.

I seem to recall she lost her country pile due to not bothering to pay tax.

JacketPotatoQueen · 30/12/2023 21:06

I enjoyed her podcast, but after saying it was going on a break, it didn’t ever return. Not sure why?

ConstitutionHill · 30/12/2023 21:24

Long article on the RS saga here:
www.standard.co.uk/hp/front/the-columnist-her-rock-star-boyfriend-and-an-internet-gossip-frenzy-6414485.html

Ghostlygirl · 30/12/2023 21:27

Woush - Lorraine Candy.

witte · 31/12/2023 08:07

Woush · 30/12/2023 20:44

The last time I read her column was when I bought the daily mail as an actual newspaper. Must have been 10-15 years ago.

I did enjoy her column - on the basis that she's a car crash waiting to happen.

I also liked the column by the journo who had loads of kids (4?) and a great dane dog. Can't remember her name, blonde hair, was it someone Candy?

Lorraine Candy. She's got a really good podcast called postcards from midlife and is on insta. Much better than Liz's self obsessed stuff.

RainyDaysSundays · 31/12/2023 08:43

Her main outlet for writing is the Mail. When did the Mail ever care about quality of writing or punctuation? Some of the stuff they print wouldn't even get a pass at GCSE!

Basically, she's click bait material.
Her features are outlandish, people read, they see click bait.

Over the years she's worked for Marie Claire and the Evening Standard, mainly as a fashion editor and writer.

She's not wealthy and was declared bankrupt in 2017. Most of what she's written is about her own mistakes and financial disasters.

RainyDaysSundays · 31/12/2023 08:49

She's written a lot about her eating disorders, being let down by men, making mistakes with her money, and generally making a mess of life.

The Mail loves this as it plays straight into their stance that women are hopeless little creatures who can't do anything right in the big wide world.

NonPlayerCharacter · 31/12/2023 08:51

Does she have any serious journalistic background?

Yes. You may be surprised.

She has found a market and she caters to it. After all, you're reading and talking about it here. She's got a product and a brand and it'll be successful as long as people consume it. I think she's a forerunner of social media influencers. They're not all like her, but she made a product of herself and her life long before it was mainstream.

PurpleSilverPetal · 31/12/2023 08:57

I used to read her regular Daily Mail column, but grew bored.
I’ve read a few more general articles that she has written, where she has been incredibly rude about ordinary people, of which I am one.
I don’t bother to read anything of hers anymore

RainyDaysSundays · 31/12/2023 09:08

Does she have any serious journalistic background?

It depends what you mean by 'serious'.

She was ed of Marie Claire for a while, then worked at the Evening Standard. (All of this is on Wiki or her LinkedIn entry- do your research!)

I've lots of journo friends who've worked for those publications.

They aren't broadsheets and her features were on fashion, so not exactly highbrow stuff.

People come and go in those roles all of the time and she was sacked from some of them.

She's someone who has made a name by her self-confessional features, and the Mail loves them because they like denigrating women, generally, but Liz does it all by herself, describing the mess she's made of her life.

lpedhslt · 31/12/2023 09:22

I really try not to use words like this about women...but having just read up on her, she sounds genuinely mental...stolen sperm and tricking a man into marrying her?!

Swipe left for the next trending thread