AIBU to question Liz Jones's reputation as an editor and columnist

[FelicityShagsWell]

How did Liz Jones get such reputable editor roles when she writes absolute rubbish? I believe her columns aren't really true, she's curating an image of herself, but it's not a favourable one.

I think she's perfectly ghastly but I can't help wondering if that's the point. That's her schtick. She can't write for toffee. She's basically a paid rage-bait troll. Nice work if you can get it.

She writes for the Daily Mail. Her style of made-up nonsense fits right in.

I would be happy to be paid to write such drivel. I still read her nonsense with an archive site. I won’t pay to read it. It brings a laugh sometimes.

I’m amazed she’s still got a job.

Well that's not her first job. She's got decades of experience in other forms of journalism and magazine editing and production.

It sells. I can't tell if it makes her happy or not because I can't tell how much of it is real and how much is self generated to keep the wheel turning. But it sells.

I can't understand her finances either. She lives that lifestyle, owns all those assets, but has no money? I can't follow it.

Like many writers, she probably sees herself and others as characters in the story of her life, and the barrier between reality and fiction gets blurred as she tries to drive the plot somewhere.

I thought the same until I listened to her podcast.

It turned out that she really does have a strange personality. She's both a narcissist with a massive ego and has extremely low self-esteem at the same time, or at least swings between the two all the time.

Yes a lot of what she writes is not true (ie the rock star) but I think more of it is true (ie the German) than I used to believe.

I think the finance issue is that she's rich but has genuinely convinced herself that she's poor.

She's both a narcissist with a massive ego and has extremely low self-esteem at the same time, or at least swings between the two all the time.

I think this is true of many if not all narcissistic personalities. That's why they need constant reassurance and blow when they don't get it. They think they are these incredible exceptional people but there's no actual true self belief in there to sustain it, no inner peace or self esteem or whatever you want to call it, that they generate themselves. Or at least very little. It needs constant external validation so they can't cope when that's not forthcoming.

I have seen that with many people that have narcissist traits. It is always about getting the external validation and they do weird things to get it.

Lots of people with huge egos have very low self esteem. It's why their ego has to cover up their feelings of inadequacy.

But I don't believe most of her moaning and self pity is real. If she was really that depressed and unhappy it would be bizarre. She actually leads an incredibly charmed life. That's her whole rage bait angle.

The nonsense articles get people talking and clicking so it’s easy to see why she still has a job. I don’t click on it, but have read it in the past - I suppose just because it was there. Strange stuff.

She’s been a complete loon for years.

The Daily Mail loves these "paid rage-bait trolls"

Sarah Vine, Alison Pearson, Amanda Platell, Isabel Oakeshott, Katie Hopkins etc etc.

A raft of self publicising, oversharing, bitter narcissists full of their own self importance all of whom would sell their own granny's sex tape if they felt there was a quid/15 minutes of fame in it for them.

I look forward to reading her column. She lurches from having money to spend, and none like me, and she is a massive snob also like me .
She has lived a life most of us could only dream of.

Didn't she bankrupt herself by spending tens of thousands renovating a rented cottage? Her Exmoor Files book is a real insight into how unhappy she is and how she blames everyone else for everything that goes wrong in her life because she makes all the wrong choices.

who was the "rock star" again?

Yeah, I remember a ridiculous 'poor me' story after she spent 60k on a rental house! Absurd!

I sometimes think about posting a comment on her diary diatribes about how therapy could help, and then I consider what she would be like as a client and back away from the keyboard...

She an attention seeking drama queen - but people must like reading her columns. 🤷‍♀️

I’m sure I read it was someone from Simple Minds, but I couldn’t say for sure that it was

I had a horrible encounter with her once in a Cornish village. I think I won or rather my DD did.
Very judgemental woman.

Wasn't it Wayne Kerr?

She knows the sort of thing people will read and engage with.

If its a curated persona i do not get it...

My (admitedly rough) read is....
Animal loving fashionista anorexic who is dire with money...

Is that aspirational / desirable?

No, but it gets people reading.