Is it just me or is The Observer a load of shite these days?

[moondog]

I refer in particular to irritating posed photos in 'Food' magazine,the tripe that is rehashed endlessly in the 'Woman' one and their fixation into turning their journalists into 'personalities' (ie Mariella Frostybum,Kathryn Phlegm,Polyfilla
Vernon and that irritating Scot-Euan O'Fergusan-Doonray wotsit.)

Yaaaawn.....

Agree Pruni-Observer Woman is awful.
I've stopped buying the Observer-felt odd as I've been reading it for twenty years or so. I look at Nigel Slater on line but I don't miss anything else. I also look at The Sunday Times online-(couldn't allow myself to give Murdoch any money directly ) as I find India Knight amusing / irritating in equal measures.

oh I love The Times and don't have cat (hideaous animals) but if I did, I would let it puke over the Guardian/Observer

sorry olive, your stirring loses impact for poor spelling

quick defence of Barbara Ellen who is the saving grace of the observer magazine - and the only woman I do not loathe in the observer stable.

in the obsv i read:

the letters page (usually quite funny)
recipes
kathryn flett's tv guide
most of the news bit, really like armando ianucci's rants
jo adams (can't get used to her being jones) on fashion

i avoid

euan ferguson
barbara ellen
anything sporty
polly vernon

Pruni: please do a poll or something on the Woman magazine. I mean, who thought that was a good idea? Load of offensive twaddle.

Oh yes, pruni, I'd happily answer a survey on that patronising load of crap.

oliveoil - she used to be a rock journo. NME's answer to Julie Burchill.

True - the lack of intellectual depth in the 'Woman' Supplement is just laughable. If I wanted style/celebrities I would just buy Glamour magazine where they do it better.

Okaaay,have sent link to Roger Alton.

sob

Sorry Rog.Someone had to break it to you.
Can't believe there haven't already been murmurs of dissent amongst the jobbing hacks though.

Mild mannered men murmuring 'She's paid how much to wax lyrical about bars???'

The Observer on a Sunday morning, lounging in PJs, is a treat though I agree it seems to have lost its way lately.
I love Nigel, Gardening and 'Style'stuff and enjoy the reporting.
When I was little we had Sunday Mirror and Sunday Express (I'm sure it wasn't as awful all those years ago!!). When I went to uni I lived with a 'posh' family who read the Sunday Times. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven, all those supplements, but a few years later realised the politics aren't for me.

If I don't manage to get Saturday Guardian it ruins my week end!!

Do the people who dislike kathryn Flett still remember the days when she smeared the v messy break up of her relationship all over the observer magazine for seemingly YEARS?

I blame her for Liz Jones.

Not a word against Barbara Ellen though who I remember from her NME days.

Roger, if you're still here, please DO something with Euan F. I can't bear his whining.

Ooh, if this might make a difference I'd like to add that the cash section is really rubbish too. Too many "specialist" articles that don't ever seem to have anything to do with me (I don't mind waiting my turn, but my turn never comes). The review section isn't too bad. Woman magazine AWFUL, like the music one though. This thread has actually made me consider cancelling it too, as every Sunday I'm disappointed.

I think Saturday Guardian is fab - esp the money, work and family sections as well as the magazine. Perhaps a bit more modelling on that?

I used to quite like reading Chrissie Iley...where's she these days?

I do puddle.
She even wrote a book about it.

bundle, CI does loads of celeb interviews for the Observer mag

Can't stand Chrissey Iley's interviews myself. However, that comment has reminded me that while I agree that The Observer has been pretty dismal of late, and that last weekend's Food Monthly was piss-poor, that I will still go out of my way to read a Lynn Barber interview and am hardly ever disappointed, even when I'm not necessarily interested in the subject.

Agree with Cloudhopper-if I want froth I will buy Grazia -can't we have a bit more depth in the Woman section.
Guardian on a Saturday is far better than The Observer.

bp I think I did see one Iley iv but thought she just popped in

There is also something really really wrong with Oliver James, the psychologist. I can't quite put my finger on it. Smug, perhaps? I can't stand these people who ooze and slime about over food. Nigel Slater slips about in the most revolting slimy way. All the columnists on the Observer do that. They slither about. I didn't mean to offend you Moondog. I've never tried any of NS's recipes because I can't get through his writing style. I liked Gordon Ramsay's wife's food ideas.

Ha ha Hello.
I hate food fetishists too but I really wouldn't put Nigel in this class.
His cooking is very simple and unpretentious.
(Also have similar odd feelings about Oliver James though.....)

But you like the Ramsey woman's stuff-!!!