Also in today's guardian....Liz Jones's house attacked

[ObsidianBlackbirdMcNight]

by a disgruntled neighbour. Apparently he shot at her letterbox in protest at being described as toothless and inbred in her book.

Not condoning letterbox shootings at all, but really.

uqd I had never heard of it either. I drink cafedirect or clippers.

I doubt a local shot at her. Someone from those parts with a gun wouldn't have missed. Probably someone else shes pissed off

No you're right, Auberon W was born to it, wasn't he?
I distinctly remember a column about restaurants in Taunton though

And obviously not condoning letterbox shooting here, either.

it is not often i smirk when i hear someone has had a shotgun fired through their letterbox. but really with ms jones, the dead rabbits on the fence post just wouldn't offer enough satisfaction

I wonder how long it will be before she moves back to the city?

I still don't see why it is odd not to have heard of a particular brand of coffee.

Oh, just because Illy is quite mainstream and has been around a long time, I suppose.
Cafes with espresso machines often have 'Illy' signs in the window - I'm surprised you haven't noticed that rather than surprised that you've never bought the stuff yourself.

Oh come off it UQD, you are just angling for another appearance in the Mail as the masculine "voice of reason" when this gets written up

It's odd you say that UQD. Up until this thread it had never occurred to me that there was anywhere that might NOT be aware of Illy coffee. It's ubiquitous here (London); rows of it in local supermarkets and the little local shops, and served by chain coffee-shops and little independents. It's what you buy if you've run out of your favourite coffee (Brazil Bourbon for me - if that's not straying into LJ territory).

But I guess the writer is correct; it must mark some kind of urban/countryside faultine.

@ BoF - Oh, I wish I'd said that!

I've never heard of it either, UQD. It's not ubiquitous in Reading. OK, hopelessly provincial, I know, but not exactly the depths of the uninformed countryside either.

I read about this in my local paper, well not the shooting as the local paper comes out on a Tuesday - maybe that article prompted the shooting! She has come up against another journalist local who writes for the Telegraph who lives in Dulverton.

OK - Confession: I have a bit of a soft-spot for Liz. I may be hopelessly naive but I think all the stuff she writes about the locals is as much directed at herself and her preconceptions as it is ... erm ... shockingly disparaging and confirming of urban prejudices.

And I suppose I worry for her ... . I always detect a strong well of self-loathing. I do think that there is something a little co-dependent in her being allowed to publish her columns, funny though they are. I worry it's not quite healthy ... .

But surely there is something very ironical in her pieces - I always expect her to set up some sort of charity for some sort of rural regeneration and rescue project for all those people living in rural deprived areas; so deprived they actually have to drive, sometimes for miles, just to get to a Starbucks ... .

So I think shooting at her door is a little OTT.

Me live in big city! me not see Illy here.

Illy is a bit of a squiggle though. Prob seen the sign but not processed that it said Illy.

at the learning difficulties comment.

I've never heard of Illy. I even looked for it in Tesco's after reading the article but couldn't find any.
Maybe its a London thihg?
The learning difficulties comment should have earned her a slap round the chops.

I'm in Brighton, we're supposed to be trendy here, and I've never heard of it. Maybe actually having a life interferes with my coffee brand research?
Poor old Liz Jones, I think she may have some learning difficulties herself if she can't work out that insulting people that she barely even knows in a national newspaper just might not make her Miss Poplular with her new neighbours.

popular

If you google the logo I'm sure it would be familiar. i've heard of it and i don't drink coffee.

Oh, the woman is vile. I'd be grabbing my pitchfork if she moved to my village. If I lived in a village, of course.

I don't live in a posh town or even drink coffee but they have it in our small town centre sainsburys. The tins look very swish.

There's so much in the news that leaves me depressed and wondering how human beings can treat each other the way they do...

...So it's nice to hear something that cheers me right up!

Shot in the -ahem- letterbox.

Fnaar fnaar

"Jones ... is said to be frightened and upset."

That's rich. She was on the radio the other day discussing her column where she wrote the warts-and-all about her marriage and (quelle surprise) divorce. She admitted that she purposely started arguments with her DH just to provide copy for the week's deadline.. She gaily admitted to upsetting several people by splashing their lives all over her column and dismissed them as "thin skinned". She doesn't sound so thick skinned herself!

nah - drink lavazza & you are really talking - tho that is also widely available now. i actually like liz - i would never describle her as a high-brow journalist (like AA Gill) but her columns are funny and well-enjoyed