The bright side of our ongoing subscription to The Guardian and The Observer

[tobeforgotten]

... is that I feel like a real insider despite living in the back of beyond!

Today's Observer, for instance, has a three page spread on the ladies pond at Hampstead. Needless to say, a large part of the story is devoted to the defence of transwomen's rights to swim in the women's only session (there is even a bizarre comparison to a slave auction that dissappears up its own bottom).

My DH is so impressed that I am on the inside, that I can tell him why WYorks has a 378% increase in hate crime reports and debunk various other articles.

Given that the papers make a loss, especially, I imagine, the paper-versions of the papers, I'm reconciled to continuing to subscribe. And there's Hadley.

Is that a joke? It's a pretty expensive one. I'd pay to see it go under.

Given that the papers make a loss,

Actually, they don't any more. The Guardian's decision to ask people for donations and subscriptions has led to an uptick in their fortunes, and they're now in profit - just.

I understand hamsters find it particularly absorbent when used to line their cage.

Hadley is on maternity leave so won’t be there for a while. You can be an ‘insider’ by reading it free online. Don’t give them money.

I believe they get money somehow when you read online

The more online traffic they get, the more they can earn from ads.

Why anyone would choose to pay money to a publication where you have to 'debunk' the articles is beyond me?

I used to feel that it was irresponsible to give money to the daily mail and other murdoch-owned papers because of some of the content to do with race, Islam and women. I only read the guardian.

Now with all this shit and the lack of coverage in my previously favoured media, I feel like I finally understand why having a plurality of voices in the press is so important. People are free to read whatever they choose (obviously!) but I like to read a much broader media than before and have a guardian and times subscription.