Why the Guardian is going down the pan!

[phildwyer]

I got the Guardian Weekly today, and it includes a piece by her husband reviewing a book about Prince Charles, which concludes that the heir of sorrows is a bloody nice bloke actually. Because Chaz has allegedly smoked a spliff or two in his day.

A man in a pub toilet told me that 20 years ago. I thought he was crazy. Now it turns out he was Will Self.

 

[phildwyer]

You do realise don't you, phil, that Marilyn was just a nurse doing her job?

Who?

 

[Idris2002]

A man in a pub toilet told me that 20 years ago. I thought he was crazy. Now it turns out he was Will Self.

A little from column A, a little from column B.

 

[Idris2002]

Who?

Just go back to the hospital, phil. They'll take care of you there.

 

[DotCommunist]

I was treated to toynbee on the sunday beeb polotics show yesterday (I was waiting for the tech show Click)

one of the blokes on the panel was so virulently tory I found myself backing Toynbee . Surreal.

 

[phildwyer]

Just go back to the hospital, phil. They'll take care of you there.

They're too busy with your Mum's syphilis.

 

[Idris2002]

They're too busy with your Mum's syphilis.

At least I have a Mum, and wasn't hatched in a jam jar, like certain people I could mention.

 

[Greebo]

They're too busy with your Mum's syphilis.

Be that as it may, off line now. That means all of it!

 

[phildwyer]

Be that as it may, off line now. That means all of it!

Yes yes, I'm going...

 

[Hocus Eye.]

What a glorious tangle of mis-attributions and cross references. I too thought that the Bax quote was Beecham. I don't think that Bell had Salmond in his sights here, just the current leader of the SNP whom he depicted almost unrecognisably in that cartoon. I have forgotten her name and can't be bothered to look of it up.

 

[DotCommunist]

nicola sturgeon

I'm hoping the snp continue electing leaders with fishy names.

 

[Hocus Eye.]

nicola sturgeon

I'm hoping the snp continue electing leaders with fishy names.

Yes Nicola Sturgeon, she can be quite formidable, I saw her on BBC Parliament recently fielding questions from a Select Committee very adroitly.

 

[danny la rouge]

English people don't think it's racist to make fun of Celts.

I don't think the cartoon is racist. But I can't be sure, because I have no idea what he's on about. Except I'm bored with cartoons of Scottish politicians in kilts. I've never seen Salmond in a kilt. He certainly doesn't make a habit of wearing them.

Cartoonists need to do better than: "Scottish -> kilt. Lol."

 

[JTG]

I remember Bell doing a cartoon during the referendum depicting Salmond as a chip shop owner deep frying Mars Bars. Because that's all Scottish people eat, lol

 

[Orang Utan]

OK, so this is Steve Bell's cartoon this morning:

So, what's the joke here? What is he satirising? What message is he trying to get across?

Dunno who's that supposed to be? Elton John or Bernie Ecclestone?

 

[Maurice Picarda]

I think that the reason Steve Bell has got away with crashing unfunniness for so long is that next to Doonesbury, anything would appear to be light relief.

 

[danny la rouge]

I remember Bell doing a cartoon during the referendum depicting Salmond as a chip shop owner deep frying Mars Bars. Because that's all Scottish people eat, lol

I don't remember that, because if I do read the Guardian, I don't look at Bell.

(I saw this because it's being shared on social media).

 

[Sue]

Steve Bell is utterly shite. This is utterly shite. Why do people think he's funny? (Assume someone must or he wouldn't still have a job.)

 

[Santino]

I was not finding Steve Bell funny years ago.

 

[Spanky Longhorn]

the broadsheets don't do funny cartoons on the whole

 

[el-ahrairah]

i think it was sometime in my mid-20s when i realised that Steve Bell was shit. it was a weird moment. i looked at one of his cartoons and it was shit, and lazy, and kind of offensive, just like that one dlr posted. i said to myself, he can't be shit, he's steve bell. steve bell isn't shit. everyone clever likes steve bell. but it didn't go away. instead of biting satire i saw easy targets. instead of cunning surrealism i saw gibberish non-jokes taken to extremes. anyway, long story short, it turned out that i'd never actually bothered to really think about it before and since then i've realised its a stage that everyone has to go through in their recovery from liberalism.

 

[TheHoodedClaw]

the broadsheets don't do funny cartoons on the whole

Matt in the Telegraph is the only one I can think of that even tries.

 

[Celyn]

I'm sure was he was often a bit funny in the 1980s, although I could easily be wrong. But, yes, for the last (very long while), he's been pretty rubbish.

 

[Kaka Tim]

The bell cartoon is part of a strip - so may make more sense seen with the others - his "If" strip has always been pretty patchy at best though. I think his stand alone cartoons still produce the goods on a regular basis.

 

[butchersapron]

*ponders whether to post classic cartoon demonstrating the paulsgroves of the mind of bell and the guardian or if it's been done too many times"

 

[el-ahrairah]

*ponderes whether to post classic cartoon demonstrating the paulsgroves of the mind of bell and the guardian or if it's been done too many times"

treat yourself

 

[butchersapron]

Oh go on then:

 

[captainmission]

That's an excellent piece. Most of their vehement supporters in Britain have no idea what the YPG are about. And she's absolutely right about the dangers of anti-Islamism.

A piece by a oxbridge type, full of moral relativism and spurious insinuations of islamaphobia? Motivated not by any real conviction, but a desperate need to be contrarian? I can't image why you'd find it excellent.

 

[frogwoman]

Take a look at @JMPolish's Tweet:

 

[teqniq]

This is from Dec 2014 so someone may have already posted it (I gave up looking at this thread quite some time ago).

Why the Guardian axed Nafeez Ahmed’s blog