Oh well.
When even the most gullible of your readers no longer believe the stories of rock stars and married men in South America, there's always the default option....
....bring on the sick animal stories again!!
She has a burning concern about women drinkers. Har de har har! Some drunks imagine they see pink elephants; she imagines she sees Famous and adoring rock stars . . . and a much improved Liz in the mirror.
No "Diary" so far today, but the night is young. Actually, the afternoon is young here in Los Angeles.
The "Diary" says it's unavailable at the moment, but the title does seem to be ushering in the sick animal schtick. Notice how healthy those animals seemed to be in general while every Dreary was about the FRS??
She really, really, really is out of topics if we're back to "My horsie is sick." I'm sorry if I'm going to seem terminally unconcerned, but if you rescue a retired racehorse and rescue any number of other animals and many of them are well into their lives, they have only so many years left to them. And "my pet is sick" is a sad statement, but the unfortunate truth is that at any given time there are thousands of people worried about a pet or mourning a pet--that's so common that it's not seen as newsworthy. So is it newsworthy if one of Liz's pets (again) gets sick? I have two cats, I love the cats, but if one of them gets sick, is it inherently interesting and newsworthy to you, dear reader? Not really. Liz's sick pets are not really interesting and newsworthy to me, either.
The "Diary" says it's unavailable at the moment, but the title does seem to be ushering in the sick animal schtick. Notice how healthy those animals seemed to be in general while every Dreary was about the FRS??
She really, really, really is out of topics if we're back to "My horsie is sick." I'm sorry if I'm going to seem terminally unconcerned, but if you rescue a retired racehorse and rescue any number of other animals and many of them are well into their lives, they have only so many years left to them. And "my pet is sick" is a sad statement, but the unfortunate truth is that at any given time there are thousands of people worried about a pet or mourning a pet--that's so common that it's not seen as newsworthy. So is it newsworthy if one of Liz's pets (again) gets sick? I have two cats, I love the cats, but if one of them gets sick, is it inherently interesting and newsworthy to you, dear reader? Not really. Liz's sick pets are not really interesting and newsworthy to me, either.
Her race horse has cataracts which can be treated but otherwise the horse will go blind.I had to smile when I saw the story as I am well aware that a sick animal is always the last refuge of a Liz Jones anxious to drum up sympathy from her "fans."
I think we'd all guessed it would be time for the sick animal stories again this week. Every time she makes herself really unpopular with some truly obnoxious witterings, out come the sob stories and the passive-aggressive stance (how can people be mean to her now? Look what a passionate animal-lover she is! Look how poorly her horses and cats are! No-one can possibly criticise her now...and if they do, they're mean and horrid!)
IIRC, there was even one occasion--I bet our Bellagio will be able to remember the details--when she was being horrible to a hotel receptionist (I know, I know, that doesn't really narrow it down much, does it?) ...and when she repeated the same tale again a couple of weeks later, a new animal tragedy was suddenly retrospectively introduced into the story to provide added pathos...anyone remember the occasion I'm talking about?
How long can she get away with it? Surely there's a limit to the number of times anyone can repeat the same pattern: blah blah rude to airline staff blah blah spiteful about pregnant women blah blah insulting friends blah blah rude to Kirstie Allsopp blah blah shouting at hotel staff.....BUT LOOK, HER ANIMALS ARE SICK, SO EVERYTHING SHE DOES MUST BE FORGIVEN!
The comments on today's article are more entertaining than anything Liz could have dreamed up in a million years! Start at the bottom and work your way up, it's a free for all! A virtual punch up
Oh and Sorry What .....! Camden Town's posts in particular make an interesting read.
Her editor several months ago decided "Enough is enough" because Liz went ballistic in the newsroom (or to the editor). (Do we really believe that Liz is a pleasure and delight to work with?) He or she thought "I can't be blind any more to Liz's incredibly contradictory stories and claims of poverty when she swans in here with a new outfit and new bag every day, and the mail and email she's getting shows that readers are getting fed up with her too. There's been a real change in how people think of her, but there's no getting that across to Liz." That being the case, he decided to do the journalistic equivalent of a Johnson's intervention and started to print the comments her articles get so that perhaps, just perhaps, she would catch on.
I think that she did catch on, after a while, and spun totally out of control in her emotional life (which probably wasn't pleasant for any waiters, copyeditors, store clerks, or neighbours she came across; she is one angry woman.) But the editor outranks her.
The comments piled on. She couldn't resist reading them. They weren't what she expected.
She hit the bottle, hard. She does talk about buying wine routinely, about drinks parties, about being outraged if a place doesn't stock her favorite drink, and she talks about drinking with real pleasure, has for years . . . . could drinking too much cause her to lash out at people on planes, people behind counters, people working for her local GP? I am only guessing, obviously. But I suspect it's a longstanding problem of the "Let's not have blind drunk and bitter Aunt Liz for Christmas," "Let's not tell her when the office party is--she was out of control," type.
I suspect this because her columns just got more and more incoherent over a span of months. As if they were written by a drunk.
She thought people would be impressed if she had a rock star boyfriend, but wasn't capable of thinking through the repercussions (like "What if no one in Brushford has heard his helicopter land? What if no one believes that he'd use a helicopter in any case? What if no one ever paps me with a famous rock star in the years this 'relationship' goes on? What if Jim Kerr and his lawyers object to the columns? WHAT IF MY READERS THINK IT'S JUST BS??") She'd start a story about having a fight with the FRS in New York and then drop it, she'd stain his loo and we'd never hear about the repercussions, they'd break up but then they wouldn't have broken up and there'd be no explanation. The cliffhangers were just left there to hang over the cliff, abandoned.
Drinking might also explain the tone of the "Moans" column. It probably looked like a clever idea when it was proposed, but it wasn't clever, it wasn't funny, it was mostly just offensive, and a lot of the time she couldn't even scrape together enough copy for a column. I mean, her columns got SHORT. Here too she'd contradict herself and lash out at fairly harmless people, and not just anonymous store clerks. (If I were Kirstie Allsop or Mary Portas I wouldn't respond in public, but after two or three absurd and hostile attempts to make me look bad to a huge number of readers and future customers / viewers, my lawyers would be sending letters to her and to the editor of the Mail. Perhaps that's what pulled the plug on the "Moans"--letters from lawyers started to pour in and they didn't want any more Liz lawsuits.)
Perhaps the editor thought "I tried to clean up her reputation by giving her a chance to be sensitive and kind to famine-struck people and she turned it into two columns, one a hysterical rant against a GP's perfectly reasonable staff, one about screaming at a starving child. And she's in the center of every picture. Typical."
Perhaps he got irritated at Liz's freebies--"You give me therapy / a facelift, I'll rave about how wonderful it was. And how many columns can I used to market my products??"
Perhaps he got irritated at the FRS story because it's not just that it's implausible, it's that even her huge fans came to think "This just isn't true," and it made her look like a pathetic fantasist. Perhaps he or she suspects that she cooks up columns while potted--again, that would explain why they've been incoherent and wildly contradictory.
I'm guessing. But I wonder if the editor said "I'm killing the 'Moans' column and the rock star business has gone on long enough--kill that story. Kill the story about the married man, too--that isn't believable either. Sober up. Write a Diary column that makes sense and doesn't jump all over the place. I don't care if it's some cooked-up medical crisis for one of your damn animals--just stop drinking when you're supposed to be writing for us and driving and sitting on planes and make it make sense. You're an embarrassment. There are a lot of writers we could hire for a lot less."
I'm guessing that might be true because (1) her Diary doesn't veer around from one topic to another--it focuses on one subject, despite the standard "Pity me, I'm cursed, my animals develop conditions typical of aging animals all around the world" ending, and (2) her other Sunday column is also reasonably well written, compared to her recent output, but is all about how "all" women want to have a drink at 6. Don't tar me with your brush, Liz; I don't. If "all" women want their drink and can't think of anything else after a certain hour that makes it not so bad if she does too, right? After all, her conduct is typical of all women, so it's an outrage for her editor to tell HER to sober up. Supposedly.
Just guessing. But I think she's a lush, her editor knows it, and is fed up. Thus the readers' comments started appearing, thus the thoroughly nasty "Moans" got pulled. I suspect also that many formerly die-hard Liz fans sadly concluded that the FRS story was bogus, and are less likely to believe every word she says in the future.
I'm sorry ccmc, but you did make me giggle there:)
I can see you've put a lot of thought into your post. With all kindness, perhaps a little too much thought? And I'm no fan of Liz's as I'm sure you've noticed. But, I think it is much, much simpler than that.
Clicks mean revenue. Controversy means clicks.
The moans is getting repetative and boring - and potentially libelous. So Liz will likely be given some other role. I wouldn't be suprised if the Diary goes the same way.
I expect to see Liz Jones, DMs Syrian Correspondant some time soon:D
I think vampyre said what I meant to say. Yeah, I'm a little too invested in Liz. I've an interest in people with personality disorders (provided I don't actually know them),
What is wrong with dressing appropriately for the weather? Especially not freezing your toes off purely to be fashionable. It's perfectly possible to look respectable wearing clothes that keep you warm.
It just occurred to me that this week's Diary and MoS column ticked practically every number on the bingo card!
Reference to being stood up on Millennium Eve? Tick!
Use of sick animal stories as swift damage-limitation sympathy-restorer after particularly obnoxious outpouring in recent weeks? Tick!
Shoehorned-in reference to her incredible busy life in which she only had one day off in 2011? Tick!
Sudden change of tack to avoid having to finish frankly even-more-unbelievable-than-usual romantic narrative? Tick!
Insulting us all by trying to suggest her own unpleasant traits are somehow typical and representative of all women? Tick! (Apparently we're all constantly counting off the minutes until we can assuage our misery with alcohol! That's news to the rest of us....)
Hilarious over-inflation of her own importance in the world...did anyone see that line in the MoS column about the time "..when I was about to take up a job as editor of a magazine, in 1998. I was really nervous, and had a tiny glass of wine the night before the announcement was made in the papers." Was the entire country waiting excitedly for this momentous announcement? Does anyone even notice when magazine editors are appointed?
All we needed was a snipe at Kirstie Allsopp, and we'd practically have the full set!
IIRC, there was even one occasion--I bet our Bellagio will be able to remember the details--when she was being horrible to a hotel receptionist (I know, I know, that doesn't really narrow it down much, does it?) ...and when she repeated the same tale again a couple of weeks later, a new animal tragedy was suddenly retrospectively introduced into the story to provide added pathos...anyone remember the occasion I'm talking about?
I think it was the time she was "homeless" (ie she couldn't check into a hotel because she was virtually bankrupt and her card wasn't accepted. Luckily, like all homeless people, she had her agent on hand to bail her out).She then rehashed the story a few weeks later but wailed "my horse has just died" or something like that at the nasty receptionist. I also have a feeling it was the horse that she had never mentioned until it died....
Have to admit I've recently stopped buying the Wail.
Admittedly not just because of it's continuing promotion of The Lizard but mainly because it seems to have drifted so far to the right that it's now verging on Fascist xenophobia.
Sad as I've read it for about 20 years...
The Lizard stopped being funny for me quite a while ago.
I suspect the original intention of the fictional Liz Jones character was supposed to be 'controversial' but now the writing has just become very repetetive and extremely lazy.
If I were the editor I'd be looking to revamp by getting rid of a lot of the dead wood such as La Jones. I don't see how a tired acidic old hack such as LJ can be taken seriously as a 'fashion correspondent'.
"It's way too soon for bare legs" yet the silly woman must have had bare feet in her strappy sandals when her feet turned blue with the cold!
She seems to think she's representative of all womankind. Heaven help us if we were like her - we'd be seriously mixed-up.
Just as most of us had suspected, when all else fails go for the sick animal stories to elicit sympathy. It's odd that neither Nic nor she had noticed Lizzie's cataracts before now.
The FRS and SAMM seem to be things of the past unless they get a fleeting reference now and again when sick animal stories result in a drop in readers.:(
"It's way too soon for bare legs" yet the silly woman must have had bare feet in her strappy sandals when her feet turned blue with the cold!
She seems to think she's representative of all womankind. Heaven help us if we were like her - we'd be seriously mixed-up.
Just as most of us had suspected, when all else fails go for the sick animal stories to elicit sympathy. It's odd that neither Nic nor she had noticed Lizzie's cataracts before now.
The FRS and SAMM seem to be things of the past unless they get a fleeting reference now and again when sick animal stories result in a drop in readers.:(
Certainly anyone who looks after their animals properly would have noticed the cataract before it got so advanced. But in my opinion if anyone really cares about animals they shouldn't have so many that they have no time to devote individual time to any one of them - and how many does she now claim to own? I've given up counting.
In its present guise (fabricated stories of multiple love interests, dropped suddenly when the lawyers surface and/or people complain too much, alternated with sick animals) I wonder how long the Diary can continue. It's very much running out of steam unless something original can be injected into it.
Eccccch . . . read just two bits of the latest fashion piece. She goes outside and notices that her clothing needs cleaning? Ever hear of grabbing something on a hanger and looking at it next to a window before you go out? Better yet, consider evaluating the cleanliness of your clothes before you put them away, Liz? Yech.
Then the ccmc eye fell on the news that it's far too early for sugary pastels. I'm not a devotee of sugary pastels, but why the hell shouldn't people wear them now if they want to? Kind of cheery in January, I'd have thought. Liz's fashion advice often tells the world that this year some colour will be the bee's knees, or that some item will be really hot--shoeboots, say. I wonder if she ever looks back at her predictions and prescriptions to see if they panned out? I mean, was nude the favourite colour last year, like she predicted? Or is her fashion advice completely out of touch with reality, like the Diary?
I lost the will to read the rest and decided to smack my head repeatedly against the wall instead. Ever so much more pleasant.
"It's way too soon for bare legs" yet the silly woman must have had bare feet in her strappy sandals when her feet turned blue with the cold!
She seems to think she's representative of all womankind.
Every blain will be chilled, poor thing. Then further on in the article, but I guess sandals and shoes are quite different, a fashion-advice-note: don't wear strappy "shoes" in the winter.
And blanket use of "we", "us", "our" for apparent worldwide wardrobe worries is an astonishing assumption.
Eccccch . . . read just two bits of the latest fashion piece. She goes outside and notices that her clothing needs cleaning? Ever hear of grabbing something on a hanger and looking at it next to a window before you go out? Better yet, consider evaluating the cleanliness of your clothes before you put them away, Liz? Yech.
Then the ccmc eye fell on the news that it's far too early for sugary pastels. I'm not a devotee of sugary pastels, but why the hell shouldn't people wear them now if they want to? Kind of cheery in January, I'd have thought. Liz's fashion advice often tells the world that this year some colour will be the bee's knees, or that some item will be really hot--shoeboots, say. I wonder if she ever looks back at her predictions and prescriptions to see if they panned out? I mean, was nude the favourite colour last year, like she predicted? Or is her fashion advice completely out of touch with reality, like the Diary?
I lost the will to read the rest and decided to smack my head repeatedly against the wall instead. Ever so much more pleasant.
I found this thread a couple of months ago and have been lurking ever since. Love all your views on Liz Jones. I think she gives middled aged single women like me a bad name - we are not all as self obssessed and diva -ish as she is.
The fashion "police" always make me laugh. If a middle aged man or woman wants to wear jeans it's nobodies business but their own. Women who have to tell you which designer dress, coat, etc. they were wearing on a partiuclar occasion are in my opinion are only appealing to other women who think that wearing designer clothes is important.
In the circle I move in the conversation will go - I like your blouse, skirt, trousers. Where did you get it? I got it in [insert name of high street store].
In its present guise (fabricated stories of multiple love interests, dropped suddenly when the lawyers surface and/or people complain too much, alternated with sick animals) I wonder how long the Diary can continue. It's very much running out of steam unless something original can be injected into it.
I would not be surprised if the Diary like the Moans was suddenly dropped. Or maybe the Mail are going to wait until Lizzie (equine) pops her horse shoes before deciding they really can't carry on flogging a dead horse any more.
I'm sorry ccmc, but you did make me giggle there:)
I can see you've put a lot of thought into your post. With all kindness, perhaps a little too much thought? And I'm no fan of Liz's as I'm sure you've noticed. But, I think it is much, much simpler than that.
Clicks mean revenue. Controversy means clicks.
The moans is getting repetative and boring - and potentially libelous. So Liz will likely be given some other role. I wouldn't be suprised if the Diary goes the same way.
I expect to see Liz Jones, DMs Syrian Correspondant some time soon:D
I agree - Clicks mean revenue and controversy means clicks. There is a blogger called Ivor on my local paper who has been to the Liz Jones School of Journalism. Unfortunately he overstepped the mark a few months ago and many of his regulars have deserted him... that doesn't seem to happen with Liz does it? I guess some of us just love to be outraged........:(
Comments
I absolutely love this read and have been a lurker for ages. Thank you all for the laughs
Don't thank us, thank Lizzie - she's the gift that keeps on giving.
Or if you have sperm, taking now and then...
When even the most gullible of your readers no longer believe the stories of rock stars and married men in South America, there's always the default option....
....bring on the sick animal stories again!!
No "Diary" so far today, but the night is young. Actually, the afternoon is young here in Los Angeles.
She really, really, really is out of topics if we're back to "My horsie is sick." I'm sorry if I'm going to seem terminally unconcerned, but if you rescue a retired racehorse and rescue any number of other animals and many of them are well into their lives, they have only so many years left to them. And "my pet is sick" is a sad statement, but the unfortunate truth is that at any given time there are thousands of people worried about a pet or mourning a pet--that's so common that it's not seen as newsworthy. So is it newsworthy if one of Liz's pets (again) gets sick? I have two cats, I love the cats, but if one of them gets sick, is it inherently interesting and newsworthy to you, dear reader? Not really. Liz's sick pets are not really interesting and newsworthy to me, either.
IIRC, there was even one occasion--I bet our Bellagio will be able to remember the details--when she was being horrible to a hotel receptionist (I know, I know, that doesn't really narrow it down much, does it?)
How long can she get away with it? Surely there's a limit to the number of times anyone can repeat the same pattern: blah blah rude to airline staff blah blah spiteful about pregnant women blah blah insulting friends blah blah rude to Kirstie Allsopp blah blah shouting at hotel staff.....BUT LOOK, HER ANIMALS ARE SICK, SO EVERYTHING SHE DOES MUST BE FORGIVEN!
Oh and Sorry What .....! Camden Town's posts in particular make an interesting read.
But here's my guess about what happened:
Her editor several months ago decided "Enough is enough" because Liz went ballistic in the newsroom (or to the editor). (Do we really believe that Liz is a pleasure and delight to work with?) He or she thought "I can't be blind any more to Liz's incredibly contradictory stories and claims of poverty when she swans in here with a new outfit and new bag every day, and the mail and email she's getting shows that readers are getting fed up with her too. There's been a real change in how people think of her, but there's no getting that across to Liz." That being the case, he decided to do the journalistic equivalent of a Johnson's intervention and started to print the comments her articles get so that perhaps, just perhaps, she would catch on.
I think that she did catch on, after a while, and spun totally out of control in her emotional life (which probably wasn't pleasant for any waiters, copyeditors, store clerks, or neighbours she came across; she is one angry woman.) But the editor outranks her.
The comments piled on. She couldn't resist reading them. They weren't what she expected.
She hit the bottle, hard. She does talk about buying wine routinely, about drinks parties, about being outraged if a place doesn't stock her favorite drink, and she talks about drinking with real pleasure, has for years . . . . could drinking too much cause her to lash out at people on planes, people behind counters, people working for her local GP? I am only guessing, obviously. But I suspect it's a longstanding problem of the "Let's not have blind drunk and bitter Aunt Liz for Christmas," "Let's not tell her when the office party is--she was out of control," type.
I suspect this because her columns just got more and more incoherent over a span of months. As if they were written by a drunk.
She thought people would be impressed if she had a rock star boyfriend, but wasn't capable of thinking through the repercussions (like "What if no one in Brushford has heard his helicopter land? What if no one believes that he'd use a helicopter in any case? What if no one ever paps me with a famous rock star in the years this 'relationship' goes on? What if Jim Kerr and his lawyers object to the columns? WHAT IF MY READERS THINK IT'S JUST BS??") She'd start a story about having a fight with the FRS in New York and then drop it, she'd stain his loo and we'd never hear about the repercussions, they'd break up but then they wouldn't have broken up and there'd be no explanation. The cliffhangers were just left there to hang over the cliff, abandoned.
Drinking might also explain the tone of the "Moans" column. It probably looked like a clever idea when it was proposed, but it wasn't clever, it wasn't funny, it was mostly just offensive, and a lot of the time she couldn't even scrape together enough copy for a column. I mean, her columns got SHORT. Here too she'd contradict herself and lash out at fairly harmless people, and not just anonymous store clerks. (If I were Kirstie Allsop or Mary Portas I wouldn't respond in public, but after two or three absurd and hostile attempts to make me look bad to a huge number of readers and future customers / viewers, my lawyers would be sending letters to her and to the editor of the Mail. Perhaps that's what pulled the plug on the "Moans"--letters from lawyers started to pour in and they didn't want any more Liz lawsuits.)
Perhaps the editor thought "I tried to clean up her reputation by giving her a chance to be sensitive and kind to famine-struck people and she turned it into two columns, one a hysterical rant against a GP's perfectly reasonable staff, one about screaming at a starving child. And she's in the center of every picture. Typical."
Perhaps he got irritated at Liz's freebies--"You give me therapy / a facelift, I'll rave about how wonderful it was. And how many columns can I used to market my products??"
Perhaps he got irritated at the FRS story because it's not just that it's implausible, it's that even her huge fans came to think "This just isn't true," and it made her look like a pathetic fantasist. Perhaps he or she suspects that she cooks up columns while potted--again, that would explain why they've been incoherent and wildly contradictory.
I'm guessing. But I wonder if the editor said "I'm killing the 'Moans' column and the rock star business has gone on long enough--kill that story. Kill the story about the married man, too--that isn't believable either. Sober up. Write a Diary column that makes sense and doesn't jump all over the place. I don't care if it's some cooked-up medical crisis for one of your damn animals--just stop drinking when you're supposed to be writing for us and driving and sitting on planes and make it make sense. You're an embarrassment. There are a lot of writers we could hire for a lot less."
I'm guessing that might be true because (1) her Diary doesn't veer around from one topic to another--it focuses on one subject, despite the standard "Pity me, I'm cursed, my animals develop conditions typical of aging animals all around the world" ending, and (2) her other Sunday column is also reasonably well written, compared to her recent output, but is all about how "all" women want to have a drink at 6. Don't tar me with your brush, Liz; I don't. If "all" women want their drink and can't think of anything else after a certain hour that makes it not so bad if she does too, right? After all, her conduct is typical of all women, so it's an outrage for her editor to tell HER to sober up. Supposedly.
Just guessing. But I think she's a lush, her editor knows it, and is fed up. Thus the readers' comments started appearing, thus the thoroughly nasty "Moans" got pulled. I suspect also that many formerly die-hard Liz fans sadly concluded that the FRS story was bogus, and are less likely to believe every word she says in the future.
I'm sorry ccmc, but you did make me giggle there:)
I can see you've put a lot of thought into your post. With all kindness, perhaps a little too much thought? And I'm no fan of Liz's as I'm sure you've noticed. But, I think it is much, much simpler than that.
Clicks mean revenue. Controversy means clicks.
The moans is getting repetative and boring - and potentially libelous. So Liz will likely be given some other role. I wouldn't be suprised if the Diary goes the same way.
I expect to see Liz Jones, DMs Syrian Correspondant some time soon:D
What we should be rushing out to buy for the year.
But, strangely, not butter soft leather.
What is wrong with dressing appropriately for the weather? Especially not freezing your toes off purely to be fashionable. It's perfectly possible to look respectable wearing clothes that keep you warm.
Reference to being stood up on Millennium Eve? Tick!
Use of sick animal stories as swift damage-limitation sympathy-restorer after particularly obnoxious outpouring in recent weeks? Tick!
Shoehorned-in reference to her incredible busy life in which she only had one day off in 2011? Tick!
Sudden change of tack to avoid having to finish frankly even-more-unbelievable-than-usual romantic narrative? Tick!
Insulting us all by trying to suggest her own unpleasant traits are somehow typical and representative of all women? Tick! (Apparently we're all constantly counting off the minutes until we can assuage our misery with alcohol! That's news to the rest of us....)
Hilarious over-inflation of her own importance in the world...did anyone see that line in the MoS column about the time "..when I was about to take up a job as editor of a magazine, in 1998. I was really nervous, and had a tiny glass of wine the night before the announcement was made in the papers."
All we needed was a snipe at Kirstie Allsopp, and we'd practically have the full set!
I think it was the time she was "homeless" (ie she couldn't check into a hotel because she was virtually bankrupt and her card wasn't accepted. Luckily, like all homeless people, she had her agent on hand to bail her out).She then rehashed the story a few weeks later but wailed "my horse has just died" or something like that at the nasty receptionist. I also have a feeling it was the horse that she had never mentioned until it died....
Admittedly not just because of it's continuing promotion of The Lizard but mainly because it seems to have drifted so far to the right that it's now verging on Fascist xenophobia.
Sad as I've read it for about 20 years...
The Lizard stopped being funny for me quite a while ago.
I suspect the original intention of the fictional Liz Jones character was supposed to be 'controversial' but now the writing has just become very repetetive and extremely lazy.
If I were the editor I'd be looking to revamp by getting rid of a lot of the dead wood such as La Jones. I don't see how a tired acidic old hack such as LJ can be taken seriously as a 'fashion correspondent'.
She seems to think she's representative of all womankind. Heaven help us if we were like her - we'd be seriously mixed-up.
Just as most of us had suspected, when all else fails go for the sick animal stories to elicit sympathy. It's odd that neither Nic nor she had noticed Lizzie's cataracts before now.
The FRS and SAMM seem to be things of the past unless they get a fleeting reference now and again when sick animal stories result in a drop in readers.:(
Certainly anyone who looks after their animals properly would have noticed the cataract before it got so advanced. But in my opinion if anyone really cares about animals they shouldn't have so many that they have no time to devote individual time to any one of them - and how many does she now claim to own? I've given up counting.
In its present guise (fabricated stories of multiple love interests, dropped suddenly when the lawyers surface and/or people complain too much, alternated with sick animals) I wonder how long the Diary can continue. It's very much running out of steam unless something original can be injected into it.
Then the ccmc eye fell on the news that it's far too early for sugary pastels. I'm not a devotee of sugary pastels, but why the hell shouldn't people wear them now if they want to? Kind of cheery in January, I'd have thought. Liz's fashion advice often tells the world that this year some colour will be the bee's knees, or that some item will be really hot--shoeboots, say. I wonder if she ever looks back at her predictions and prescriptions to see if they panned out? I mean, was nude the favourite colour last year, like she predicted? Or is her fashion advice completely out of touch with reality, like the Diary?
I lost the will to read the rest and decided to smack my head repeatedly against the wall instead. Ever so much more pleasant.
Every blain will be chilled, poor thing. Then further on in the article, but I guess sandals and shoes are quite different, a fashion-advice-note: don't wear strappy "shoes" in the winter.
And blanket use of "we", "us", "our" for apparent worldwide wardrobe worries is an astonishing assumption.
PLEASE...not an injection of anything except sense and/or reality.
I found this thread a couple of months ago and have been lurking ever since. Love all your views on Liz Jones. I think she gives middled aged single women like me a bad name - we are not all as self obssessed and diva -ish as she is.
The fashion "police" always make me laugh. If a middle aged man or woman wants to wear jeans it's nobodies business but their own. Women who have to tell you which designer dress, coat, etc. they were wearing on a partiuclar occasion are in my opinion are only appealing to other women who think that wearing designer clothes is important.
In the circle I move in the conversation will go - I like your blouse, skirt, trousers. Where did you get it? I got it in [insert name of high street store].
I agree - Clicks mean revenue and controversy means clicks. There is a blogger called Ivor on my local paper who has been to the Liz Jones School of Journalism. Unfortunately he overstepped the mark a few months ago and many of his regulars have deserted him... that doesn't seem to happen with Liz does it? I guess some of us just love to be outraged........:(