I seriously think that she'd get more sympathy if she 'fessed up (as my colonial friends would have it) and admitted it was all complete fantasy.

BTW, for personal reasons I found the glib reference to having a breakdown hugely offensive.

I actually did laugh out loud at least once as I read this week's column, just because it was EXACTLY what I (many others too, no doubt) expected it would be

One of the comments on the Mail website summed it up perfectly with 'Back-pedalling rambling desperation'.

The plug must surely be pulled on the column very soon?

She seems to be suggesting that everyone waits with baited breath for her columns because they have such miserable lives and nothing better to do because it's January. Does she think that, between reading her drivel and commenting here, the harpies go into a state of suspended animation? Time spent posting by even the most verbose (no criticism intended, I add hastily!) harpies is only an extremely small percentage of the week.

"The other night, having finished Jeanette Winterson’s memoir..."

Jeanette Winterson... who just happens to be a very high-profile lesbian. Researching a new storyline for the Dreary ?

It most certainly is hugely offensive. As is the veiled threat that readers commenting on her columns will be responsible if she has another:
'I hope I don't have a nervous breakdown, I've had one before'

Jones makes a very good living indeed by writing trash....so-called confessional columns which are nothing more than bad fiction. Does she really expect to put herself in the public eye for money and to not receive criticism?

I found the 'brush with poverty' comment appalling.

Liz Jones wrote about her financial woes for weeks.
She said she was on the verge of bankruptcy, couldn't afford to pay her mortgage, put petrol in her car, feed her animals or herself, couldn't even withdraw £20 from a cash machine (if I recall correctly).
Then she was back in the money, apparantly owning at least two more properties (London flat & Bristol cottage, according to her articles).

With no explanation whatsoever as to how she had performed this miracle turn around in her finances, we will have to assume that the 'poverty' was another lie, a storyline just like the RS was.
Very bad form indeed, as though she was hoping to increase her popularity by identifying with her readers who are genuinely struggling to meet mortgage repayments and put food on the table. Even more bad form when the story fizzled out with no explanation.

I agree, she even had pensioners sending her money at one time, and now she's booking spa treatments at Harrods. She's one cheeky b*tch.

Probably the most offensive column yet. Obviously been contacted by JK's lawyers like Steve Harley's did, disgusting mention of the late Robert Palmer and while claiming not to be aware of the rumours and comments tries to defend them all whilst digging herself in even deeper. And it's all our fault you know. And that awful 'friend' who wouldn't pay her to go to South America on a bunny boiling mission. I think this column was written for legal reasons but has probably made things a whole lot worse.

Anyone remember her rambling on week in week out about Nirpal's terminally ill friend? Done with about as much sensitivity as cleaning a window.

I can remember that - I think it was around the time I first started to read the Diary. The friend was referred to as 'B'.
If I recall correctly, Liz appeared to be resentful of the fact that Nirpal thought a lot of his friend, possibly loved her and this came over in the Diary.

I think so, too - and it has indeed made things far worse.

It doesn't say much for her writing skills, that she had perhaps 6 weeks to come up with an explanation and this is the best she could do.

As Bellagio said upthread:
'I seriously think that she'd get more sympathy if she 'fessed up (as my colonial friends would have it) and admitted it was all complete fantasy.'

I think she is beyond telling the truth now.
Perhaps she could claim it was a side effect of some drug combination required for going on the reporting trip to Somalia? 'My anti-malarial drugs combined with painkillers required for the horse-riding injury caused me to have hallucinations' she could write. "this caused me to confuse the postman, taxi drivers and random strangers with really a famous Rock Star who wanted to shag me. I also confused where the decimal point was in my bank statements which meant that I thought I was plunged into poverty. Thankfully, dear readers, you will be relieved to know, it was only a drug induced nightmare".

Reminds me of the famous shower scene in Dallas that negated a whole series as a dream.

How long has she been a Buddhist?

She also seems to have difficulty differentiating between her sister and her sister-in-law.

More rudeness and bilge from Jones.

I had a secular upbringing but am generally very respectful of peoples faith which is why Lizard dropping Buddhism and Jainism as if they were yet another half assed fashion label really grates on my last few nerves.

Just read the Diane Abbott piece and I was so angry afterwards that I ate a Wagon Wheel and I'm on a diet. It was either that or hunt her down and slap her soundly. Racism is never ok and no-one has the right to be racist. I think that if she is going to be so deeply unpleasant to their staff then Harrods and Orange should refuse to deal with her any further. Oh, still mad - will take the dog for a run or I'll eat the entire contents of the biscuit barrel.

Speaking of Liz being offensive (and when aren't we?) does anybody remember the "revelation" she had as a result of a couple of hours of therapy--all of her psychological problems stem from an incident when she was a wee thing in school and some bad boys looked up her dress? (I think it was the second time that she announced that a wonderful therapist had solved all her problems and all would be different. But it isn't.)

It all seemed entirely bogus to me. I don't think that people become narcissistic personalities simply as a result of bad boys looking up their skirts. Lots of us have had bad boys look up our skirts in childhood and have managed to turn out pretty well.

(Well, let me speak for myself. Something similar happened to me, boo hoo. But it didn't turn me into an awful person. Away from this thread I have a loving family that includes a giant "feral" son, plenty of friends, and I've worked in a 'caring profession' helping giant "feral" children for decades successfully and with real pleasure. I like 'em. I want the best for them. Adults who are dismissive of teenagers just yank my chain.)

I don't think she went to a therapist at all. I'm dubious about the naughty boys. I think we were all supposed to have a rush of sympathy. I thought "Right. Get over yourself. People sometimes have much, much more traumatic incidents in childhood. Yet they are often able to develop good lives."

She makes me angry on behalf of children and adults who have been sexually abused, people with real financial problems, children, teenagers, mothers, Jim Kerr, "Eurotrash" women, her neighbours, her mother, Americans who are routinely called stupid . . . the list is endless. She causes her own problems. There are ways to get love and affection from people and readers, but this isn't it. It would be nice if she could write about humans--including those she sleeps with--with the automatic good will she has for animals. Fat chance.

Read the Abbot piece. I thought she couldn't go lower than the Joanna Yates column, but she has.

Can't hear? Me neither. Don't blame the person who is speaking to you. Told you're offensive and racist multiple times? Catch on: you're offensive and racist. Learn to s the f up. Have a tendency to shout at other people and demean them? Do NOT call yourself a Buddhist. Ever. Ever.

The giant "feral" children I teach come from all over. The university has a catchment area: the world. Can I honestly make generalizations about certain races or nationalities? No, I can't. I couldn't even claim that very large men with the bulk of American refrigerators who play on the football team are always stupider than other students.

I have a very old, very dear friend who is white and was born in Kenya, where his parents fled the Nazis. Eventually I learned that he saw Mau Mau killing his own family members when he was a child. Have I ever heard him say anything anti-German or a racist remark, much less say "I have a right to say that; Hitler was evil and Mau Maus killed my people"? No. That's because he's a civilized human being. I don't think Liz can ever aspire to being one.

This probably tells you more about my mental processes than Jones, but... I read the 'racist' article and something didn't mesh in terms of facts. Took me a little while, but here you are - from the article:

"My mum still says ‘coloured’, but loves her African nurse more than she loves us, her children."

November 26th last year: "My mum now has a live-in nurse, a wonderful woman from Latvia..."

April 10th last year: "Now, my mum is looked after in her own home by a succession of full-time nurses. They are nearly always African. I think she has had only one white live-in nurse, and she hailed from Latvia."

Wonder did any of the nurses quit after being subjected to the rare event that is Liz visiting her mother? I am fairly sure I would.

I love the Latvian nurse much much more than I love Liz. And I haven't met either of them.

New ways for Liz to be offensive?

"Steven Lawrence's parents should just get over it all"

"I had a black boyfriend and contrary to what I expected and wanted from a man he was not well endowed at all. His name is xxxxxxx xxxxxxx and he lives in Islington."

"The FRS and I were talking to Camilla the other day when a young woman who wasn't dressed as well as I was tried to shoehorn into the conversation by passing her a glass of champers. She didn't pass me one, if you can imagine. I shrieked "Don't you have any manners at ALL, you great feral child? Who elected YOU queen, anyway?" Camilla said something about her being a lovely girl really and no doubt being a wonderful queen someday. Honestly, sucking up to the young!"

"I took the same walk Steven Lawrence took on his last day, and it's a shame he didn't walk through Burlington Arcade like I do when I'm in London and not at Harrods . . . Poor him, he wasn't me . . . "

Did anybody else think the Diary read a little like it might be ending? All a bit desperate and 'god I have no more material'.

Read the Diane Abbott piece - why does she suddenly talk about rioting at the end? I didn't get it.

Today's columns are just breathtakingly awful and unhinged. The Diary piece seems to be one long desperate attempt to answer the (entirly valid) criticisms raised in this thread and the Comments. But she simply makes herself look worse than ever. The reference to Robert Palmer is crass and disrespectful..(.he was a real person, Liz, with family and loved ones, not just a handy prop for your story. And if you're "pretty sure" someone is dead, and you're planning to refer to them in your column, how about checking, then showing a bit of respect and deciding not to mention them after all?).

And doesn't your heart just bleed for her when you read about her nasty mean friend who wouldn't give her a free trip to South America to pursue a married man? The incredible part about this is that she actually seems to expect our sympathy!

And don't get me started on her reasons for not pursuing a married man with kids....because the pressure on the relationship would be too much for her to handle! Nothing to do with the devastation it would cause to his innocent wife and family, then?

But it's the MoS column that really scrapes the bottom of the barrel. I can't believe this was allowed to go into print. It's just staggering. We all know Liz can't go more than a few days without slagging off call centre staff, (how does she get paid for writing the same things over and over again, sometimes within a couple of weeks?)....but this goes way lower than anything she's said before. She's always telling us how deaf she is...so why is it the other person's fault if she can't hear them clearly on the phone? And how about the comment about Mad Richard punching the taxi driver, "sometimes people do conform to stereotypes." What stereotypes would those be? ....And why is it that her sister-in-law "can never be castigated"? Who makes this rule?

I expected to find the Abbott column inundated with comments....but there aren't any at all. Anyone know why?

Because they've been swamped with negative columns baying for her blood, is my guess. It's hard to imagine even the people in the "Liz is lovely and loves animals" crew thinking "What an insightful piece" instead of "What a staggeringly awful column--I'm converted. She needs to go."

I don't approve of vigilantes, but reading something like this makes me understand why they sometimes strike; I wonder about her safety in public, frankly. She's got a VERY recognizable face.

The Mail likes to get hits, yes, and this will do it, but honestly, does this sort of thing put her life in danger? Perhaps I'm overly conditioned to living in Los Angeles, but if Prince Harry can get ripped from stem to stern in public for calling an acquaintance a "****", the Mail knows that printing the Abbot piece was them tossing petrol on rags and throwing in a match. And if so, are they belatedly saying "Look Liz, we're getting death threats . . . We think you need to write a column apologizing . . . stop swearing at me . . . "

What do you think is going on in her life as a result of writing this piece?