Jack Monroe #560 Publication cancelled

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From what I remember, The Guardian hung him out to dry when we worked out that his dad was a travel writer who had done work for the paper. His father then wrote an article denouncing us all as ebil trolls. I'm sure his dad, or a 'friend' turned up in Comment Is Free as well in a desperate attempt to control the narrative.

And all this back in the dim and distant 2008. Nothing changes does it?
 
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The “friend” turned out to be a troll. He was very funny. But yeah the dad wrote an article about how tragic and dreadful it all was, and how Max had had a tewwibly rocky start to his gap yah in India. In 2008 c 55% of Indians lived below the poverty line, just to pop Maxy’s travails into some sort of perspective
 
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his story is that it was cheap content at the alter of “reader engagement” and, like most journalists, he’s a lazy hack who takes the easy option.

He did not foresee a backlash
I'm not surprised he didn't forsee a backlash, seeing as this sort of content still gets used all the time! The Times just published a feature by some posh writer who - shock horror - went to the darts and found out people were human. Charlotte someone, can't remember who it was now. But it's standard.

My partner is an ex-journo (but not posh so had to actually work) and he said he'd usually be the only state-educated person in the room when he worked at nationals - and even on London local papers this was the case. So there's just generally a very narrow life experience in journalism. But anyway yeah, editors are always desperate for online content, and I think back in 2009 or whenever the Max Gogarty thing was, there wasn't social media to provide much of it. Any old thing will do!
 
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The first thing I do when I buy clothing from the charity shop is take the tag off and wash it. There's no way that would have been hanging about in her wardrobe with the 50p tag still on it until the day she decided to wear it.
But we've seen her hands. There is every chance she didn't even wash herself that day, let alone that jacket.
 
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This says a lot, doesn’t it. It’s not the fact that they only cost £6 (even though we all know they didn’t), it’s that, despite constantly being on the verge of eviction/starvation/bankruptcy, she spent good money on shoes that she had no use for.

 
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I hadn't heard about this case as I was up to my eyeballs in a very demanding job in 2008 and wasn't reading BTL comments. But this article came up immediately after I searched for the guy. It's the Guardian writing about itself so the perspective is clearly their editorial voice. Interesting though, especially because Twitter was new then (or hadn't arrived yet?) and the self-policing and community policing around online engagement was still in its infancy.

ETA: be warned. The word "gauche" is deployed.

 
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I miss the Tuesday chaoi. Good times good times.
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Just dropped in on the Mumsnet thread, and there is a post this morning about a thread about bread. As I read it, it reminded me of the sorts of escalations guest used to be capable of on the Hellsite.

Anybody know if there is an American version of Mumsnet where she might be hanging out these days to get her narc supply?!
 
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One million percent this.

I think she struggled with budgeting when she first left home, which let's be honest, most of us do. I know most of my paycheck for the first few years of my working life went on Boots' make-up counter and Topshop, and I did end up in debt with catalogues and store cards. The difference is, I only had women's magazines and TV telling me to buy stuff, where now it's Insta, Tiktok and constant ads on your phone.

It's also completely understandable that if you've been struggling for a while, getting a lump sum in your bank account can make you go a bit mad with your spending. Universal Credit is a good idea in principle, but when you're scraping by for 3 weeks of the the month, it's so hard to not just think fuck it - I deserve to have nice things, order a takeaway, go to Primark, and there goes your rent. I've been there too.

It's a moot point though, because she has never been poor, and I personally don't believe she's ever claimed benefits either.
 
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I’m absolutely shite with money so I have some small sympathy with her there. The difference is I have a job and don’t scam people.
 
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I have just one question.

Why would anyone buy all those knobs and then just chuck them into a drawer? It's bizarre behaviour.
I may have had a glass of wine.
Just the one?
 
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It doesn’t matter if something is cheap, if you don’t need it, you don’t need it. It’s the ultimate actual money saving hack.

All that furniture she has makes me believe she’s still in the bungamansion. I cannot see her giving all those up to downsize.
 
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Why and when did the Guardian column dry up?
Guest’s last column for the Guardian was in June 2022:


It’s the usual solution-free poverty porn fare, complete with a list of her own (claimed) ailments needlessly inserted in the middle of it.
 
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