English vs Irish papers

brianthebard

Not trying to start some sort of uprising here, but does anyone else feel the English broadsheets are far better quality than the ones' here? Or are we just getting the better few and there are actually Irish indo-alikes over there that I've never seen? I buy the independent occasionally and imo its a really good read, even if it is liberal to the point of annonying the liberalist-ness out of me.;) Opinions?

XYZ123ABC

brianthebard wrote:

Not trying to start some sort of uprising here, but does anyone else feel the English broadsheets are far better quality than the ones' here? Or are we just getting the better few and there are actually Irish indo-alikes over there that I've never seen? I buy the independent occasionally and imo its a really good read, even if it is liberal to the point of annonying the liberalist-ness out of me.;) Opinions?

In my very humble opinion two English broadsheets are way ahead, in terms of columnists and international news, of our Irish broadsheets, namely the Guardian and the (UK) Independent. But maybe that just makes me a woolly liberal?

For one wacky moment I thought you were calling the Irish Independent liberal, until I picked myself up off the floor upon realising you were talking about the UK Indo.

For Irish news the only papers I now trust are the Irish Times and the Sunday Business Post, but both have very obvious weaknesses - don't start me

Tom Dunne

I just can't stomach the Sunday Indo any more. It seems to thrive on trash, pop-culture and lurid details of public figure's private lives. And yet it has that audacity to call itself a "quality broadsheet". Methinks their idea of quality is somewhere between the sewer and the gutter.

Call me an old fogie, but I read the Sunday Times and The Sunday Business Post. I think the Times has the right balance of Irish and UK stories, with some truly excellent general articles. The Business Post, well, generally speaking has a higher quality of article, though of late I feel that some of their writers have been scraping the bottom of the journalistic barrel.

brianthebard

Yeah I agree with you both here, the Times is decent, but the general writing style is a bit stuffy most of the time. still worth a read, unlike just about every other paper here. Its no wonder newspapers are selling less when they treat their audience like morons.

partholon

TBH i dont actually read that many papers anymore due to the aforementioned lack of quality .is it too much not to be treated like an idiot and have actual news and quality investigative reporting instead of opinion? i admit i mouth off myself but i'm not pretending to be reporting the truth, just my perception of an event.

it really annoys me too cause i used to love sitting in a cafe reading a good paper. its a great way to pass a morning. now you have to root around for ages to actually find the damn news beneath an avalanche of nonsense about jordan or victoria beckham or some other such non story. i mean for gods sake we could be on the cusp of a recession and all im hearing about lately is fecking size 0 "celebrities" . i still dip in and out of a good variety of em but honestly its getting bad out there

i dont know, maybe i got spoiled by all the tribunals. there was some great stuff circulating when those reports came out.

J.S. Pill

XYZ123ABC wrote:

In my very humble opinion two English broadsheets are way ahead, in terms of columnists and international news, of our Irish broadsheets, namely the Guardian and the (UK) Independent. But maybe that just makes me a woolly liberal?

They may both be broadly 'liberal' papers but the Guardian is way wollier. What I really like about the UK Independent is that fact that it often departs from liberal orthodoxy - it can include an article criticising say lax immigration policy without fear of its readers burning copies of the paper in the street. Its columns tend to be more thought provoking and from a broader spectrum of thought than the Guardian's with its predictable opinions and familiar arguments designed not to offend its readers.

flamingo

I'm over here in the UK, and dearly miss the IT ... although I have developed a certain fondness for the (uk) Independent, because it picks an 'issue' and just goes with it. The Times though, and the Guardian, both get up my nose.

Have to say, to be honest, the paper I most enjoy reading these days is the Metro on the tram to work ... the right mix of laughable journalism and quirky 'global stories'! It's like eating a nice but naughty peanutbutter sandwich! Although, I'd hate for anyone to take it seriously, and I'm a bit worried that it may be some people's staple diet ... shiver!

snickerpuss

I read the Irish Times and The Times everyday.
The Irish Times can be read in 5 minutes and it doesn't have many features, which is why i love The Times. Also cos i like knowing whats going on in British Politics.
I sometimes read the Guardian but they don't half love themselves.

I love the Sunday Times and sometimes we get the Tribune which is okay. The Sunday Indo makes me want to gauge my eyes out.
Did anyone see the letter into the paper today that said that last week's Barry Egan interview with Katy French about how she went to Dundrum with her ex-fiance had "captured the zeitgeist of the nation".
That poor man if he really believes that.

brianthebard

J.S. Pill wrote:

They may both be broadly 'liberal' papers but the Guardian is way wollier. What I really like about the UK Independent is that fact that it often departs from liberal orthodoxy - it can include an article criticising say lax immigration policy without fear of its readers burning copies of the paper in the street. Its columns tend to be more thought provoking and from a broader spectrum of thought than the Guardian's with its predictable opinions and familiar arguments designed not to offend its readers.

Yeah I liked the Independents treatment of waste and recycling and that whole aspect of modern society, was well written, fairly diverse in terms of coverage (how many people know that Britain exports waste to China-I didn't) and a very intelligent paper overall, even though I felt they were almost stooping down to cover pop culture news. Good or bad, depending. I bought The Times yesterday which was quite good but a little stuffy for my tastes, and didn't really interest me the same way as the Independent and Guardian tend to.

monument

snickerpuss wrote:

I sometimes read the Guardian but they don't half love themselves.

mike65

how many people know that Britain exports waste to China-I didn't

OT but we do the same

The UK papers have far greater resources it should be noted, I don't buy dailies but in the weekend paper chase the UK titles offer more about more as a rule. The Sunday titles here are just pants tbh. I buy the Turbine only cos I find it the least worst of a bad bunch at this point.

Mike.

smashey

I read the Sunday Times every week although I bin the fashion supplement. It has a good balance to it.

brianthebard

mike65 wrote:

OT but we do the same

I know.

Bradidup

brianthebard wrote:

Not trying to start some sort of uprising here, but does anyone else feel the English broadsheets are far better quality than the ones' here? Or are we just getting the better few and there are actually Irish indo-alikes over there that I've never seen? I buy the independent occasionally and imo its a really good read, even if it is liberal to the point of annonying the liberalist-ness out of me.;) Opinions?

You cant beat the Irish Times for quality, humor and good journalism without over doing it on the adds unlike some of the British broadsheets. We can all count our selves lucky, imagine living in the States and having to put up with the trash that comes out in their broadsheets??.

Andrew 83

The flip side is that the British tabloids are much worse! Express reads like a BNP pamphlet at times.

OPENROAD

London Evening Standard, only 50 p, Evening Herald could learn alot from this paper.

monument

Bradidup wrote:

You cant beat the Irish Times for quality, humor and good journalism without over doing it on the adds unlike some of the British broadsheets. We can all count our selves lucky,

Oh, please.

Bradidup wrote:

imagine living in the States and having to put up with the trash that comes out in their broadsheets??.

Are you messing? The LA Times, the Washington Post, the New York Times

r3nu4l

To be honest there is more choice among broadsheets in the UK, in Ireland it's only the IT or the Indo and the IT wins every time for quality journalism.

J.S. Pill

r3nu4l wrote:

To be honest there is more choice among broadsheets in the UK, in Ireland it's only the IT or the Indo and the IT wins every time for quality journalism.

Em, lets not forget the Examiner

And please, lets not classify the Bindo as a Broadsheet. Its not quite a tabloid - yet - its more of a peverse kind of hybrid. Can we call it something like a Tab-sheet or a Broad-loid for the moment??

Page 4 of the Bindo this morning noted that "radical social priest" Fr. Sean Healy felt that government anti-poverty measures tend to ignore the working poor. Radical?? What is he a F***ing communist mullah or something coz he cares about poor people!?