Reading English newspapers

Banjoxed

For the purpose of this thread I'm not referring to the Irish Daily Mirror, or the Irish Sun, or the Irish Daily Mail. I mean seeing someone in Ireland reading the Daily Telegraph, The (London) Times, The Guardian or the Financial Times. Would you even notice? Just curious.

Amirani

I'd read the FT and the Guardian myself quite often. Irish Times has worsened in quality a huge amount in recent years so I'd buy it much less than I used to. The other Irish papers are fairly garbage IMO.

WesternZulu

I think a lot of it is for show.

Most of the Uk broadsheets are made of mostly of UK politics, which is understandable.

If you're not from the UK I cannot fathom why you would have any interest in petty arguments between Labour/The Conservatives/The Lib Dims/UKIP.

padd b1975

Hipsters reading The New York Times are worse.

greenflash

Many Irishmen read the UK papers for sports coverage as it's almost impossible to find English and Scottish Premier League coverage in the Irish press.

Amirani

WesternZulu wrote: »

I think a lot of it is for show.

Most of the Uk broadsheets are made of mostly of UK politics, which is understandable.

This isn't really the case. Politics I'd say makes up at most 20% of the major UK broadsheets, same as in Ireland.

WesternZulu

Diego Simeone wrote: »

This isn't really the case. Politics I'd say makes up at most 20% of the major UK broadsheets, same as in Ireland.

Ok not most of it, say:

25% - UK politics
25% - UK national specific news
25% - International news
25% - Sports

Out of that mix the only ones that would have any interest to anyone outside of the UK would be international and sports news.
Both of these are by and large covered by Irish newspapers anyway and come from the same source.

For example; if you're reading a sports section in The Times (Irish) you'll often see at the end of the article 'from the Telegraph' or something along those lines...same for international news.

So unless you have a unique and strange interest in the squabble's between the UK political parties or what's happening in deepest darkest Norfolk then I can't see why you would buy them above The (Irish) Times.

Muise...

Actual newspapers are so quaint now - I wonder do spies open Frankfurter Allgemeine or Pravda on their tablets on park benches..?

I've always tended to listen to the radio for Irish news, and read British papers online at the weekend for longer articles I can laze over with a cup of coffee. Their review sections can be good, though it depends on the writer. I did once get given out to by an old man in a shop for buying the Guardian - because it's English mind; not 'cause it's gone to sh1t altogether with obnoxious meta-commentary.

WesternZulu

WesternZulu wrote: »

Ok not most of it, say:

25% - UK politics
25% - UK national specific news
25% - International news
25% - Sports

Out of that mix the only ones that would have any interest to anyone outside of the UK would be international and sports news.
Both of these are by and large covered by Irish newspapers anyway and come from the same source.

For example; if you're reading a sports section in The Times (Irish) you'll often see at the end of the article 'from the Telegraph' or something along those lines...same for international news.

So unless you have a unique and strange interest in the squabble's between the UK political parties or what's happening in deepest darkest Norfolk then I can't see why you would buy them above The (Irish) Times.

You also miss out on all the Irish related news (and Irish sports news) which is, along with the sports news in general, the most thing that I read the paper for in the first place. A lad at work buys the Guardain everyday so I flick through it and rarely read anything in it bar the sports as the stories for the most part dont interest me.

The local papers with all the news from my area are vastly more interesting to me than most of the stuff in English papers.

Banjo String

Used to read the sport simply because they covered topics, and published headlines the others simply didn't want us plebs to read about.

Over the years they gave me such insights to the world such as.

"2 HEADED SANTA EATS HIS OWN REINDEER"
"GORDON RAMSAY SEX DWARF, EATEN BY BADGER"
"TEEN FLEES TOWN AFTER BONKING HIS UNCLES DONKEY"

and my personal favourite.

" WW2 BOMBER FOUND ON THE MOON"

NASA tried to deny that one too ^^^ :rolleyes:

Chancers.


(oh, and for the boobs also)

smellmepower

The comment,book and film reviews and international sections of the Guardian can be very good.Nothing much like it in any of the crap Irish papers.

Plus has the added bonus of not having to see a two page story about what Nadia Forde/Rosanna Davison/interchangeable moron had for dinner.

Duggy747

I read the World Weekly News myself.

Seems BatBoy has escaped again....

As for the UK papers, The Guardian for some sections like film I'd read it for.

WesternZulu

smellmepower wrote: »

Plus has the added bonus of not having to see a two page story about what Nadia Forde/Rosanna Davison/interchangeable moron had for dinner.

Depends on what paper you buy, you're not comparing like with like, you wouldn't see that in The Times or The Examiner.

Then again if you buy The Sun/Daily Mail you'll have a 5 page spread on who Jordan is marrying this month.

Amirani

WesternZulu wrote: »

Ok not most of it, say:

25% - UK politics
25% - UK national specific news
25% - International news
25% - Sports

You're still leaving out a lot there. Film, music, technology, travel, food, science and finance are all quite good in the likes of the Guardian or the FT.

I do spend a lot of time in the UK so may have more interest in their politics and news than most.

uggybear

Like reading the Guardian but agree that the quality of Irish journalism in most of the national such as the Indo newspapers is poor, which is why I only prefer to read the locally free newspaper that gets delivered to my door, at least that one come free (except for one other local newspaper that's only available in newsagents but I wouldn't even pay a cent for the poor journalism and drastically made-up headlines) and plus I get most of the national and international news online now unless the website has a paywall which is a pain.

Skid X

I used to buy the i paper (a slimmed down version of the London Independent) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_(newspaper)

It had good news, media and sport content and was terrific value at just 30 cents. Sadly, they don't publish it here anymore. I very rarely buy any of the Irish papers anymore, they are overpriced for their content (almost all of which is online for free).

danniemcq

I get the guardian or the London Independent when i'm getting a bus or something (although if i see Robert Fisk mentioned I get that paper straight away, guy is a great journalist) and the odd time i'll get the times on Sunday.

I stay clear of Irish papers though as i either find them lacking in depth of story and investigations on the topic or they seem very favourable to one party which skews opinions.

If I want to get Irish news I have the radio every hour or I'll get it from Irish websites.

danniemcq

Skid X wrote: »

I used to buy the i paper (a slimmed down version of the London Independent) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_(newspaper)

It had good news, media and sport content and was terrific value at just 30 cents. Sadly, they don't publish it here anymore. I very rarely buy any of the Irish papers anymore, they are overpriced for their content (almost all of which is online for free).

I'm nearly 100% sure they still have it in a few places up here in Donegal. Great wee paper too