5 ms·

> one-sided political publication They certainly are left-aligned: they are famous (and notorious) for it. The "Guardian-reading lentil-munching sandal-wearing

by m0nty 10y ago

> one-sided political publication They certainly are left-aligned: they are famous (and notorious) for it. The "Guardian-reading lentil-munching sandal-wearing lefty" is a popular caricature, I've even seen people criticised during debates for being a "good Guardian-reader" (i.e. a part-time socialist). But they do publish articles on relevant topics, and are prepared to stick their collective neck out for important stories like the Snowden case. They are probably a few notches above the open sewer which characterises much of the rest of the UK press, and it's clear that many people on HN find them relevant, if not always correct.

UncleSlacky 10y ago
Lately, though, they seem to have developed a bias (or maybe it's just become more evident?) against what you might call the "non-establishment" left, people like Jeremy Corbyn and Bernie Sanders get unexpectedly short shrift from most of their writers, whereas their (often female) competition, like Yvette Cooper and Hillary Clinton, get glowing coverage. This has been pointed out extensively in the comment sections, to no avail...
- takno 10y ago
  I think a lot of people over 40ish view Jeremy Corbyn as very much establishment left, with impeccable roots in the years when the establishment left were in the business of losing and losing hard. The guardian certainly give that view a good deal of prominence, but also feature writers who take a much more positive line on the left. The overall quality has dropped a bit with more clickbait and cif nonsense, but it's still the best place to get news, and the fact that they publicly sweat policy like this is a positive sign
- digi_owl 10y ago
  Likely becase the left has been represented by what i have seen labeled "champagne left". Basically people making "leftist" claims while socially and economically being far removed from the traditional (workers) left.
Angostura 10y ago
Also Jack Schofield was writing regular decent IT-focussed articles in The Guardian long before most other UK newspapers.
jensen123 10y ago
> The "Guardian-reading lentil-munching sandal-wearing lefty" is a popular caricature I find some of these caricatures interesting. Like how many leftists are vegans or vegetarians, and how many libertarians are meat-lovers. You would perhaps think that diet should have no correlation with political opinions, but it certainly seems to have. Or take clothing. Among leftists, there seems to be more people wearing stuff like sandals, colorful clothing, dreadlocks, piercings etc. than among right-wingers or libertarians. When I see pictures of libertarians or right-wingers, they often seem to be wearing conformist looking clothes, such as suits. Is there a reason for this? In order to do well economically, you probably need to be careful not to offend other people, so you cannot express yourself too much. People who express themselves more (wear what they want to, rather than what is inoffensive), are probably more likely to become economic losers. And if you're an economic loser, I guess left-wing politics (tax the rich!) is appealing.
- c594815 10y ago
  Right-wing, besides being capitalist, also means being conservative. Which implies respect for tradition, etiquette and savoir-vivre. Other than diet, another interesting aspect is architecture. Leftists like brutalism and modernism, while right-wingers like traditional architecture, have a look here: https://www.facebook.com/ArchMMXII https://www.facebook.com/ArchMMXII.
  - theoh 10y ago
    That's an oversimplification of the story in relation to architecture. A lot of modernist architects have espoused socialist views, but someone like Mies van der Rohe also built some work for the Nazi regime. The modernist architect Philip Johnson was a notorious Nazi sympathizer. There's an article here that starts to unpick the architecture/politics relationship in relation to one architect's work: http://archinect.com/features/article/4618/peter-eisenman-liberal-views-have-never-built-anything-of-any-value http://archinect.com/features/article/4618/peter-eisenman-li... Since architecture requires significant wealth and organization, it's rarely, if ever, something that comes out of anarchism. So statism or philanthropy is often behind it.
  - 10y ago
pessimizer 10y ago
"Left" is a pretty simplistic way to characterize the Guardian's editorial stance. It's far more authoritarian and New Labor than you would expect from something described as on the Left. 70% of the non-entertainment stories are based in identity politics, so that would seem very left, but it also aggressively attacked Wikileaks, and is constantly attacking Corbyn and Sanders. I'd probably describe it as economically Liberal (in the non-American sense), pro-safety net/NHS, and pro-legal enforcement of civility. Basically the non-angry upper-middle class. Anti-petty bourgeoisie. Fabian.

by m0nty 10y ago

UncleSlacky 10y ago

Lately, though, they seem to have developed a bias (or maybe it's just become more evident?) against what you might call the "non-establishment" left, people like Jeremy Corbyn and Bernie Sanders get unexpectedly short shrift from most of their writers, whereas their (often female) competition, like Yvette Cooper and Hillary Clinton, get glowing coverage. This has been pointed out extensively in the comment sections, to no avail...

takno 10y ago
I think a lot of people over 40ish view Jeremy Corbyn as very much establishment left, with impeccable roots in the years when the establishment left were in the business of losing and losing hard. The guardian certainly give that view a good deal of prominence, but also feature writers who take a much more positive line on the left. The overall quality has dropped a bit with more clickbait and cif nonsense, but it's still the best place to get news, and the fact that they publicly sweat policy like this is a positive sign
digi_owl 10y ago
Likely becase the left has been represented by what i have seen labeled "champagne left". Basically people making "leftist" claims while socially and economically being far removed from the traditional (workers) left.

Angostura 10y ago

Also Jack Schofield was writing regular decent IT-focussed articles in The Guardian long before most other UK newspapers.

jensen123 10y ago

> The "Guardian-reading lentil-munching sandal-wearing lefty" is a popular caricature I find some of these caricatures interesting. Like how many leftists are vegans or vegetarians, and how many libertarians are meat-lovers. You would perhaps think that diet should have no correlation with political opinions, but it certainly seems to have. Or take clothing. Among leftists, there seems to be more people wearing stuff like sandals, colorful clothing, dreadlocks, piercings etc. than among right-wingers or libertarians. When I see pictures of libertarians or right-wingers, they often seem to be wearing conformist looking clothes, such as suits. Is there a reason for this? In order to do well economically, you probably need to be careful not to offend other people, so you cannot express yourself too much. People who express themselves more (wear what they want to, rather than what is inoffensive), are probably more likely to become economic losers. And if you're an economic loser, I guess left-wing politics (tax the rich!) is appealing.

c594815 10y ago
Right-wing, besides being capitalist, also means being conservative. Which implies respect for tradition, etiquette and savoir-vivre. Other than diet, another interesting aspect is architecture. Leftists like brutalism and modernism, while right-wingers like traditional architecture, have a look here: https://www.facebook.com/ArchMMXII https://www.facebook.com/ArchMMXII.
- theoh 10y ago
  That's an oversimplification of the story in relation to architecture. A lot of modernist architects have espoused socialist views, but someone like Mies van der Rohe also built some work for the Nazi regime. The modernist architect Philip Johnson was a notorious Nazi sympathizer. There's an article here that starts to unpick the architecture/politics relationship in relation to one architect's work: http://archinect.com/features/article/4618/peter-eisenman-liberal-views-have-never-built-anything-of-any-value http://archinect.com/features/article/4618/peter-eisenman-li... Since architecture requires significant wealth and organization, it's rarely, if ever, something that comes out of anarchism. So statism or philanthropy is often behind it.
- 10y ago

pessimizer 10y ago

"Left" is a pretty simplistic way to characterize the Guardian's editorial stance. It's far more authoritarian and New Labor than you would expect from something described as on the Left. 70% of the non-entertainment stories are based in identity politics, so that would seem very left, but it also aggressively attacked Wikileaks, and is constantly attacking Corbyn and Sanders. I'd probably describe it as economically Liberal (in the non-American sense), pro-safety net/NHS, and pro-legal enforcement of civility. Basically the non-angry upper-middle class. Anti-petty bourgeoisie. Fabian.