The Guardian

The Guardian is a British newspaper owned by the Guardian Media Group. It is published Monday to Saturday in the Berliner format, with left-of-centre politics. Until 1959 it was called The Manchester Guardian, reflecting its provincial origins: the paper is still occasionally referred to by this name, especially in North America, although it has been based in London since 1964 (with printing facilities in both Manchester and London).

The Guardian in the popular imagination

The affectionate name the Grauniad for the paper came about because, in the past, it was noted for frequent text mangling, technical typesetting failures and typographical errors, including once misspelling its own name as "The Gaurdian" in the 1970s (this was referenced in the Christmas special of Yes, Minister). Although such errors are now less frequent than they used to be, the 'Corrections and clarifications' column can still often provide some amusement. There were even a number of errors in the first issue, perhaps the most notable being a notification that there would soon be some goods sold at acton, instead of auction.

Related Topics:
1970s - Yes, Minister

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Until the foundation of the Independent, the Guardian was the only serious national daily newspaper in Britain that was not clearly conservative in its political affiliation. The term "Guardian reader" is therefore often used pejoratively by those who do not agree with the paper or self-deprecatingly by those who do. The stereotype of a Guardian reader is a person with leftist or liberal politics rooted in the 1960s, working in the public sector, regularly eating lentils and muesli, wearing sandals and believing in alternative medicine and natural medicine as evidenced by Labour MP Kevin Hughes' largely rhetorical question in the House of Commons on November 19, 2001:

Related Topics:
1960s - Lentil - Muesli - Sandals - Alternative medicine - Natural medicine - Labour - MP - Kevin Hughes - Rhetorical question - House of Commons - November 19 - 2001

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"Does my right hon. Friend find it bizarre — as I do — that the yoghurt- and muesli-eating, Guardian-reading fraternity are only too happy to protect the human rights of people engaged in terrorist acts, but never once do they talk about the human rights of those who are affected by them?" http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200102/cmhansrd/vo011119/debtext/11119-08.htm#11119-08_spnew3

Related Topics:
Human rights - Terrorist

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Like most stereotypes, to some extent this one is both inaccurate and outdated. For instance, the Guardians science coverage is now extensive and although its Weekend supplement features a column by Emma Mitchell, a natural health therapist, and G2 was until the relaunch home to Edzard Ernst's weekly column on complementary medicine (Ernst is professor of complementary medicine at the Peninsula medical school, http://education.guardian.co.uk/academicexperts/story/0,1392,1048903,00.html), the paper now carries the Bad Science column by Ben Goldacre and a quizzical column in G2 called The Sceptic http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,1585944,00.html, which looks at the evidence for popular treatments and remedies.

Related Topics:
Science - Emma Mitchell - Edzard Ernst's - Peninsula medical school - Ben Goldacre

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The stereotype, however, is a persistent feature of British political discourse. Even doctors perpetuate it by using the acronym GROLIES (Guardian Reader Of Low Intelligence in Ethnic Skirt) on patient notes. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3159813.stm

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The Guardian has a tradition of spoof articles on April Fool's Day, sometimes contributed by regular advertisers such as BMW. The most elaborate of these was a travel supplement on San Serriffe.

Related Topics:
Spoof - April Fool's Day - BMW - San Serriffe

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