it seems to be either

(and, for context, i'm writing this after having read the new statesman, the observer, the guardian, and the guardian weekly.....let's not even start on the mail, et al)

a) a rant that doesn't really have a central argument the whole way through and just bounces and flails around, off-shooting into whatever direction seemed appropriate that sentence.

or

b) some really boring and not funny, 'this happened in my life' type shtick, where an 'anecdote' has been scraped from the inside of a bin and puffed up to try and look appetising.

or

a mixture of both.

even people I admire are shit columnists.

can only assume it's something to do with the fact that people just can't always force themselves to be informative/funny/engaging/well-argued in a nice 750 word package.

when was the last time you read a decent columnist?

why are they shit?

am i just shit?

am i just the big fucking shit here?