Dear The Guardian

Last week I wrote a short article which I wanted the Guardian to publish on their Comment Is Free website. It was a response (more concise than my lengthy rebuttal on here) to the Germaine Greer article they had published a few days earlier. First they seemed keen, then they lost my piece and forgot to get back to me. Then they published a rather light-weight rebuttal by another woman in the industry. Then they ignored me for a few more days as I chased up on whether or not they wanted it (took me 1 day to write it and them 5 days to get back to me in the end). Then they finally got back to me to say they'd been a bit busy and "sorry" and they didn't want it now. By this stage it was a bit late to go offering it round to all the other places I might have taken it (like the F-Word or Liberal Conspiracy - you guys will get first dibs next time...).

I wasn't exactly happy with the way my hard work was treated but there again these guys are a news organisation and there's a crisis in Pakistan right now, Darfur is a mess, war continues in Iraq and Afghanistan, human lives hang precipitously in the balance in Gaza and even closer to home in Northern Ireland problems are flaring up and people are dead. I can totally understand how a reaction to a few sexist remarks by a writer and occassional TV pundit managed to slip through the cracks. Then I discovered that during the same period they were too busy to get back to me, the Guardian team still had time to produce this video. Two giggling women trying to teach each other how to run around in expensive high-heeled shoes. You're a fucking news organisation for fuck's sake!! Do your fucking job!!