Dunny’s Hairdryer

IT is hard to know what is the dumber. Ignoring Covid-19 guidelines? Or flaunting it on social media? Equally dumb, to be fair. That several players from Manchester City and Arsenal’s women’s squads – whose games this weekend have been postponed because some players have coronavirus – jetted off to Dubai over the festive season was ill-advised enough.

To post pictures on Instagram just rubs everyone’s noses in it.

Just as people unable to see their extended families on Christmas Day would have bridled when they saw the lovely social-media picture of Spurs’ Giovani Lo Celso, Erik Lamela and Sergio Reguilon with West Ham’s Manuel Lanzini (above) and their partners and children at an 18-strong festive bash.

If male and female professional footballers brush aside advice or even, as in the case of the men, flagrantly break the rules, it is bad enough.

But it is their unawareness that really sticks in the craw.

In normal times, when so many people’s livelihoods are not under threat, it is nice to see the famous, the sporty and the rich enjoying the trappings of their success. In these times, not so much. Even if you cannot abide by the rules and guidelines, put the camera away.

IT really does not matter, but does anyone else sometimes wonder if a period of quiet reflection might still be more appropriate than a period of applause when marking someone’s passing?

Let’s face it, one of the main reasons the minute’s applause was brought in was to head off any unseemly interruptions of a minute’s silence.

I think we are behind that now.