Niamh Walsh’s Manifesto
Love Island stars back in the doghouse over idiocy
LOVE ISLAND reality stars aren’t exactly renowned for their smarts. But this week two former Islanders took stupidity to a new level. Molly-Mae Hague was caught in a maelstrom after her boyfriend Tommy Fury gave her a designer puppy complete with a £2,000 a Louis Vuitton dog carrier.
The £5,000 dog – which was imported from Russia – died in agony just days later after suffering a seizure.
My feelings on puppy farms and people who buy designer dogs have always been crystal clear. Tommy bought the Pomeranian as a present for Molly-Mae’s 21st birthday. That they consider a puppy a commodity akin to a designer bag seriously enrages me. That they think it conducive to the young pup’s welfare to be flown at barely a few weeks old from Russia to the UK to be nothing more than an accessory in their Instagram lives disgusts me.
The poor pooch, whom they named Mr Chai, died an agonising death just days after Molly-Mae had set up the dog’s own Instagram page. People were naturally furious at the pup’s passing and took to social media in droves to denounce the pair for not doing any research into the dealer or the pup’s provenance.
Taking to YouTube – a pay per view platform – the bereaved couple tearfully tried to justify the situation as they explained the tragic, and what they astonishingly believe were the unforeseen, circumstances around Mr Chai’s death.
An autopsy revealed that he had a litany of health issues that would have seen the poor pup in absolute agony as he was cargoed thousands of kilometres to live for just a few days.
In a weepy ‘woe is we’ video the pair set out to prove shipping him to the UK had nothing to do with his death.
A statement later released catalogued Chai’s issues and said that he died of a seizure and neurological issues. This probably related to the puppy’s skull not being fully formed.
Even after the dog’s death and having been inundated with information about puppy farms, Molly-Mae said that should they be getting a another dog they would ‘consider buying from the UK’. Speechless is an understatement .
Mr Chai, we learned, had just half a brain when he was poorly bred in Russia. But one thing is for sure – Chai had a fair few more brain cells than these clueless clowns.
Irish #BLM protest put lives at risk
THE killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police was horrific, grotesque and a shocking global wake-up call to systemic racism.
The video of his death quite rightly provoked outrage and anger and mass protests ensued.
While I wholeheartedly believe our democratic right to protest should be protected and enshrined, the very real fact is that a public health emergency on the scale of Covid-19 supersedes this right.
The initial Dublin march that saw 5,000 protesters descend on the capital to show solidarity for a violent death in America was a blatant disregard for lives in Ireland.
That our police force failed to intervene as protesters failed to observe social distancing rules was a disservice to us all.
Should people wish to protest, there are ways of showing support without risking others needing life support.
Senator exposes cover-up at Lidl
SENATOR Lynn Ruane was looking to the saying ‘sun’s out, buns out’ this week when she went shopping at her local Lidl in a bikini and sarong.
But the trip left Ruane ‘absolutely apoplectic furious’ when she was approached by a security guard who asked her to cover up while wearing ‘inappropriate’ clothing in the store.
Ruane took to social media to share her shopping saga.
Taking to Twitter she vented: ‘@lidl_ireland wants me to wear a different top to shop there apparently. As if me wearing a swimsuit for a top in the summer is any different to any other little tank top I’d wear.’
‘Get a grip. Men walking around in vests showing just as much skin.’
Lidl, of course, apologised. But why?
Having lived for more than a decade in Spain I feel eminently more qualified to comment on swimsuit sartorial etiquette than Ms Ruane. I can attest to the fact that most shopping centre supermarkets there insist that both men and women are covered up when they shop.
So get a grip, senator. It has nothing to do with ‘keeping the woman down’ but everything to do with hygiene and basic decency and respect for other shoppers.
But what is far more egregious is that in these terrible times when pensioners are literally making a life or death dash to the supermarket for essential supplies, THIS is what bothers an elected official.
New BBC boss can’t help his upbringing
IT APPEARS we have reached a lamentable point in life where people are expected to apologise for the circumstances into which they were born.
The BBC announced its new director general this week and no sooner had the name Tim Davie dropped then there was a cacophony of catcalls labelling him a ‘white privileged Oxbridge educated male’.
That Mr Davie is more than qualified for the role is inconsequential in some quarters, where they raged that the job should have gone to a woman or someone from a minority. One can as much help being born white or privileged as he can help being born into an underprivileged minority.
At a time when the BBC needs, more than ever, a leader to pull it back from the precipice, it surely stands that the best person should get the job. Pulling my hair out waiting for a new do WITH the Government announcing that it was accelerating the reopening of the country it is befuddling that hairdressers and beauty salons will still remain shut until July 20. Many salons have already put in social distancing measures and the nation at large – including Leo Varadkar himself – are calling out for a haircut.
So chop, chop, Leo! Let us get back to the business of beauty.