Niamh Walsh’s Manifesto
Vogue has forgotten her own ‘be kind’ memo
VOGUE Williams, self-anointed social media trailblazer of the #BeKind brigade, said on a podcast last week that her marriage to her ex Brian McFadden makes her ‘feel a little bit sick in my mouth’.
Clearly forgetting the ‘be kind’ memo she regularly rams down the throat of others when she comes in for criticism, she spoke after her new husband Spencer Matthews said that he is daily reminded that his wife is a divorcée.
He remarked: ‘Every time I go into the safe, I have to see your marriage certificates because like we need them for a mortgage and I just have to look at them... And it is unearthed every single time I go there. I look in the safe, which is most days.’
First of all, unless he deposits his brain in the safe – which we won’t rule out 100% here – Spencer’s comments seem completely unnecessary. There is no doubt the pair have done well for themselves but the Rockefellers they’re not, so I refuse to believe that he is rummaging around the home safe for mortgage deeds and documents daily. And unless celebrity certificates are different, then it’s just a teeny bit of paper that can be neatly folded into an envelope and tucked away lest it harm his sensitive soul.
But back to Vogue. She then added: ‘I’m so glad I don’t have to look at the safe. Sometimes I forget it ever happened [her first marriage]. It makes me feel a little bit sick in my mouth. I can’t say I’ve ever been massively sad about a break-up either. I was more embarrassed.’
What a horrible thing to say. Vogue, who I like an awful lot, didn’t look too ill when Brian was sticking his tongue down her throat on an Italian hilltop as they posed for Hello! Magazine.
I don’t imagine her nasty comments would have been kindly received by Brian’s two daughters who Vogue played step-mommy to for the period she was married to the Westlife singer. Aren’t Molly and Lilly-Sue McFadden worthy of Vogue’s kindness?
I also find it particularly disgusting for anyone to publicly slate a former partner. After all, exes are those that we once loved and, in Vogue’s case, vowed to spend the rest of her life with.
While Spencer laughed at this public bashing of Brian, he would be better served getting his head out of the safe and just think for a moment that it was only some years ago Vogue looked like a lovesick puppy drooling over Brian on the cover of a magazine. Pictures not dissimilar to those of Vogue and Spencer that graced the pages on Hello! after they were married.
Nothing is fun-sized with the food police
WELL, there was a right food fight this week. Stephen Donnelly’s demands that we divulge what we’ve digested for some sort of State ‘dirty dinner dossier’ was half-baked at best.
Following on from Donnelly’s dinner debacle the Obese Police came out on ‘portion patrol’. If the FoodieNazis are to be believed (trust me, they aren’t) then we’re all uncontrollable culinary criminals. Armed with yet another new nonsense report, we were warned to cut the crap – literally. If Pringles are your thing well the Pringle people have been telling porkie pies and it seems once you pop you can stop, at Pringle number 13, which is apparently the limit for a smaller waistline.
Buttons are for gluttons as the recommended daily allowance is a precise 10. Smarties can only be taken in servings of 16 in a mixture of colours of your choice.
Jelly Babies equals jelly bellies so it’s only four a day. But according to my candy calculations there are six different Jelly Babies colours so picking which little jelly you eat presents problems in itself.
And what of those big bag of sharing crisps – who among us can say they have ever shared them? I’m all for eating better but somebody somewhere took quite a lot of time to figure this out and tot up the price of sweets to the exact decimal point. Can’t we just enjoy the little treats in life and get those jellies into to our bellies?
Dishy Brad gets to dine à la carte
THE delicious dish that is Brad Pitt has a new woman in his life in the form of German model Nicole Poturalski.
The new couple were snapped enjoying a romantic getaway in the
South of France and are reportedly smitten with each other.
There is just one little spanner in their romantic works – Nicole is already married to restaurateur Roland Mary, 68.
Nicole and Roland are said to have an open relationship, with Roland reported to have known Brad for years. Which is very celeb chic. Relationships like these are not unusual on the Continent or indeed in celebrity land (I’m told).
As a chef, Roland was probably secure in the knowledge that it’s acceptable to go out for burgers occasionally if steak is on the menu at home. But he maybe didn’t consider the rest of that old foodfable that dessert is always the tastiest course of any meal.
Lesson to all modern men out there: don’t give your partner a hall pass to canoodle with Brad Pitt.
Aussies take on the tech wizzards
RECENT times have served as a powerful indication of the importance of an independent media in any democracy.
And never before has the media needed to play such a crucial role as guardians of the truth.
So it is heartening to see the Australian government take a vital stand against Facebook as they have just released draft legislation to compel Google and Facebook to negotiate with Australian media companies.
The digital platforms have responded aggressively, warning of dire consequences, with Facebook threatening to remove news from Australian Facebook pages.
News companies and digital platforms have a reciprocal relationship. The internet is a gateway to the news so publishers have no choice but to distribute through these platforms. News is an integral part of all digital platforms so Google and Facebook would be far less relevant if no news appeared on their feeds. So the stand by the Australian authorities on behalf of journalism is of an importance that cannot be overstated. It is wishful thinking to seek our politicians to take a similar stance on behalf of our media.