Niamh Walsh’s Manifesto If Kayleigh can do it, anyone can
Laura’s woes after shilling for British army shilling
LAURA WHITMORE was caught up in another war of words this week after it emerged that the British army podcast she took part in was indeed intended to ‘recruit’ new members into the military.
Broadcaster Laura came under fire last month for a post on Instagram stating that she was ‘really pleased’ to share the first episode of The Locker, which was posted on the same day that she paid tribute to the late John Hume.
Laura initially hit back saying she was no British shill – despite getting a five-figure sum from the army coffers – and said the podcast was meant to promote body positivity.
But this week The Times published documents showing the Locker Podcasts are part of ‘the RPP’s (Recruiting Partnering Project) overall marketing strategy to attract applications by using a wide range of opportunities and media channels’.
Laura countered: ‘I am used to media outlets twisting stories and aware I have a platform that I will use and continue to use; especially to speak about how men have written about women in the past.’
To use the Queen’s English, one finds the episode most amusing. She either knew she was being paid to recruit for the British army, or she didn’t. It should be an easy fix to state clearly which was the case, and move on.
Hating men a very unattractive stance
I HATE MEN. Or as they say in French ‘Moi les hommes, je les déteste.’ And not just the bad men like Hitler and Harvey Weinstein; IT’S ALL MEN.
Granted my dad’s a man. One who worked his entire life to afford his family a better one. Yes, he did wipe away my little girl tears when I scraped my knee and my big girl tears when my heart was bruised. He stood court-side at every one of my basketball matches and was there with hugs when we won and even bigger hugs when we lost.
He dragged himself out of bed at ungodly hours to pick me and my friends up yet was up to cook us a fry to help with the hangover.
A great dad he is, but a man nonetheless. No exceptions. Not even for Ghandi. His prayers were for ‘mankind’ – a subjugator in sandals if you ask me.
OK, I clearly don’t hate men. But in France this week author Pauline Harmange published a treatise on hating men and, quelle surprise, it shifted more than a few copies.
A French minister, a man, called it ‘an ode to misandry’ and threatened to prosecute Harmange for ‘hate crimes’.
Harmange replied that while it is all men she has an issue with she conceded that some, or one actually, do have their uses in society. ‘I am married to a man, who is great and really supports my writing,’ she said. ‘But in general I mistrust men I don’t know.’
With such a super-sized misandrist chip on her shoulder I would hazard a guess that the unfortunate men who happen upon Ms Harmange’s path harbour emotions similar to hers – distrust and I suspect a little fear.
In fact, most women have a visceral reaction to man-bashing on behalf of all women.
A world without dad hugs, the friendship of boys, the love of a good man, and the heroic deeds of more than a few good men is not a world that the vast majority of women want.
Covid making us forget climate crisis
WHERE, I want to know, are all of Greta Thunberg’s hashtag army when California is burning and nations like Japan are experiencing some of the worst weather conditions on record?
At home ripping open their latest online purchase from Amazon or another fast-fashion brand – that’s probably where.
The devastating footage emerging of wildfires in California and Oregon can only be described as apocalyptic. And while the world is engulfed in fighting the pandemic, the focus has shifted from global warming just as world weather conditions are reaching peak panic levels. We are all struggling to keep it together in this pandemic but that cannot come at the cost of devastating the planet. There are little changes we can all make that can have a positive global impact.
THERE isn’t one among us who hasn’t had to do some task at work that is difficult, unpalatable, embarrassing or even abhorrent. But for the sake of our wages we sometimes swallow our dignity, get out and do our job.
This week Donald’s Trump’s glamorous spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany faced the bloodthirsty White House press corps mere hours after damning revelations in Bob Woodward’s new book Rage emerged.
In the book Trump is captured on tape saying he was aware of the severity of the virus and he ‘downplayed’ the pandemic on purpose.
More than 190,000 people have died in the US with more than 6.3million Covid cases recorded so far, according to Johns Hopkins University. Even so, the unflappable Kayleigh doubled down on her paymaster’s position. The president, she said, ‘never lied’, he was ‘expressing calm’. She said Trump ‘embodied the American spirit of unity in the face of the pandemic’.
If anything, Kayleigh is a lesson to us all in how to execute hard parts of the job with aplomb.
McFadden loses online battle of wits
LAST week I defended singer Brian McFadden after vile comments from his ex-wife Vogue Williams. And I stand by that defence. But really, the hapless popster does himself no favours at all.
This week McFadden found himself in a viral war of words with Virgin Media News reporter Richard Chambers. The spat began when Chambers was blocked from viewing McFadden’s tweets after posting some political meme directed at the former pop star. McFadden quickly responded, calling Chambers a ‘knobhead’. Nice.
Chambers is the nation’s man with all the pandemic daily updates. McFadden is still pursuing a career in music. It was a no-brainer that Chambers would win. But in a world of bad news the Twitter spat was a dose of light relief.