From Jennifer O’Connell: By Jennifer O’ConnellIt was a fertile week in politics. First, there was the news that Samantha Cameron, wife of the British Conservative party leader, David, is to give birth again in September – a neat piece of timing which offers British voters the enticing prospect of another Downing Street baby. (Cue the Sun [...]
From Jennifer O’Connell:
By Jennifer O’Connell
I don’t know about you, but I didn’t feel much like celebrating the feast day of St Patrick last week. I’ve been increasingly dubious of late about the value of the pious Briton’s legacy to this damp little island.
Last week, as I listened to Monsignor Maurice Dooley put [...]
From Jennifer O’Connell:
By Jennifer O’Connell
The Icelandic people got a special, pre-Eurovision treat last week.
It came in the form of a motivational video originally made for staff at Landsbanki – the bank behind the Icesave debacle – which was nationalised in the meltdown of 2008.The video debuted on YouTube in recent weeks and [...]
From Jennifer O’Connell:
By Jennifer O’Connell
Within minutes of opening his mouth to announce an official review of Leaving Cert and university results last week, Batt O’Keeffe was doing his bit to make the case for those bemoaning falling standards in our education system.
“I’ve asked the State examinations commission and the HEA and my own senior officials [...]
From Jennifer O’Connell:
By Jennifer O’Connell
It’s nearing the end of her shift, and Ciara is exhausted. She can no longer feel her fingers as they fly instinctively across her keyboard.
But she can’t afford to stop now for a coffee, or to exchange a few words with one of the 500 colleagues occupying the [...]
From Jennifer O’Connell:
Living Dolls: The Return of Sexism,
By Natasha Walter
Virago
Reviewed by Jennifer O’Connell
It’s always a pleasure to hear someone else admit they were wrong. And when that someone else is a pre-eminent feminist, playwright and Guardian journalist, there’s not so much pleasure in some quarters, as barely-disguised glee.
Natasha Walter is most famous as the mouthy [...]
From Jennifer O’Connell:
By Jennifer O’Connell
Michelle Obama found herself in hot water recently after she launched a strategy aimed at combating childhood obesity. The US First Lady spoke frankly about her eldest daughter’s weight, controversially revealing that Malia’s body mass index was too high at one point.
Her purpose in doing so wasn’t to [...]
From Jennifer O’Connell:
By Jennifer O’Connell
In the last 24 hours, I have read roughly 57,626 words.
I know this because I kept a diary.
For a while now, I’ve had a niggling suspicion that I’m not reading anymore; that my brain has responded to the cacophony of noise and chatter to which it is constantly [...]
From Jennifer O’Connell:
By Jennifer O’Connell
I thought we’d said goodbye to the lazy, casual misogyny that once characterised so much public discourse in this country.
But lately – like acid-wash denim, Charlie Bird and interest rate hikes – it seems to be on its way back.
Perhaps it’s the recession; maybe it’s a [...]
From Jennifer O’Connell:
By Jennifer O’Connell
Last Saturday morning, several hundred people in a handful of cities in Britain and elsewhere around the world waved their families a cheery goodbye, and headed off to engage in a mass suicide attempt.
Like members of some slogan t-shirt wearing cult, they congregated in large groups at street corners. They stood [...]
