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 [...]
From Jennifer O’Connell:
By Jennifer O’Connell
Jean Treacy didn’t have a hope. The primitive courtroom sketches were never going to cut it.
Even if the gardai had whisked her out of the Central Criminal Court in a UFO, it was only a matter of time before the one-time mistress of Eamonn Lillis was gazing out [...]
From Jennifer O’Connell:
By Jennifer O’Connell
It’s not actually true that the Eskimo or Inuit people have hundreds of words for snow. In fact, they have a modest seven.
The legend reputedly comes from the fact that most Inuit languages are polysynthetic, so that even seldom-used expressions like – say – ‘snow that falls [...]
From Jennifer O’Connell:
By Jennifer O’Connell
I swore I wouldn’t get sucked in. I wrote a 4,000 word article urging others not to get sucked in.
I pointed out that the only people who would benefit from the mounting hysteria surrounding swine flu were shareholders in the pharmaceuticals companies involved in manufacturing the vaccines.
I [...]
From Jennifer O’Connell:
By Jennifer O’Connell
Air travellers from 14 mostly Muslim countries deemed to have links with terrorism – and, er, Cuba – will face extra security checks on flights into the US from next week.
The move comes after the botched attempt by the so-called underpants bomber to set fire to a Detroit-bound [...]
From Jennifer O’Connell:
By Jennifer O’Connell
‘Taboo-shatterer Iris Robinson’ is not a phrase I ever expected to use.
In fact, of all the politicians on this island you could have imagined lifting the veil on one of society’s dark secrets, the north’s first lady would not top many ‘most likely to’ lists.
Until last week, Robinson [...]
From Jennifer O’Connell: By Jennifer O’ConnellImagine this scenario for a moment. Some friends of yours are going through what might euphemistically be termed ‘a rough patch’. Late one night, there’s a row. She jumps into her car, takes off down the drive, appears to swerve, and hits a tree. He comes after her with a [...]
