From top; Irish Times’ Consumer Affairs correspondent Conor Pope and his tweet that prompted online derision

This afternoon.

Via Irish Times:

“Good man,” another user said. “Thumbs up Virtue signalling to the max and adding to the mass, accepted discrimination of your fellow man at the sane time. Pathetic.”

Then there was the person who said “Enjoy your slavery” and the other who simply said “twat”.

Several people suggested that the Covid Cert was a “leper pass” while one person confidently told me that my “tweet won’t age well.”

Their assessment was echoed by a person who said they had taken “a screen shot for when you delete this tweet, and you will”.

Someone else urged their followers to remember my name and the names of others who have ever voiced their support for a vaccination programme “when the kids start dying”.

…My innocuous tweet lost me at least one fan. “I actually thought this guy had a brain but just another zombie sleep walking us into a totalitarian facist (sic) state,” he said.

Another user wondered “how Conor Pope or anyone who uses this track & trace can look their children in the eye is beyond me given what it means for their future”.

Firm but fair?

Only you can decide.

Conor Pope: I told the world about my vaccine cert. It wasn’t long before the abuse started (Irish Times)

Meanwhile…

In fairness.

This morning/afternoon.

Via BBC:

Ikea has cut sick pay for unvaccinated staff who need to self-isolate because of Covid exposure and in some cases for workers who test positive.

The retail giant acknowledged it was an “emotive topic” but said its policy had to evolve with changing circumstances.

…At Ikea unvaccinated workers, who do not have mitigating circumstances, who test positive will be paid in line with company sick pay.

Unvaccinated workers, without mitigating circumstances and required to isolate owing to being identified as a close contact, could now receive as little as £96.35 a week – the Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) minimum.

Ikea cuts sick pay for unvaccinated staff forced to self-isolate (BBC)

RollingNews

Dublin.

The capital of cargo plane painting.

Gulp.

Sweary.

Earlier: New Balls

Meanwhile…

This guy.

Conor Cruise O’Brien in 1973

Kevin writes:

On foot of the first part of RTE’s documentary three=part series Crimes And Confessions [examining the most notorious miscarriages of justice from the 1970s and 1980s especially the methods of the Gardai] which was aired on RTE television last evening, the coming week is going to be a stressful one for members of the broad political movement Continuity Conor Cruise O’Brien, foot soldiers and big shot columnists alike.

Last evening’s episode made repeated, and in the opinion of some in the greater Howth Hill area, gratuitous use of the term “heavy gang“, a phrase which brings your average fan of the 1973-77 Fine Gael-Labour Coalition government out in raging hives. Near the end of last evening’s episode, the great Dr O’Brien himself is shown in a most unflattering light which, in the eyes of some misguided young people, may make him look like a kind of poor man’s General Pinochet.

The second episode, which airs next Monday January 17 on RTE at 9.35pm promises to be such unpleasant viewing that many Conor Cruise O’Brien fans will spend the next week face down in dark rooms, without so much as another Fintan O’Toole column about Brexit (or how it’s all the Provos fault) to hand. If you are a carer for, or relative of, a member of Continuity Conor Cruise O’Brien, feel free to print out this poem and mop their brow with it. We owe them that much.

To The Man Who Defines Ireland

When telling us, as a nation, to cop on to ourselves
you spit the words Provo
or workers’ paradise like a lady
trying to rid her mouth of sour milk.

But your voice is church bells and sunshine
pouring down on Kingstown Harbour, circa 1913
when you put your tongue across the syllables
Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth.

The greatest thing to come out of Crumlin
since the curried chips
that made a young Phil Lynott
question his lifestyle choices.

You are politically and philosophically serious
as a second division footballer’s fashion sense,
circa 1977; or a stockbroker last seen exiting
a high-end house of great repute
wearing a thirteen gallon hat;
or a guy in a white linen jacket
who’ll end up wandering O’Connell Street
shouting against Home Rule.

And without you, we’d not be ourselves.
For you are our national anticonvulsant
without which we’d be in danger
of actually doing something.

Kevin Higgins

RTE

Fly The Nest – Old Street Lovers

He’s as free as a bird now.

Hailing from the Dublin suburb of Ballinteer, Stephen Cooper (top) is spreading his wings as Fly The Nest.

The single above was one of the standout tracks of last year – and top marks too for the video. Now Stephen has just released the follow-up Say Hello, produced by Pete Doherty.

He also writes music for an advertising company in LA.

Stephen says of the new single:

“Something doesn’t work out, and you’re waiting for that person to come back – you could nearly be waiting till you’re an old man. It gets into that.”

Nick says: May the Nest man win.

Fly The Nest

An FFP3 mask

This morning.

Via Irish Times:

The National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) has advised that people can choose to wear FFP3 and the slightly lower-grade FFP2 respirator or medical masks instead of cloth masks if they wish, but stopped short of recommending the higher-grade masks to the public instead of cloth ones….

…Nphet has advised that a respirator or medical mask rather than a cloth mask should ideally be worn by anyone who is a confirmed case while infectious, who has Covid-19 symptoms, who is a household contact of a case or who is visiting a healthcare setting or a vulnerable person.

Coronavirus: High-grade masks may be better for those at risk, says Nphet (Irish Times)

Getty

Splutter!

Last night.

Claire Byrne Live on RTÉ One.

Keith Barry and Emer O’Neil demonstrate the Wim Hof cold therapy and breathing method.

Where are your masks?

Broadsheet.ie