More than 100 Downing Street staff were invited to a lockdown-breaking party in the No 10 garden and told to “bring your own booze”, a leaked email shows

When Tory ministers choose
To host social events for their crews
They view Covid restrictions
As tedious fictions
And never shell out for the booze

John Moynes

Getty

Hush-hush, eye to eye.

Public notice:

The planned online get-together tonight for the unjabbed has been postponed owing to a paucity of willing participants.

We hope to reschedule ‘Jabless on the Telly’ for this Thursday at 9pm (‘If we have to drag them off the streets,’ Bodge jokes).

If you are poke-free and would like to share your reasons why among like-minded souls, places are still available.

Email to Broadsheet@broadsheet.ie marked ‘Unjabbed’.

Friday: Jabless on The Telly

RollingNews

This afternoon.

Earlier…

This afternoon.

Earlier…

This morning.

Earlier…

Dr. Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer

This morning.

Via Irish Times:

The State’s public health team is set to consider mandatory vaccination, with a new paper being prepared by the Department of Health on the legal and ethical aspects of such a move…

…In a letter to Government last week, the chief medical officer, Tony Holohan, said Ireland had not yet reached the peak of the Omicron wave. Nphet recommended that all current measures – such as the earlier closing time for pubs and restaurants and indoor events – remain in place until the end of January.

Separately, minutes of a meeting of Nphet on December 16th reveal that mandatory vaccination will be considered by the team. “It was noted that the Nphet will discuss the issue of mandatory vaccination at a later date and this discussion will be facilitated by a forthcoming paper from the Department of Health on the relevant ethical and legal considerations pertaining to this topic.”

There you go now.

Nphet considers mandatory vaccination (Irish Times)

RollingNews

Meanwhile…

Meanwhile…

This afternoon.

Via Mary McCarthy in the Irish Independent:

…When I was deciding for my 13-year-old, who is as tall as I am, it was easy. The risks of side-effects were said to be very low, he was starting secondary and I wanted to avoid Covid disruption. I recall it was announced around then that vaccinated people would no longer be considered close contacts – which meant it was a no-brainer.

For my younger kids, with their less formed bodies, the same argument is there to get the jab, but I spent longer poring over the HSE information (which is very reassuring) and listening extra closely when experts discussed this before deciding it was a good idea.

I am not overly anxious about my kids getting Covid, even if I am worried they might pass it on to their grandparents. But with school life still upended two years into the pandemic, if vaccinations for primary children can help forge a way back to normal, I say bring it on…

Tip-toeing around jabs for kids does us no good, so bring it on – they need to get their lives back (Mary McCarthy. Independent.ie)

Meanwhile…

Saturday’s Irish Times

Um.

‘Afterwards I got a sticker’: Hundreds of children line up for Covid-19 vaccine (Irish Times)

Yay.

More hoodies.

This morning.

Arnotts, Henry Street, Dublin 1.

Brown Thomas Arnotts has announced Sligo-based Pure Clothing as the winner of their Pitch’21 young entrepreneur initiative. Founders of Pure Clothing, Peter Timlin (above left) and Richard Grimes (above right) take home an outsized cheque for €10,000 and have secured retail space at Arnotts, both in-store and online.

Pure Clothing

Sasko Lazarov/Photocallireland

Brevner – More Of Us

Singing truth to power.

Matt Brevner (top) is a rapper from New Westminster in British Columbia, Canada, and now based in Vancouver.

This is his powerful cri de coeur calling out Covid cult-like behaviour.

Who says the devil has all the best tunes?

Nick says: Are you listening, Mr Trudeau?

Brevner

Aged Wisdom

Be a survivor,
Toughened through moments.
A bookshelf,
Of stories unspoken.
Embrace the thrilling tempest of existence.
Weep with the wind.
Dance beneath the beams.
Refuge is in the earth.
Despite how bohemian this seems,
You can heal.
Allow your hurt
dissolve into tears.
You can ooze melancholy
while still spiralling up.
Walk barefoot through the manic meadows.
Surrender to your medication.
The cynic will melt.
Burn that rehearsed farewell.
Accept the transience of peace.
Be a shepherd
But also the sheep.
Forgive but never be naive.
Light that match if
you can function in debris.
Accept, clouds will obscure
the deep serene.
Intoxicated on vulnerability…
Perhaps the journey of life
is to realise our own fragility.

Aoife Cunningham

Sasko Lazarov/RollingNews

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