A Different View
Power and money – the aphrodisiacs that never let you down
It was the irrepressible Mrs Merton with her tongue firmly placed in cheek who once asked Paul Daniels’ wife Debbie McGee what it was that first attracted her to the small, bald millionaire magician.
It’s a question that the French media might well rephrase to put to the actress Julie Gayet if they were half as full of testosterone as their own President now appears to be.
And if Francois Hollande were a slightly more philosophical misogynist, he might take some solace from his ability to seduce a seemingly infinite number of beautiful women despite his boring and portly appearance.
But then the little Napoleon who preceded him, Nicolas Sarkozy, managed to hook up with one of the world’s top supermodels – albeit one in the autumn of her catwalk career – when he could hardly see higher than her navel.
And our own version of the Little General, Charlie Haughey, had quite a way with the ladies as well, despite his own vertical challenges. Although in fairness, the whiff of scandal and smell of Charvet shirts might have had something to do with that as well.
The common link seems to be that there are some women out there who thrive on power and money in the way that new babies thrive on mother’s milk.
Sometimes even one or the other will do – as in the case of the WAGs who plonk themselves into the lives of Premiership footballers, whose key attributes are healthy physiques and their even healthier bank balances.
The tabloids prove that many of these ladies will allow their footballing superstars a generous degree of latitude when it comes to their dalliances, once the credit card is still guaranteed to the max at home.
And quite frankly, that’s fine with the rest of us – because the truth is it’s none of our business.
None of us know what really goes on behind anyone else’s front door – and sometimes we’re not entirely aware what’s going on behind our own.
So if the French have a relaxed attitude to the notion of mistresses, then good luck to them. Indeed it would almost seem like a derogation of duties if their President didn’t have at least two ladies on the go to keep up with an ancient political tradition.
Francois Mitterrand did it and so did Jacques Chirac, and it didn’t seem to hugely affect their ability to do their job.
Perhaps that is just confirming the old adage that, if you want a job done well, give to a busy person – and a man trying to keep two homes afloat is certainly that.
In fairness to the French, perhaps it’s just the rest of us who are fascinated with the dalliances of the rich and famous – we might not be sophisticated enough to appreciate such sexual subtleties.
The mistresses of former Presidents were, by all accounts, open secrets among the French chattering classes, but nobody thought any less of their leaders because they were busier than normal in the boudoir.
If Francois Hollande were Irish or English and he turned up before the entire senior press corps of his nation – refusing to answer a single question about his private life in the midst of this scandal – he’d be hounded out of the room and possibly out of office.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
A Different View with Dave O’Connell
The only time in your life that you should ever utter the words: “Do you know who I am?” are if you’ve just had a bang on the head or you are unfortunately suffering from dementia.
Because, otherwise, the phrase ‘do you know who I am’ only serves to make things a whole lot worse.
Normally, the phrase is unleashed towards late night door staff on a wave of alcohol – and never once in the history of time has it produced the result the utterer had intended.
The doorman may well know who you are which is often the very reason you’re not getting into the place in the first instance – or if he doesn’t know who you are, he won’t be unduly influenced when he does, unless you’re a famous movie star or his long-lost cousin.
‘Do you know where I am?’ might often be closer to the phrase you’re looking for, because that would serve you well when you’re looking for a taxi.
‘Do you know who I am?’ is a threatening phrase that in truth wouldn’t frighten the cat. But if you’re anxious to dig the hole a few shovels deeper, you should follow up with ‘I’d like to speak to your manager.’
Managers can be elusive at the best of times, but they’re normally rarer than hen’s teeth when it comes to the small hours of the morning – and even if they’re there, they are most likely watching proceedings on CCTV…just so they know who you are, in case you yourself can’t remember.
‘I’d like to speak to your manager’ suggests that you and he or she are from the one social sphere which is several strata north of the one occupied by door staff.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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A Different View with Dave O’Connell
As it turned out, we were much closer to a Eurovision win than we could ever have imagined – not Ireland, of course, because we’ve now mastered the art of just sending cannon fodder to be blown out in the semi-final.
No, this was just two of us – myself and our eldest – who were lucky enough to be at Anfield for the Reds’ recent win over Brentford, where positioned in the seat right in front of us were four happy lads from Finland.
One of them, we now know, was Käärijä, the singer of the catchiest song at Eurovision, Cha Cha Cha.
But just a week before 7,000 people sung his catchphrase at the Eurovision Arena, he and two his mates – accompanied by an older bloke who had to be either his dad or from the national broadcaster – sat anonymously in the same corner of the lower level of Anfield’s Main Stand.
He was utterly unknown to us as well of course, and the only thing that saw him stand out was his green nail varnish. Live and let live, of course, but it still ensures that you make an impression even if it looks like you were just very late for St Patrick’s Day.
Käärijä may well be Liverpool’s greatest Scandinavian fan, although the bar for that is set fairly high, given that they invade the city in greater numbers every two weeks than the Vikings did just once during the first millennium.
Equally, he may not be a football fan at all – although, as the rest of the week proved, he sure loves a crowd.
Positioned as we were in the corner of the Main Stand, the next section to us, around the corner in the Anfield Road Stand – currently adding a top layer – was occupied by the visiting Brentford supporters.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
A Different View with Dave O’Connell
Contactless payments reached a record €17.9 billion in Ireland last year – up by 31 per cent on 2021, as people came out from under their Covid shell and appear to have left their cash behind them.
Figures from the Banking & Payments Federation found that – despite the cost-of-living increases – the Irish public made three million contactless payments a day, worth an average of €53 million in the final quarter of 2022.
Given that there are 3.8 million people in Ireland over the age of 18, that means that almost every single one of us tapped the card every day last year.
And again, on the presumption that there are a few who still prefer peeling a fifty off a wad of notes, the true figure may be even higher, as we eschew actual money every time we go into a restaurant, bar or shop.
Then comes the monthly morning of reckoning when you open your statement – electronic of course because, like paper money, banks don’t deal in paper statements anymore either – and your guilty secrets unfurl like a rap sheet before your very eyes.
Five taps of a Friday night in the local, followed by a five-ounce burger meal on the way home.
And just why did you need a family-pack of crisps when a small bag would have done? Was all that beer and wine really for a party, or a night in just for one?
Cash provided plenty of dark corners to ignore your profligacy, but there are no hiding places in the contactless world.
Worse still, until that morning of reckoning arrives, you’ve no clue how much you’ve spent, and handing over the card doesn’t hurt half as much as parting with hard cash.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
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