to think Irish PM Leo Varadkar should hold a press conference to explain why he flouted his own lockdown rules?

[Hypocraticoats]

One rule for politicians and another for the plebs?

I’d certainly pay money to see that press conference, @LaurieMarlow.

Do SF not have a similar if not higher percentage of TDs who went to private school as FG?

How has a thread about an Irish politician turned into a class debate? We are Irish, we have no classes - we are all far worse off than the other and if you think you had it good then you have notions above your station.

Notions.

It must be really shit in UK right now, seeing the country you're in being the laughing stock. And painful on a personal level. Being fed lies, deception and delusion on a daily basis. The natural reaction understandably is to kick back. But hey, kick back at your own government , leave ours alone

Where do his mum and dad live?
Im not going to go there!

if you think you had it good then you have notions above your station Love that. 😂

@Yearcat13 sure they have a lot of experience being laughed at now what with brexit surely!

@sawollya maybe you wouldnt be invited ;) I know what you mean because D15 does not have the best name but look at the kids they have raised? Does where you come from really matter that much? The man was born and raised by clearly very accepting parents. I say accepting because aside from him coming out as gay he also at one point had to 'come out' to his family as a Fine Gaeler and that cannot have been too easy all things considered. They gave him and his sisters the best chance in life and he and his family should not be condemned. I don't know him despite the fact we are members of the same gym and have never met him - possibly because he actually goes to the gym where I just flash about my keyring and eat burgers in Abra on my lunchbreak down the road from said gym but christ almighty why pick apart now where he was raised in Dublin? He was raised well. That should end things. Anyone would think he was out there on the lawn in the Phoenix park in a bleedin Dubs jersey the way yis are talkin.

Well a dubs Jersey would be better than none at all.
Also the blue shirt would suit him

It's never enough though is it? The pain. Prison/ boarding school love. I'm convinced most of UK governance are still looking for the kink of being completely institutionalized. I loved Lobson, lived there for 20 years but OMG they are totally ruled by the dysfunction elite.

@7Days well played, I have to give you that one!

Ahh. The CMO is Dr. Tony Holohan not Hoolahan or Houlihan. I've started reading Vicky Phelan's book. She's a fantastic, brave, caring woman and has had a lot of tragedies in her life.

Bravo 7days! Very funny.

Leo's whole family are medical people. His dad is a retired doctor, his mum a retired nurse. Both of his sisters are midwives and both his brothers in law are doctors. Matt Barrett, his partner, is a doctor. Leo is a qualified doctor. The guy isn't going to go about flouting the rules without a care in the world when his whole bloody family are HCPs.

I'm really quite cross that I've felt compelled to defend him because I'm not a fan. But a show of nipples on a warm day while meeting some friends at the park and obeying the rules, really is fine and I can't help but smell a whiff of homophobia off some the urge to criticise him. (More on twitter than here.)

@alittleprivacy

Bravo 7days! Very funny.

Leo's whole family are medical people. His dad is a retired doctor, his mum a retired nurse. Both of his sisters are midwives and both his brothers in law are doctors. Matt Barrett, his partner, is a doctor. Leo is a qualified doctor. The guy isn't going to go about flouting the rules without a care in the world when his whole bloody family are HCPs.

I'm really quite cross that I've felt compelled to defend him because I'm not a fan. But a show of nipples on a warm day while meeting some friends at the park and obeying the rules, really is fine and I can't help but smell a whiff of homophobia off some the urge to criticise him. (More on twitter than here.)

Leo’s sister Sophia is actually the deputy medical director of Great Ormond Street hospital and is a paediatric neurosurgeon. She was head girl of Kings Hospital School in her day - Leo didn’t make head boy - and is very much considered the star of the family in some circles

@Psychoseverywhere oh the visual i had was more me wandering around outside. I didn't picture myself inside the family home breaking bread. Even in my delusions, I dont have notions!

We are Irish, we have no classes

This isn’t true. Our class system isn’t as impactful as the U.K. one on everyday life, but it definitely exists.

Irish Times have described chestgate as a storm in a can.

People are just bored, that’s the only reason I can think of to give Leo’s picnic any attention.

LaurieMarlow
I agree re class in Ireland.
It definitely exists.

Absolutely there's social class in Ireland. It was complicated by the existence for a long time of an Anglo-Irish settler/landowning class, and it differs from, say, England in that Ireland largely didn't have an industrial revolution, so that for a long time, well into the mid-20thc, the class distinctions were primarily rural (small vs strong farmers vs landless labourers) or small town (various gradations of shopkeeper and professional classes).

One major difference that still exists was brought to my mind again by several UK posters on one of the Normal People threads who found it incredible that rich child of two solicitors Marianne was at school with the child of their cleaner, Connell at what they saw as 'the local comp'-- but the fact is that there are far fewer private schools in Ireland outside of Dublin, so that element of social class is not as stratified as in England by being passed on in education.

I also don't think shibboleths of class exist in the same way in Ireland...?

@Inniu

Do SF not have a similar if not higher percentage of TDs who went to private school as FG?

Including Mary Lou herself, who went to Notre Dame in Churchtown.

One of the differences I see in terms of class between the two is that in the U.K. you’re more likely to mix primarily with your own social class.

Friendships and social interaction between classes are much more prevalent in Ireland. The school point is a big part of this, but also clubs, hobbies, workplaces to some degree.

@Homescar that's something I always find fascinating on Mumsnet. The whole private school thing. We don't even have a private primary in these parts and one private secondary school which isn't by any means highly sought after and I'm in a city. I'm from an infamous council estate and I went to school with people who's dads were surgeons.

I think in Ireland there is much more social mobility.

Leo’s sister Sophia is actually the deputy medical director of Great Ormond Street hospital and is a paediatric neurosurgeon. She was head girl of Kings Hospital School in her day - Leo didn’t make head boy - and is very much considered the star of the family in some circles

@Anne8850 Thanks for the clarification. I read the midwives thing somewhere when Leo started doing telephone triage work. I'll double check stuff like that before I post in future.

I think in Ireland there is much more social mobility.

Yes. I’m in south Dublin, so private schools a go-go (though only at secondary level).

And while private schools do open doors in many ways, I know plenty of people who were educated privately and ended up in very average, even blue collar jobs. I don’t think that happens with those who went to Eton.

The other thing is that there just isn’t the same level of wealth, particularly wealth that goes back generations and generations, concentrated in a particular cohort in Ireland that there is in the U.K. The playing field is more even.