25 June 1998 Edition
Television: Excuses, excuses
Why Men Don't Iron (Channel 4)
The Louise Woodward Interview (BBC1)
Beg To Differ (BBC2)
I think I've hit writer's block.
After 100 or so weeks of abusing John Bruton and Donegal men, to name a few, and reminiscing about my granny's cat and his uncle, my font has run dry.
But there's nothing like a good domestic to get your brain running, especially as it promised to help my ironing career.
``Why Men Don't Iron'' asked if there was a biological reason women ended up more often than not in the home, and why, after three decades of supposed equal opportunity, there had been little change in the differnces between the sexes.
Being single was a great illusion - burnt beans and spuds was a great stomach liner and one never noticed the three inches of dust and termites on top of the telly, and mother told the neighbours ``sure isn't he doing great there above in Dublin for himself and all....wouldn't he make a great husband''.
After marriage reality sets in - the toilet bowl has to be scrubbed and baby has to come before the marches and pints. Unfortunately for many of us, improvement is slow, and painful for our partners.
And now we have the excuse that biology and not generations of conditioning makes us like this. The programme produced very impressive brain scans, showing differences in brain power between men and women.
At birth girls are much quicker to recognise their parents' faces and are supposedly more sensitive. The chemistry in the brains is different and hence men are more competitive and more willing to take risks. But one must ask, do the parents, despite their efforts, condition their children - girls are generally kept off the streets and dressed in pink, while boys are taken to football matches and expected to fend for themselves. Amanda and Brian tried the opposite with their twins, but to little avail as Harry, despite much gentle pink persuasion, made a beeline for the tractor and Sally for the dollies. The documentary also claimed that differences exist in spatial and verbal abilities, hence the different paths taken in education.
Boys supposedly thrived better in the competitive and disipline-driven educational world of yesteryear while girls are strides ahead of their male counterparts in the modern schooling era.
Jenny Fincker and her teaching associates have tried to accommodate the sexes in their secondary school - boys are exposed to more ``heroes'' in literature to inspire, while girls are encouraged to succeed in maths.
If these methods are expanded on, are we to see Yeats and Shakespeare being replaced by Scharwzenegger and Gazza? One can't but agree that mixed schooling is more healthy and natural for all, particularly as the old excuse for boys schools - more priests and better hurling teams - is no more. Boys secondary schools invariably consist of bullying, spitting, cornbeef sandwiches, rainy bus stops and giggling at porno mags.
Anything else can only be of benefit. Now back to my sixpack!
Peter, whether influenced by his brain size or more likely life's experiences, was more resourceful and a better cook than most men.
Featured in last Monday's ``Beg To Differ'', he scavenges through bins in order that ``us homeless people should also be able to avail of London's gastronomical delights''. After tipping any prospective bindiggers about avoiding the maggots, bleach and rat poison, he ``foraged'' (which he described as a great hobby) a variety of meat and vegtables and cooked up a mediterranean barbecue over a bin.
Stan spent his days looking for a suit as ``it hides your position in society - you can be anything from a drug dealer to an astronaut, and you still pass off as respectable'' It allows Stan ``to step out of my life into yours''. There were other strange carry-ons in this novel programme including the first designer home for the homeless, which claimed our genes affect our likelihood of being homeless.
This was rightly refuted by Jenny as a long standing Tory excuse not to do anything about the homeless and other marginalised groups - ``the poor, the poor, sure no matter what you do they'll always be with us; but sure aren't they great all the same and aren't they the first to get into heaven always?!''
``Beg To Differ'' is partly presented by homeless people but the programme makers forgot that they don't have tellys - which makes this appear more like amusement for yuppies.
Louise Woodward was also busy making excuses (or was she?) on the long awaited Panorama interview.
When one peels back all the media hype, she did make a strong and impressive case for herself, and her case bears many similarities to Irish people framed by British and Irish police - forced and false statements, police not completing procedures and ``putting words in her mouth'', trial by tabloid, characterised as cold and unemotional in court etc, etc.
Nevertheless the trial became but a soap opera for those who needed a midday fix and yet another diversion from what the media should be focusing on. One benefit of the hype was to expose the miserable treatment given to `nannies' throught the Western World by overworked and neglectful parents, and the consequences.
Now I'm definitely going back to the iron!
By Sean O Donaile
The Louise Woodward Interview (BBC1)
Beg To Differ (BBC2)
I think I've hit writer's block.
After 100 or so weeks of abusing John Bruton and Donegal men, to name a few, and reminiscing about my granny's cat and his uncle, my font has run dry.
But there's nothing like a good domestic to get your brain running, especially as it promised to help my ironing career.
``Why Men Don't Iron'' asked if there was a biological reason women ended up more often than not in the home, and why, after three decades of supposed equal opportunity, there had been little change in the differnces between the sexes.
Being single was a great illusion - burnt beans and spuds was a great stomach liner and one never noticed the three inches of dust and termites on top of the telly, and mother told the neighbours ``sure isn't he doing great there above in Dublin for himself and all....wouldn't he make a great husband''.
After marriage reality sets in - the toilet bowl has to be scrubbed and baby has to come before the marches and pints. Unfortunately for many of us, improvement is slow, and painful for our partners.
And now we have the excuse that biology and not generations of conditioning makes us like this. The programme produced very impressive brain scans, showing differences in brain power between men and women.
At birth girls are much quicker to recognise their parents' faces and are supposedly more sensitive. The chemistry in the brains is different and hence men are more competitive and more willing to take risks. But one must ask, do the parents, despite their efforts, condition their children - girls are generally kept off the streets and dressed in pink, while boys are taken to football matches and expected to fend for themselves. Amanda and Brian tried the opposite with their twins, but to little avail as Harry, despite much gentle pink persuasion, made a beeline for the tractor and Sally for the dollies. The documentary also claimed that differences exist in spatial and verbal abilities, hence the different paths taken in education.
Boys supposedly thrived better in the competitive and disipline-driven educational world of yesteryear while girls are strides ahead of their male counterparts in the modern schooling era.
Jenny Fincker and her teaching associates have tried to accommodate the sexes in their secondary school - boys are exposed to more ``heroes'' in literature to inspire, while girls are encouraged to succeed in maths.
If these methods are expanded on, are we to see Yeats and Shakespeare being replaced by Scharwzenegger and Gazza? One can't but agree that mixed schooling is more healthy and natural for all, particularly as the old excuse for boys schools - more priests and better hurling teams - is no more. Boys secondary schools invariably consist of bullying, spitting, cornbeef sandwiches, rainy bus stops and giggling at porno mags.
Anything else can only be of benefit. Now back to my sixpack!
Peter, whether influenced by his brain size or more likely life's experiences, was more resourceful and a better cook than most men.
Featured in last Monday's ``Beg To Differ'', he scavenges through bins in order that ``us homeless people should also be able to avail of London's gastronomical delights''. After tipping any prospective bindiggers about avoiding the maggots, bleach and rat poison, he ``foraged'' (which he described as a great hobby) a variety of meat and vegtables and cooked up a mediterranean barbecue over a bin.
Stan spent his days looking for a suit as ``it hides your position in society - you can be anything from a drug dealer to an astronaut, and you still pass off as respectable'' It allows Stan ``to step out of my life into yours''. There were other strange carry-ons in this novel programme including the first designer home for the homeless, which claimed our genes affect our likelihood of being homeless.
This was rightly refuted by Jenny as a long standing Tory excuse not to do anything about the homeless and other marginalised groups - ``the poor, the poor, sure no matter what you do they'll always be with us; but sure aren't they great all the same and aren't they the first to get into heaven always?!''
``Beg To Differ'' is partly presented by homeless people but the programme makers forgot that they don't have tellys - which makes this appear more like amusement for yuppies.
Louise Woodward was also busy making excuses (or was she?) on the long awaited Panorama interview.
When one peels back all the media hype, she did make a strong and impressive case for herself, and her case bears many similarities to Irish people framed by British and Irish police - forced and false statements, police not completing procedures and ``putting words in her mouth'', trial by tabloid, characterised as cold and unemotional in court etc, etc.
Nevertheless the trial became but a soap opera for those who needed a midday fix and yet another diversion from what the media should be focusing on. One benefit of the hype was to expose the miserable treatment given to `nannies' throught the Western World by overworked and neglectful parents, and the consequences.
Now I'm definitely going back to the iron!
By Sean O Donaile