I'm no Rihanna fan, but it's time to stop agonising about oversexualised girls
The one mystery in Jodie Foster’s speech
I have always admired Jodie Foster, but I might be a tiny bit in love with her after her acceptance speech at Sunday night’s Golden Globes, which has been called “goofy and meandering” by some critics and “manipulative” and “defensive” by others.
It was all of those things, but it was also elegant and heartfelt. Staying true to a decision she said she made long again that she would not be the celebrity who “[honours] the details of their private life with a press conference, a fragrance and a primetime reality show”, she nonetheless managed to deliver a speech in which she came out, reminded us why we should value privacy (“some day, in the future, people will look back and remember how beautiful it once was”), and she thanked her mother and – fabulously, in the context of the revelation that she is indeed a lesbian – Mel Gibson. I’m still mystified by one thing, though. Who the hell is Honey Boo Boo?
Kids that put you right off lunch
Restaurateur Robbie Fox made headlines this week when it was revealed he doesn’t allow children into his restaurant, Bel Bellucci of Ballsbridge, between noon and 2pm on weekdays.
I have suffered the indignity of being turned away, in the rain, from an almost empty cafe in Dublin, simply because I turned up in the company of a sleeping, small child in a buggy.
Like the mother who went to the papers after she was turned away by Fox, I too stood on the street in tears of frustration after the waitress told me she couldn’t let me in “for health and safety reasons”. (The cafe in question has since changed its policy, so I won’t name it.)
Despite all this, I can see where Fox is coming from. Some restaurants simply aren’t designed to accommodate big buggies, or young children running around. And sadly, some parents appear unable to grasp this.
I recently watched in amazement as the parents at the table next to me in a packed pizza restaurant sat back and beamed at their baby daughter crawling around the floor, while their toddler son raced around the tables nearby, causing several near-collisions with the busy wait staff.
Maybe we should stop concentrating on making restaurants more child-friendly, and focus on making children – and their parents – more restaurant-friendly. Of course, the only way to accomplish that is by exposing them to restaurants. Are you listening, Robbie?
