High-flyers in the Loop

THE SOCIAL NETWORK:TV presenter Darren Kennedy launched theloop.ieat the Dylan Hotel in Dublin on Wednesday evening. He was standing in for the rugby player Tommy Bowe, who was to launch the website but had to cancel to attend the funeral of the three members of the Spence family who died at their family farm near Hillsborough in Co Down last Saturday.

Theloop.ieenables passengers flying out from Dublin, Cork or Shannon to shop online beforehand and collect as they depart.

Kennedy told invited guests that one of his first jobs was as a ground steward for Aer Lingus during the summer while he was at college. “They were very strict back then in terms of appearance, and many of the things I learned about grooming and personal style have stuck with me through my career.”

To entertain themselves, according to Kennedy, the ground stewards used to “go down to arrivals, pinch little golf-style buggies and drive them in loop after loop after loop around Dublin airport as fast as we could”.

WHO WE SPOTTED

The stylist Sonja Mohlich; food writer Myles McWeeney; Image magazine’s Melanie Morris; Vincent Wall of Dublin Airport Authority.