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Mary Kenny

Mary Kenny, writer and author. Photo: Tony Gavin

Mary Kenny Opinion Has the policy of cocooning, though well-intentioned, damaged the confidence of Ireland's otherwise healthy over-70s?

As we gradually move towards easing the lockdown, here's a question: have the over-70s been excessively stereotyped as vulnerable and fragile by their experience of being "cocooned"? "Cocooned", according to a dictionary definition, is "being protected from everyday life and problems", and plenty of oldsters feel that the cocooning policy has had a negative effect on their resilience and collective self-esteem.
Mary Kenny, writer and author. Photo: Tony Gavin

Mary Kenny Opinion 'It takes an emergency to bring home to us that family matters'

One of the most touching photographs published last week was that of two Italian grandparents, Melia and Giovanni Famoso of Milan, joyfully hugging their grandchildren after a two-month lockdown. It must represent such a universal sentiment of families reunited after this surreal and sometimes tormenting period we've been going through. For all the many tragedies, losses and economic anxieties, the one positive that has emerged is that the pandemic has brought families together (and kept them together!). And sometimes brought a new perspective on family life, too.
Mary Kenny, writer and author. Photo: Tony Gavin

Mary Kenny Opinion 'I was brought to Shannon airport, aged about 10, as a special treat'

Ah, the empty skies! Climate campaigners may celebrate the 41pc decline in air traffic since the onset of the coronavirus - the air is purer, the birdies are singing louder - but it's sad all the same. We may reflect that many of us have probably lived through a golden age of air travel, ever since Dublin Airport was opened 80 years ago, in January 1940. Some may even recall that it was once called 'Collinstown' and that children were taken to the airport for their special First Communion treat, just to watch planes take off. I was brought to Shannon, aged about 10, as a special treat, and I thought it was the most exciting place in the world. I resolved there and then to be an air hostess, deviating from my previous aspiration to be a prima ballerina.
Mary Kenny, writer and author. Photo: Tony Gavin

Mary Kenny Opinion To wear or not to wear... a face mask?

Here's a generalisation: the Irish are totally unsuited to social distancing. Ireland is a strongly social culture. Read any travel book about this country over the past hundred years and the conclusions are always this: whatever grumbles the visitor may have had about unreliable weather, reckless driving habits or inadequate food standards (the lack of imaginative vegetable dishes was a common complaint until recent years), on one point they were agreed: the Irish were consistently warm and friendly.

Mary Kenny, writer and author. Photo: Tony Gavin

Mary Kenny: Working from home seemed like an ideal solution when I had small children - but, as many are now finding out, it has its downsides

When my children were small, it became obvious that it would be more practical for me to work from home rather than go to an office daily. It even seemed like the ideal solution for a working mother. The daily rush to get the kids to the child-minder, or then to the nursery school: the elaborate arrangements for picking up on time, or boxing and coxing with other parents to collect their children in fair exchange for reciprocal arrangements - always a stress.
Mary Kenny, writer and author. Photo: Tony Gavin

Mary Kenny: People lived in Ireland for 10,000 years before anyone put pen to paper. Then St Patrick wrote a letter...

Everyone, globally, knows that St Patrick is Ireland's national saint: but I only discovered recently that he is regarded as the founder of Irish literature and letters. Yes, the oldest surviving text written in Ireland was penned by St Pat, in the fifth century. It was a bit of a scorcher, complaining to the Brits about their mean treatment of himself, and for bumping off some of his converts.

Mary Kenny, writer and author. Photo: Tony Gavin

Mary Kenny: The new TV drama about Christine Keeler takes us back to a very different world. But how does it relate to today?

The Christine Keeler portrayed by the actress Sophie Cookson in the current BBC TV drama doesn't look at all like the Christine Keeler I met in the 1980s. By then, Christine seemed a poor soul living on a council estate in Chelsea. She had no money. She had lost custody of both her children, by two marriages. You could see that she had once been pretty, even beautiful, and with a fabulous body: but she now seemed worn down and almost bedraggled. I felt sorry for her.

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