Did Neil Francis mean it, Irish men built like 'a block with 2 legs' and Facebook for SMEs

Did Neil Francis really mean it?

It’s so easy to say the wrong thing – and for it to go viral.  And when it does, some of the people criticising you the loudest won’t even have heard or seen or read what you actually did say.  I heard some of Neil Francis’ original interview on Newstalk when he talked about gay people not liking sport and that rugby changing rooms are homophobic - and I think he meant what he said at the time – because he made a point of stating he always says what he thinks.  But in his subsequent apology, he says when he listened back he didn’t like what he heard and it wasn’t him. So would he have apologised if there hadn’t been such a furore?  http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/neil-francis-sorry-for-saying-gay-people-not-interested-in-sports-1.1695229?page=1

Irish men built like “a block with two legs”!

Speaking of honesty, you certainly can’t accuse Paul Costelloe of being anything but!  He says Irish men are not built like Italians – “they’re more like a block with two legs”!!  Considering he was doing the interview to promote the fact that he’s launching a menswear range for Dunnes Stores, it was an interesting comment to make!  I wonder will Irish men take umbrage the way we Irish women did when he said some years ago that we had no sense of style?  However, he did redeem the reputation of Irish men a bit by saying that they “can charm the girls off the trees”.   All in all, I think he gets away with it – mainly because you get the impression he doesn’t care what people think!  Another interesting dimension to the Paul Costelloe story is to note the importance of deciding where your market is – if you decide to partner with Dunnes Stores, Brown Thomas will no longer stock you.

http://www.independent.ie/woman/fashion/the-world-of-fashion-is-really-difficult-but-thats-the-fun-of-it-30009920.html

SMEs encouraged to use Facebook as their web presence

SMEs don’t have to build expensive websites, according to Facebook – instead we can build our online presence with a business page and promote the page with ads, sponsored posts etc.   I think the really great thing about Facebook ads is how targeted you can make them.

http://www.independent.ie/incoming/facebook-friend-or-foe-of-the-small-business-30014270.html