The Week on TwitterTopical

The Week on Twitter | Emmanuel Macron, Stephen Fry, & Eurovision

By Jade Hayden

This week, Emmanuel Macron won the French presidency, maternity benefit payments were delayed, and Stephen Fry nearly got done for blasphemy – and then didn’t. The Eurovision semifinals were also on telly, and lots of people did some good content.

#Macron beats #Le Pen in French presidential race

On Sunday, Emmanuel Macron won the French presidential election with 65% of the vote. The independent centrist beat far-right candidate Marine Le Pen who only managed to win just under 34% support from the French electorate.

Le Pen conceded after the second round of the election much to the delight of many who breathed sighs of relief that only about one third of France favoured a candidate attached to a nationalist party preaching racist, anti-immigration principals.

Macron will officially become president on May 14th.

#StephenFry almost gets done for blasphemy, then doesn’t

This week, it was reported that Gardaí were investigating Stephen Fry for blasphemy. In a 2015 programme for RTE, Fry questioned why he would “…respect a capricious, mean-minded, stupid god who creates a world which is so full of injustice and pain?” The complaint was made to Gardai by an unknown source.

Under the Defamation Act it is illegal to engage in “publication or utterance of blasphemous matter” against any religion. The law was last amended in 2009, and the government have been considering a referendum to repeal the law since last year.

It wasn’t long before the Fry story started making headlines in the UK, Australia, and the States. Lots of people took to Twitter to criticise Ireland’s outdated blasphemy laws, despite the fact that there has only been one attempted prosecution using the law since 1855.

According to Gardai, they could not continue to investigate Fry because they could not find enough outraged people.

#MaternityBenefits seekers left without payments

On Thursday, it was reported that over 1,000 people had not yet received their maternity benefits. About 1,300 women in Ireland currently on maternity leave were told that they may face at least a month’s wait for their payment, but that anyone waiting on the processing of their paper claim could apply online and get approved immediately.

Minister for social protection Leo Varadkar told Morning Ireland that the delay in payments was due to procedural changes and that he did not yet have a “clear answer” on why it had happened.

Twitter does #Eurovision 

This week, the Eurovision semi finals were on. Lots of people were very excited because those people really like Eurovision, and questionable lyrics, and lots and lots of glitter. Some other people took to Twitter to complain that Eurovision was on. Those people are no fun and should be avoided at all costs.

This years’ Eurovision semis included a marriage proposal, a very long ponytail, your man from Hometown in a balloon, flowery suits, a lad doing a duet with himself, and Ireland not getting through, obviously.

The Eurovision final kicks off at 8pm on Saturday night.

https://twitter.com/ESCSamuel/status/862817848309231616

Featured image source

Jade Hayden 144 posts 0 comments

Jade Hayden has an MA in journalism, a degree in English, and a house rabbit who sleeps in her bed sometimes. You'll often find her wearing glasses, fixing her fringe, and complaining about the amount of time she spends on public transport. Jade is also the editor of HeadStuff's topical section, and she'd love if you sent your submissions over to [email protected].

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