How a crude gesture was seized on by the outrage machineIt was the early days of October. I was discussing Jim Gavin’s unsuitability for the superficiality and viciousness of the presidential campaign with my co-host Dion Fanning on our podcast, Free State. I made a gesture as we were talking about the dumbness of the stock questions Jim Gavin was being asked on the campaign trail. I fully accept that the gesture was crude. The thought never struck me it would end up on the RTÉ news just after a report about Russian missile attacks on Ukraine.

Source: Irish Independent January 18, 2026 17:32 UTC