Irish Examiner view: The best ancient advice in the world

Influencer marketing is an activity which was barely known a decade ago and its impact was accelerated by the explosive growth of social media.

You don’t need a whole slew of professional qualifications to be an influencer. 

A certain native charm is helpful; good looks can always go down well with the easily-impressed; a way with words is an obvious advantage as is the ability to put together a convincing video roll. 

Building a reputation for expert and inside knowledge is key to the enterprise.

Influencer marketing is an activity which was barely known a decade ago and its impact was accelerated by the explosive growth of social media and during lockdown when many of us had more time on our hands than was good for us.

We are a country which has become wedded to social networks with up to three quarters of our population owning one or more accounts. 

Modash, an influencer marketing and analysis agency, headquartered in Estonia, says it has found 12,032 Irish Instagram influencers with up to 500,000 followers and the majority of their audience in Ireland. 

For a fee it will analyse every creator not only on this platform but also on YouTube and TikTok.

Citizens may enter this bewildering landscape for a whole host of reasons, and many may be wholly harmless. 

A search for the best way to make falafel for example, or guidance on how to knit a plaited stitch; or directions to the best beaches in Galicia.

But there are other subjects on which it is best to rely on a phrase which preceded the arrival of the internet by nearly 3,000 years. “Caveat Emptor” — buyer beware.

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Medical advice certainly falls into this category. 

It’s quite easy to find GPs who will tell you hair-raising stories about patients who arrive in their surgeries having carried out comprehensive search engine diagnoses of their symptoms and seeking sign-off and confirmation of their ailments and maladies.

And the other topic where caution is required is, of course, financial information, where the Central Bank of Ireland has reissued advice to consumers that if they deal with an unauthorised firm then there is no recourse to statutory compensation schemes or the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman.

“Consumers are advised to check the official Central Bank website to see if the firm is authorised by the Central Bank” its statement to the Irish Examiner says.

Mr Finlay, who has 260,000 followers on Instagram and 586,000 on TikTok, has built a reputation in recent years by posting food reviews and luxury lifestyle content. 

He frequently shares photos and videos of himself on first-class flights, at Premier League matches, and on holidays in Dubai.

He also runs several channels on instant messaging app Telegram, which are focused on making money on T4Trade. 

He suggests that people copy his trades. 

The platform carries a disclaimer that it is not targeted to residents of the EU where it is not registered Mr Finlay says he charges €1,000 for access to a VIP channel which is owned and operated by him, but regularly allows small groups of people to enter “free of charge,” for limited amounts of time, encouraging people to join quickly before access to the group closes.

In historical terms, we are in the early days of trading and commerce on the internet and there are many lessons which still have to be learned. 

But as with any activity taking place on a new frontier, it is sensible to be cautious.

It may not make you a fortune, but it can protect you from crushing disappointment.

Or to quote T4Trade’s own website: “Our products are traded on margin and carry a high level of risk and it is possible to lose all your capital.” 

Old wild men have left the stage this week

It has been, we must acknowledge, a bad week for old wild men.

First the curtain came down on Ozzy Osbourne, 76, the founding father of the metalheads, whose last concert at Villa Park a couple of weeks previously was recalled by an Irish Examiner writer who proclaimed it as “not just a celebration of music and legacy, but of life itself”. 

The self-styled Prince of Darkness nearly sacrificed his life on several occasions to excesses of various types but earned a place in people’s hearts through his endearing MTV reality show, The Osbournes, which reached way beyond the aficionados of thrash metal.

On the same day, a different kind of rugged hero departed with the passing of Joey Jones, stalwart of Liverpool, Wrexham, and Chelsea whose fist-pumping exhortations to fans were a familiar scene at soccer grounds across Europe in the 1970s and 80s.

Jones, 70, born in a North Wales council house, was a rampaging left-sided defender whose never-say-die attitude won the hearts of those on the terraces.

Hulk Hogan, who died on Thursday, was for more than a decade the ubiquitous face of wrestling bringing WWE to prominence with theatrical performances and a dominating physique.

Hogan, who acknowledged that he took steroids, stood at 6ft 7in and weighed 145kg. 

His appearance was set off by a droopy blonde moustache and a T-shirt that he liked to rip open at the height of his exuberance.

Hogan, 71, died from apparent cardiac arrest. 

In later years he was a voluble supporter of US president Donald Trump who counted ‘the Hulkster’ as a personal friend.

There will be an opinion that men aren’t made like this anymore but whether it’s a snatch of the opening riff of 'Paranoid', a recollection of the famous ‘Munching Gladbach’ banner, or a highly colourful bandana, they will stay in our collective memories for the forseeable.

Fair deal for cancer survivors is overdue

There are few things more powerful than an idea whose time seems to have come. 

The concept that age is no barrier; changes to abortion law; elective death; reform of drug laws.

To this we can add the proposition that for too long cancer survivors in Ireland have been discriminated against by the providers of financial services, with many struggling to obtain products such as mortgage protection and travel cover.

For many years, the Irish Cancer Society has been campaigning for what it describes as “the right to be forgotten”, which means that there will be no obligation to disclose a previous diagnosis more than five years after active treatment has been concluded.

Anyone who has filled in an insurance application form will be aware that there are requirements to declare any previous medical conditions, the inclusion of which can add, often considerably, to the premium charged or refusal to provide a policy. 

Failure to provide such details can result in policies being declared null and void.

But change is afoot and legislation is now expected to be passed by the Oireachtas this autumn. 

It was first introduced in the Seanad by then Fianna Fáil senator Catherine Ardagh in October 2022, and was reintroduced by her as a TD in the Dáil in February.

Now it has been taken up by the Government, whose junior finance minister Robert Troy — who has lost two siblings to the disease — describes the situation as “challenging and unfair”.

The Central Bank (Amendment) Bill will give statutory weight to what was previously a voluntary code of practice, which was not universally adopted, and will bring Ireland into line with laws which are already in place in France, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg.

Under existing guidelines, a survivor can access mortgage protection after seven years of remission or five years if individuals were diagnosed when under the age of 18. 

While the proposed new law does not cover travel insurance this will be a logical next step for campaigners.

The Government, says Mr Troy, has focussed first on “where the need is greatest and where there is the clearest evidence base”.

Removing the uncertainty around house purchase is certainly a priority, but there is an equivalent value emotionally of liberating people from being defined by the most difficult chapter of their lives.

Loss adjustors and risk assessors will, no doubt, point to the costs. It is their job to do so. But the rest of us may consider that, in a country where hundreds of thousands of people have been visited by cancer, it is a price worth bearing.