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Trending: Irish Water Protests and Egyptian Spiderman

Ireland protest march.jpg

13/12/2014

Irish Water Protests and Egyptian Spiderman

BBC World Service - Trending, Irish Water Protests and Egyptian Spiderman

Spiderman in Cairo, Irish water protests, and the natural hair video

What happens when a superhero falls to earth in Cairo? Plus, we follow the water debate on Irish social media and speak to the man behind the ‘natural hair’ video.

What happens when a superhero finds himself in Cairo? A 20-year-old photographer filmed his friend dressed as Spiderman, performing everyday tasks around the Egyptian capital, one of the busiest in the World. In Cairo, says the photographer, Spiderman has met his match because life is so impossible that not even a superhero could function.

We follow the debate on Irish social media that has been growing for months. The Irish Government is changing the way people pay for their water and just this week 100,000 people took to the streets of Dublin to protest. Currently most people do not get water bills – it is paid for through taxes. But now the government has set up Irish Water, a semi-state body, which is installing water meters and will start sending bills from 1 January 2015. Online there are numerous videos, tweets and memes calling for the proposed water charges to be dropped. But this is not just about water. After the banking crash of 2008, the Irish economy struggled and the country underwent a series of austerity measures. The new water charges seem to be the final straw. We hear how people have been protesting online, and whether the government is taking any notice.

And we speak to the man who makes comedy films about relationships – from a male perspective. His spoof about an African-American woman who cuts her hair off and goes ‘natural’ has had millions of hits on Facebook, and received mixed comments. We ask him why he made it and whether he thinks it is sexist.

(Photo:Protesters march to the center of Dublin city in anger of the government introducing a second charge for household water. Credit:Simon McLoughlin/Shutterstock)

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