Irish singer Sinead O'Connor retracts her retirement statement: 'I love my job'

Sinead O’Connor has retracted her retirement statement.

The Irish musician announced this week that she was going to take a step back from touring and "working in the record business".

"I've gotten older and I'm tired," she wrote, also saying that No Veteran Dies Alone, due to be released in 2022, will be her final album.

“This is not sad news. It’s staggeringly beautiful news. A warrior knows when he or she should retreat. It’s been a 40-year journey. Time to put the feet up and make other dreams come true.”

Sinead O'Connor converted to Islam in 2018, adopting the name Shuhada’ Sadaqat. YouTube / The Late Late Show

Now it appears the singer, who is also known as Shuhada’ Sadaqat, is not ready to call it quits on music yet.

O'Connor published a lengthy Twitter post yesterday, saying she had a lapse in judgment and had let "pigs in lipstick", or "female misogynists", mess with her head. She said she was "badly triggered" after a series of interviews about her new memoir Rememberings, in which she details the abuse she suffered at the hands of her mother, as well as the psychological challenges brought on by fame.

“When I embarked upon promo for my book, I ought to have had a counsellor on board,” she wrote. “Because I hadn’t realised how much talking about the past, particularly my experience of abuse not only as a child, but as a legally vulnerable adult … would trigger so much emotional catharsis.”

The singer slammed the UK media for its role in exacerbating her mental health. She criticised Emma Barnett, presenter of BBC Radio 4 show Woman's Hour, for repeating a statement made by The Telegraph, which labelled O'Connor as "the crazy woman in pop's attic".

O’Connor said it had been “unnecessary and hurtful” for Barnett to repeat the statement during their June 1 interview. In a Twitter post, she described the interview as “extremely offensive and even misogynistic".

After her experience with the BBC, she said, "I felt “like I did 30 years ago and for 30 years.

“I’d be better off (safer) if I ran away and gave up being in music at all. Because I keep getting used as a coat hanger for people to clothe with whatever they like.”

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She said that, ahead of her promotional tour for Rememberings, she had explicitly asked news agencies to be sensitive about her experiences with abuse and not bring them up during interviews. According to the Nothing Compares 2 U singer, only US media had complied with her request.

O'Connor then decided it would be better to quit music altogether. However, in the past few days, she backtracked on her decision. "I love my job," she said. "Making music, that is. I don't like the consequences of being a talented (and outspoken woman) being that I have to wade through walls of prejudice every day to make a living. But I am born for live performance."

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5pm: Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (Turf) 1,600m; 5.30pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,400m

6pm: Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,400m; 6.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,200m

7pm: Wathba Stallions Cup Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 (T) 2,200m

7.30pm: Handicap (TB) Dh100,000 (PA) 1,400m

Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme

Priority access to new homes from participating developers
Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
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Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021

Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.

The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.

These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.

“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.

“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.

“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.

“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”

Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.

There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.

“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.

“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.

“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”

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