The Viking streets of Stoneybatter, and Dublin's 'Milluminum' anniversary

Many of Stoneybatter's streets have Norse-sounding names. In a literal sense, most of them came via the Artisans' Dwelling Company around the late 19th century. Many of these back streets, like their terraced houses and cottages, were brand new back then.

The manhole wars of the new millennium

Time for a very long ramble about the ground behind my feet.

Picture the scene. It's mid-May 2011, the week before the Queen of England comes to town.

The Irish weather has been kinder than usual this spring, and there have been marches and demonstrations, anti-visit posters, bomb threats, hoaxes, suspect packages, a pipe bomb on a bus from Maynooth, surveillance operations and pre-emptive arrests north and south of the Border.