Mystery Plays. No they have nothing to do with Sherlock or Murder, She Wrote. These babies go back into the middle ages. They were Macnas-style mega productions telling stories from the Bible.

Any self-respecting city or town would have put them on during the 14th and 15th centuries. Some were profound, while some would give Mrs Browne’s Boys a run for their money. There were dodgy in-jokes like the Crucifixion pageant being organized by the Guild of Nail Makers.

Guilds. There, I’ve said it. Guilds were the mainstay of the medieval city. They ran the joint. They elected Mayors. They elected Lord Mayors. Yes they were bourgeois but they played a really important part in the life of towns and cities. Of course they did – they were Mayors and they were Lord Mayors.

So why am I telling you this? It's pretty simple.

This week, Our Christy, the current Lord Mayor of Dublin, revived his idea of dropping ‘lord’ from the title – because it was far, far too colonial for a street-fightin’ man like him. He got support from another councillor, Mannix Flynn, who came up with the great title ‘civic mayor’.

What garbage! The first Lord Mayor of Dublin was inaugurated in 1665 (I found that on Christy’s official site). Ah 1665, the height of British Imperial Power. Not.

This proposal is the worst kind of political populism I’ve seen, all wrapped up in a Green Flag. It showed little understanding of the office of Lord Mayor – and even less understanding of Dublin’s rich History.

Well done Christy.