A statistic is flying around this week, one of those funny-but-not-so-funny ones from Visible Women UK: our neighbours have more statues of goats than of named (non-royal) women on their isles. It’s not news that women have been written out of history and there are moves to redress this, but that’s not why we’re here. We’re here because it’s becoming apparent, quite a lot this week, that commemorative decisions are often to be regretted.

Here in Ireland there was the Herzog Park hassle. In the UK, they are grappling with multiples of Prince Andrew Way, Prince Andrew Road, Prince Andrew Street…you get the idea.

It’s not easy to rename a street: addresses need to change, letterheads amended, plaques need to be removed. A new name needs to be agreed by all concerned parties. New plaques need to be ordered.

In July, Cork City councillors voted to look into renaming Bishop Lucey Park. Bishop Lucey led the Church in Cork when the widespread abuse documented in the Ryan and McAleese reports took place. Despite this some people believe renaming the park would be pointless and are against it. People will call it what they will. Indeed, most already refer to it as People’s Park in any case.

Once this writer met a woman at a party, who worked for the BBC. Her job? To edit any clips where Jimmy Savile appeared so that the footage could be used in Christmas specials, for example. So her job was to cleanse performances on Top of the Pops of any footage, at the beginning and the end, of a man who had presented the show for 20 years.

The debate goes on. Are these renaming efforts and statue removals a form of whitewashing history, or are they sensibly avoiding repeated trauma?

If Andrew or Jimmy were still included on streets and in TV, would it be a jarring reminder each and every time you saw their white heads or their names of what they really did, or would it become banal, an interesting footnote as his dubious fame fades into memory: ‘Do you know what that man actually did?’.

It’s probably safest to only stick a plaque up when someone is well and truly cold before naming anything after them. Even then, it’s probably best not to get too attached.

Sugarcoating the real food issue

The UK are expanding the sugar tax to include things like milkshakes from 2028, which has led to much hand-wringing that the Irish government will follow suit, like it often does, a good dog wagging its tail.

The problem is, when the sugar is taken out it is replaced with sweeteners like aspartame, which has been linked to cancer although the International Agency for Research on Cancer says that it is only ‘possibly carcinogenic’.

Proven health effects aside, it’s pretty gross. You’ll find people peering behind the bar for anything to use as a mixer that won’t ruin their drink; at close to €10 for a standard spirit plus mixer, it would be decent if it didn’t taste of chemicals as well.

A recent Lancet article made concrete what is fairly apparent to most: ultra processed foods including things like sweeteners, things you would not have at home, are ‘emblematic of a food system that is increasingly controlled by transnational corporations that prioritise corporate profit ahead of public health.’

Those that set the taxes, and dictate what is allowed in our food and our shopping basket, and prioritise trade deals over real food might say ‘let them eat cake’.

Fine, but could the crumbs you leave us please be made of real food?