I got an e-mail from a friend urging me to vote for ANOA, but although I enjoyed the caper I couldn't bring myself to do it because the song, through its association with the Wolfe Tones, has become an obnoxious expression of barrel-of-porter republicanism.

Nevertheless, I get some quiet satisfaction from the fact that it won on the BBC's World Service, whose signature tune is "Lillibulero", a well-known Ulster protestant/anti-catholic/sectarian chant.