In Ireland we're in the middle of the approach to a referendum in which we'll vote on whether gay people will be allowed to marry (each other). Passions are running high.

At the same time a furious campaign is being waged against a new tax on water, partly because many people feel we already pay for this through our taxes, and partly because of the unpopularity of the company that got the contract to run the water service.

Yesterday was the perfect storm: a determined group of anti-water-tax protestors with "NO" in huge letters on their high-viz jackets were marching through Dublin when they were assailed with roars of "Get out of here, yiz homophobic baaaaastards!" from confused people who assumed they were campaigning against gay marriage. "We got dog's abuse," they sadly told journalists.