How would the Sunday newspapers fill their proliferating pages if teams of university researchers did not dutifully supply them with nuggets of trivia? For instance, this weekend the Sunday Times reported that:

Street names are a key indicator of social class and thus personal wealth, according to new research by Professor Richard Webber, of University College London (no street address given). Do you live in a Mews, a Lane or a Way? Then chances are you are richer than someone who lives in a Terrace, a Street or even a Crescent. Set up home in a Street starting with the name Station or Coronation and you are likely to be less well heeled than someone living in a Street beginning with Grosvenor or Oxford.

This may sting MPs, but Professor Webber has found that if you live in a Street named after a politician you are likely to be among the least well-off.

A diligent academic hack (or even a lazy one) in Ireland would probably come up with similar findings, although the historico-sociological implications could be even more intriguing. After all, despite almost 90 years of independence, the most salubrious addresses continue to be adorned with the names of our former Ascendancy rulers. In contrast, those who dedicated their lives to Irish freedom (O’Connell, Pearse, and MacDermot, for example) are associated with significantly grittier locales. Most notably, the demolished towers of the benighted Ballymun flats were named after the leaders of the 1916 Rising.

Such gestures are unlikely to inculcate patriotism among the citizenry.