Dublin-born John Kennedy, director of Cork 2005, the festival for that year's European Capital of Culture that was widely criticised, believes history will treat him and the event kindly. "There will always be snipers, " the burly Dubliner told me at the opening of To Hold, an exhibition of 16 international ceramic-makers at the Farmleigh Gallery, curated by Asprey homeware designer Peter Ting (not to be confused with Peter Tingfellow or Peter Stringfellow).

John said, "They sniped at Cork, they sniped at Liverpool and now they're sniping at the 2006 European Capital of Culture in Greece." To Hold was actually planned for Cork last year but, alas, they couldn't find a space for it. John is a big man, but he was no Trojan horse rolled in from Dublin."There's always going to be competition between first, second and third cities in every country, " he said. "Cork is a city that is on the verge of changing." Oh, dear. I thought it had changed, hence the Capital of Culture. (Where's that Argyle sock when you need it? I eyed up one of Natasha Daintry's porcelain pieces, called Massive Plugs, instead. ) Anyway, it could have been worse.

During the Olympics, Athens was dubbed the European Capital of Garbage. Maybe Dublin should vie for that honour next year.