A glance at The Irish Times’s most read metric confirms something we’ve always suspected. As a nation we are very eager to score our performance against others.

Whether it’s the opinions of Irish people living abroad or of foreigners living in Ireland, a strong soundbite in the headline will land it in the top 10. “Australia isn’t a magic golden ticket” is riding high. As is: “My only regret, I didn’t move [abroad] sooner”.

There is nothing like a crazily circuitous bus journey around Dublin city through the drizzle to ignite dreams of moving to Melbourne or Mantua.

But the daydreams are only a part of it. For many, articles about living abroad also function as a scoresheet, where satisfaction depends on the reader’s perspective, which varies according to confirmation bias and/or sunk costs.

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‘It invalidated me as their mother’: Irish woman’s daughter granted passport ‘in error’

‘I feel guilt and rage about living in Australia while my family is in Ireland’

Boston Scientific lays groundwork to shift $15bn from Irish operation

One of my more challenging assignments during the Celtic Tiger years was eliciting an honest response from people who had sold modest Dublin homes for sums large enough to buy spacious, brighter houses........

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