Belfast spent last week in a strange, happy delirium and only some of it was explained by the temporary liberalisation of street drinking.

The city’s first ever Fleadh Cheoil (though not the North’s – Derry hosted in 2013) quickly became more than just a celebration of Irish music and culture, though it was absolutely that.

It altered people’s concept of how space can be shared, joyfully, in one of most Europe’s most historically divided cities. That is wonderful news, not just for Belfast and the North – but for all of Ireland.

Belfast is known and marketed as a maritime city. But for most of the city, the defining physical characteristic is not the proximity to the sea, but the hills which surround and loom over the place. Divis and the Black Mountain to the west, Cavehill to the north and the Castlereagh Hills to the southeast.

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Take a look around and it can make a medium-sized city, the second on this island, feel claustrophobic even on a good day. And on the bad days of the past, when the hills had watchtowers and helicopters zoomed over the tops of people’s heads, it was a city defined by its closed-in-ness, its citizens watchful of their own movements, their own space – and mindful of being watched by........

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