WE’RE all set for Halloween, squash, pumpkins and gourds of every size, shape and colour are piled precariously on the cookery school table tops, window ledges, in baskets and boxes. They look so beautiful.

I’VE been most unhappy about the unseasonably warm weather this October — thank you, climate change, writes Louise O’Neill.

Some might say that October 31 has lost its soul, poisoned by commercialism and plastic tat. I couldn’t disagree more, writes Clodagh Finn.

SEEKING to invoke an atmosphere of street carnival that is often absent from more conventional parades in the city, the Dragon of Shandon takes advantage of the towering church, narrow lanes and particular multi-ethnic ambiance of the city’s most famous area to create an event full of noise and spectacle.