New York parties but this St Patrick's Day is one of exclusion

There was no Guinness and there was no mayor.

Two long-standing staples of the New York St Patrick’s Day parade were missing this year, with one of its major sponsors and the city’s biggest public figure boycotting the event over its exclusion of gay rights groups.

The controversy may have cast a cloud over this year’s event, but New Yorkers would not allow anything to rain on their parade — which they claim is the biggest and oldest in the world.