The Irish are **** suckers who should die...

[Cort Haus]

I suspect that there's nothing more the British State would like to have done over the preceding decades going back to The Troubles than to have washed their hands of the whole mess and withdrawn, politically and militarily, from Ireland for ever.

The fact is, this would have caused, by their calculations, even more problems, violence and hardship than already existed.

[Cort Haus]

Obviously, I do not agree with such policies. Inasmuch as those policies increased the protestant population in Northern Ireland, they were also short-sighted.

It could be argued that the policies which increased the protestant population in Northern Ireland were very long-sighted, in terms of the objectives of the British State at the time.

Can anyone give a reason (in terms of the interests of the British State rather than in terms of notions of democracy or peace or percieved-relative-stability in Ireland) why the British State would have wanted to hang on to a part of Ireland for so long - at great expense in terms of hard cash and domestic security?

[C0ckney]

It's not hopelessly naive. It just takes a lot of time to accomplish. I'm patient. It makes sense for the Republicans in Northern Ireland to accommodate the Brits until the Brits can be thrown out.

except as i pointed out in my previous post, there are signs that northern ireland is starting to move towards a post-sectarian society and that the people themselves are looking forward to building a new future as a part of the united kingdom. as you rightly say, times change.

this is the way it is likely to go, because it is the goal that most everybody is working for. the irish have amended their constitution as part of the peace process and gave up their claim to northern ireland. the british for their part have agreed that the question of ireland will be decided by the irish in both the north and south 'without outside interference'.

here are some numbers for you as well. from wiki

As of 2007, 36% of the population define themselves as Unionist, 24% as Nationalist and 40% define themselves as neither.[30] According to a 2009 opinion poll, 69% express long term preference of the maintenance of Northern Ireland's membership of the United Kingdom (either directly ruled or with devolved government), while 21% express a preference for membership of a united Ireland.[31] This discrepancy can be explained by the overwhelming preference among Protestants to remain a part of the UK (91%), while Catholic preferences are spread across a number of solutions to the constitutional question including remaining a part of the UK (47%), a united Ireland (40%), Northern Ireland becoming an independent state (5%), and those who "don't know" (5%).[32]

[Drake Tungsten]

Give Ireland back to the Irish, you imperialist English ****s.

[MOBIUS]

...until the Brits can be thrown out.

See, that's the bit that exposes you as the IRA sympathiser that you secretly are. Wasn't that long ago that 'our ally', the US govt, was freely allowing a terrorist organisation to fund raise to its heart's content on its own territory...

PS A united Ireland will never happen in our lifetimes - the nearest you could hope for is some kind of independent Northern Ireland - apart from both Eire and the UK.

The moment you attach NI to Eire, the loyalists will be doing to the Republic what the IRA used to do to the UK for decades - but in DanS cloud-cuckoo dreamland, that never even occurred to you...

[Drake Tungsten]

Give Wales back to the Welsh, while you're at it.

[MOBIUS]

Oh wait, they give us lots of money...

[DanS]

Oh DanS, stop trolling. You're **** at it.

Why is it that in all of my years at Poly, I've been accused of being a troll only by thin-skinned Brits?

[Kitschum]

If the point of the OP was that the IRA has the best tunes I can only agree.

Come out ya black an tans:


The SAM Song (Tiocfadh ar la):


Dunno what this means must be Gaelic or something:

[MOBIUS]

Why is it that in all of my years at Poly, I've been accused of being a troll only by thin-skinned Brits?

Well, I've just called you a terrorist sympathiser...

But it's interesting that you took issue with being called a troll instead...

[DanS]

Yeah, I'm not saying that won't happen. But it might not happen

There are risks with any approach. As you and C0ckney say, it could go the other way. But do you think the terrorism was an effective tactic?

[Kuciwalker]

In 50 years this will be as silly as Virginia trying to take back WVA.

[Dinner]

The British should never have agreed to partition in 1921. Instead they should have dealt with Rebel areas like they dealt with the French Arcadians; deport them to other parts of the empire and resettle those areas with loyal citizens. Even if you only do this to 1/3rd of the population as long as you get the most militant ones then you've effectively put the kabosh on independence. You have to have balls and the will to wait the thing out; that's why the Turks beat the Kurdish separatists while the Brits lost in Ireland in the 20's. If it takes 40 years then so be it.

[Dinner]

If the point of the OP was that the IRA has the best tunes I can only agree.

Come out ya black an tans:

Here's a much more authentic version:



BTW this thread is about Ireland so why post a video about towel heads?

[DanS]

Can anyone give a reason (in terms of the interests of the British State rather than in terms of notions of democracy or peace or percieved-relative-stability in Ireland) why the British State would have wanted to hang on to a part of Ireland for so long - at great expense in terms of hard cash and domestic security?

This is a good question. The times were different when Ireland was partitioned. Whatever real reasons the Brits had have probably long since disappeared.