http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2007/07/31/northern-ireland.html

Well, this is good news. Nine years after the Good Friday agreement, we are now seeing an absolutely monumental step in the peace process. This is certainly part of Blair's legacy, whether Brown is the PM now or not. It was Blair who worked on the GFA and saw it through nine years, and it's culminating in this. Well done, I would say.

Just have to see if it happens, and if it lasts.

This is great news!

I do hope things continue to improve.  So many years, so much blood.

NO SURRENDER!
NO SURRENDER!
NO SURRENDER TO THE IRA!

I hope they pull the lads out them bomb that s**thole back to the stone age, sort the problem out once and for all.

I hope they pull the lads out them bomb that s**thole back to the stone age, sort the problem out once and for all.


Oh come on, Davey. You've won. The IRA has been disbanded for a while now, and they're unarmed. The peace process is working. No need for more bombs. That's what they're trying to get away from. Besides, one day the republicans may be at a comfortable majority, and the North will join the Republic of Ireland, and you ought to be happy with that. But it's for them to decide. If England didn't want colonial troubles in the 20th century, it shouldn't have gone about conquering everything. Not that I'm criticising, but that's basically the long and short of it.

I hope they pull the lads out them bomb that s**thole back to the stone age, sort the problem out once and for all.

Back to the stone age?
???

Back to the stone age?
???


True, Ireland is a backwards nation, still in the stone age, just a nation full of drunks and murderers.

Oh come on, Davey. You've won. The IRA has been disbanded for a while now, and they're unarmed. The peace process is working. No need for more bombs. That's what they're trying to get away from. Besides, one day the republicans may be at a comfortable majority, and the North will join the Republic of Ireland, and you ought to be happy with that. But it's for them to decide. If England didn't want colonial troubles in the 20th century, it shouldn't have gone about conquering everything. Not that I'm criticising, but that's basically the long and short of it.


By pulling out, all that'll happen is the trouble will kick off again. Some fenian will get it in to his head that he's been wronged and it'll all start up.

Blair should be hung up, treacherous dog.

Bring back the Black & Tans! Send in the Head Hunters!

By pulling out, all that'll happen is the trouble will kick off again. Some fenian will get it in to his head that he's been wronged and it'll all start up.

Blair should be hung up, treacherous dog.

Bring back the Black & Tans! Send in the Head Hunters!


You're hilarious, Davey. Truly.

You're hilarious, Davey. Truly.


So's Ireland.

True, Ireland is a backwards nation, still in the stone age, just a nation full of drunks and murderers.

U2, whiskey, football hooligans, and James Joyce.

Fun is fun, but seriously speaking, the Republic of Ireland has become a highly successful and productive nation. It has Europe's fastest growing economy, and a very high standard of living. Not like forty years ago.

U2, whiskey, football hooligans, and James Joyce.


U2 are sheeshe, Irish whiskey makes me sick, the England boys ran them all over the place last time we went to Dublin.. and Joyce was a pretentious git.


Fun is fun, but seriously speaking, the Republic of Ireland has become a highly successful and productive nation. It has Europe's fastest growing economy, and a very high standard of living. Not like forty years ago.


I'll give them some credit, Dublin it'self is a fast growing thriving city, the rest of Ireland is still stuck in 1840. The most racist, xenophobic, bigoted nation I've ever had the displeasure to visit.. and that's me being serious.

U2 are sheeshe, Irish whiskey makes me sick, the England boys ran them all over the place last time we went to Dublin.. and Joyce was a pretentious git.

I'll give them some credit, Dublin it'self is a fast growing thriving city, the rest of Ireland is still stuck in 1840. The most racist, xenophobic, bigoted nation I've ever had the displeasure to visit.. and that's me being serious.

^ Ian Paisley after a few pints.
:P

^ Ian Paisley after a few pints.
:P


Ha!  ;D

^ Ian Paisley after a few pints.
:P


Ah, nice of you to finally mention a man of some integrity and guile.. unlike that lieing murdering fenian bastard Adams./

I'll give them some credit, Dublin it'self is a fast growing thriving city, the rest of Ireland is still stuck in 1840. The most racist, xenophobic, bigoted nation I've ever had the displeasure to visit.. and that's me being serious.




That true?  Bono once caught the ire over here because he said that the Irish who came to America were the worst ones.  I thought it an awful thing to say considering the circumstances that brought the majority here, starvation being a large component.  The migration started about 1840.  Over here the off-the-boat Irish seem to be some of the best people I have yet to meet, very unlike the enclave Irish-American, who can be the most racist, xenophobic, bigots that I have the displeasure to have to work alongside.

That true?  Bono once caught the ire over here because he said that the Irish who came to America were the worst ones.  I thought it an awful thing to say considering the circumstances that brought the majority here, starvation being a large component.  The migration started about 1840.  Over here the off-the-boat Irish seem to be some of the best people I have yet to meet, very unlike the enclave Irish-American, who can be the most racist, xenophobic, bigots that I have the displeasure to have to work alongside.


It's the same there.

My bitterness is doubled because you get all these do-gooders and happy sorts who just love the idea of Ireland.. and never go there.. it's horrible, it really is. Imagine Scotland.. but with more drinking and slightly less heroin abuse.. but more rain.. and a slightly more annoying accent.

Fun is fun, but seriously speaking, the Republic of Ireland has become a highly successful and productive nation. It has Europe's fastest growing economy, and a very high standard of living. Not like forty years ago.

Which is the real reason the armed struggle has ended, IMO: it's a lot harder to work up support for that kind of thing when people are out chasing their next buck..

That and Sinn Fein realizing that you get more "bang for your buck" (so to speak) out of politics - all the money that pours over from the States now makes them the best-funded political party in Ireland, with more money to spend on electioneering than all the rest put together.  Blair's biggest ignominy in this arena was to have an exemption in the political funding bill which basically says that political parties in the UK are not allowed to accept donations from overseas... except Sinn Fein.  Which kind of explains their huge electoral leap forward over the last couple of decades.  Way more effective than using the money on arms.


^ Ian Paisley after a few pints.
:P

er... Paisley in Dublin?  Never in a hundred years.


Ah, nice of you to finally mention a man of some integrity and guile.. unlike that lieing murdering fenian bastard Adams./

Guile?  Hardly.  More like the loudest mouth and most closed mind ever to come from the Province... And integrity?  I'd have agreed until fairly recently: ISTM that the only reason he (and his cohorts) agreed to the level of power-sharing that they have was that once the deadline had passed, they'd have had to give up all their pay and perks that they've enjoyed over the past few years - there was nothing new in what was on offer in the last round of talks, only a deadline which would have meant the closing of the NI Assembly for good (rather than a suspension which left all members receiving pay for not having to do any work... nice if you can get it).  It was almost impossible not to come to the conclusion that this was the only thing that got agreement in the end (and the scarily improbably photo of Paisley and Adams sharing a laugh.  I'd love to know what the joke was)

Do I seem excessively cynical?  Quite possibly, but there has been precious little idealism amidst the self-serving realpolitik seen in the provincial politicans.

That true?  Bono once caught the ire over here because he said that the Irish who came to America were the worst ones. 

I have Irish ancestry, and I know Bono's right.  They were sick and hungry and tired of watching their families die of malnutrition.  What a bunch of low-life scum.
:D

I wish Bono had said that to "Rolling Stone" in 1981.  I wonder what what Irish Americans would have though of the Emerald Isle's favorite sons then?  But that assumes us dumb micks even know how to read!

I'd love to figure out how much money U2 made off of Irish Americans and tell Bono to cut a check to his favorite charity for that amount!

Aye, top o' tha marnin' to ya, I be jasus!
http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/07/pfiade.gif

It reminds me of when Donna Summer said AIDS was God's punishment for homosexuals. 
Donna, honey, who the f**k do you think buys your records?

^ Ian Paisley after a few pints.


What, him singing No Sleep 'til Belfast or No Sheep 'til Buxtonl?

For any random lyrics googlers, both are deliciously hilarious parodies (well, the latter in name only) of the Beastie Boys' No Sleep 'til Brooklyn.  Fracking hysterical, no matter whose side anyone took during the Troubles.

(I drink both kinds of whisky: Irish and Scotch!)