Muttley the scholar, I do not have time to take on all your points. Life is short and you keep spinning off at unexpected angles -it is difficult to keep up. The way your argument keeps shifting from one subject to another makes me think you are deliberately trying to muddy the water. However, for the record, Bute and Parnell were elected to Parliament in London and I am sure the shithothistorian in you knows who they were.

I know that many Irishmen fought against the Nazis. I never they said they didn't. All brave men. I said that the Irish State did nothing. Ireland did not put its country on a total war footing in the way that Britain did, it did not send waves of its youth into battle nor put its cities in line for bombing. Britain did. I don't know if Britain actually went into the death camps and liberated them - I shall trust the historian and scholar in you that you are right - but we fought the war that did liberate them. Shall I remind you of the telegram DeValera sent to Germany commmiserating Hitler's death with not a hint of irony?

I agree with you about The Treaty of Versailles, but Lloyd George only went along with the French in a show of solidarity. He privately disagreed with it and the young Keynes thought it would be disasterous, which it proved to be. However, Lloyd George knew that the French were bitter because most of the war had taken place on their soil and he knew they would not shift on this.

I would like to take up your point about Germany realising that they had to cripple France and Britain before they had a chance. Since you are talking total twaddle, it is difficult to know where to start. I mean: What are you talking about? Hitler wanted Britain to stay out of the war. He wanted to go East. Britain, however, remained determined to defeat him, whatever the cost-which proved to be high.

However, to go back to my original argument, which you have taken by the scruff of the nect and dragged it all manners of unrelated places, I said that "all living Irishmen, and those of the 20th Century, have got off pretty lightly compaired to other people who have suffered greatly in that most violent of centuries." Nothing you have said makes me change my mind about that.   

You say that you are a "Scots-fathered, Irish convict-descended Australian." What happened to your English and German heritage that you mentioned earlier? As a historian, you must know that Australia was made in Britain's image and is the sole reason that Australia is so successful today, with democratic rights and a good standard of living. You should be a bit more kinder to us. You owe us so much. By the way, I was born in England of English/Scottish parents but with a Welsh surname - a true Brit in short, and damned proud of it.