Ahhhh - Good nights kip and a nice restful morning back at the ranch soon gets rid of them there motorway blues:-)

Shame, Epona, we could have had a whale of a time with that absinthe at the Tull gig. Never mind. There are things that were never meant to be...

Meanwhile, back from fantasy land to the topic in hand:D We have agreed that the peoples of Scotland, Wales and England are not anti-Irish but the British are. If Wolfgang is right and Great Britain is currently made up of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and the peoples of the Scotland, Wales and England are not anti-Irish then the only British remaining are the Irish ones. So it must follow that the only anti-Irish Brits are the Irish ones;-) Confuses the hell out of me!

Seriously though, as Stigweard says above, we are now discussing 'who are we?'. I don't find it incongruous at all that I can be many things at once. I think we are all a little like that. What I think we need to discuss is how we address the 'Britishness' issues that have been brought to light. While I disagree with Johnson (I think it was him anyway?) when he says that patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel I would say that housing feelings of antagonism to anther race and hiding that behind the mask of patriotism is indeed something to be frowned upon.

I am proud to be English. I think generaly we do not celebrate our Englishness enough. Those people who think that to do so somehow equates to racism have obviously never been to Ireland or Scotland or Wales where the traditions of those countries are proudly displayed for all to see. We have become frightened of the view that the 'British' are seen as the Victorian Imperial conquerers of old. It is unfortunate that British does seem to be interchangeable with English to some - I have now made the concious decision to try and steer clear of using the term ever again!

As to the United Kingdom... It has been mentioned it is no longer united. Nor does it have a King. How the term can even be used is beyond me:-)

So, rant off, can I summarise and perhaps lead into the new discussion? The 'British', meaning the peoples of the lands within Great Britain are not anti-Irish. The British, meaning the generic term for the peoples who brought about this mess in the first place and wish to continue the debacle are indeed anti-Irish. The question now is how do we distinguish between the two in conversation? I suggested earlier that the term Brit should be commited to the history books. Perhaps not. Perhaps we should use the term 'British' as an abreviation for the people of all the countries making up the British isles and the term 'Brit' or 'Brits' to describe the nutters who believe that the sun never sets on the empire? Or would that be too confusing? Who can come up with a better name? I am sure we will get some good suggestions;-)

Cheers

DtG