"...but if it is claimed to be the IRA in some form or other, only the Irish can deny that it is. ..."
Penny.S

I'm afraid, Penny, the English no longer know who their enemy is.
Those nail-bombings were, at various stages (before the guy was apprehended), reckoned to be the new Combat 18 offensive, dissident Republicans, and Jamaican drug barons fighting over territory. Now we find out different.

You fail to notice, Penny, and indeed, Alan, that once one kind of civil unrest takes a backseat, other forms take over, and England have a lot of skeletons hidden deep in many cupboards.

As for who will write the songs......?

Why not yourselves?
It is part of the English tradition after all.

Back to the question: "Why are the Irish so Irish?"
Because we have very few natural predators; that's one reason.

B.