Whilst I sympathise and an empathise with much of what you are saying. You are onto think ear for nowt. Its not the way to bury our differences. the best thing is to say nowt.

In the view of many Irish people, the English are roughly what the kids of SS officers must be when they visit Israel.

Whilst you are not personally responsible for any atrocities. you are not in a good place in history to be reprimanding the Irish for racism.

If you are of the same generation roughly as myself, you heard your relations in the years after the war say, the only good German is a dead one and stuff like that. the time frame is about the same.

You wouldn't have to throw a stick very far on the mudcat site to hit someone who thought Thatcher's handling of the Irish situation was sheer brilliance.

If you are English, this really is a no win, keep your trap shut situation. hard to see how anything we can say will make it better.