Wildlone,

I agree that the poor in the England of that time had it hard, it must have been difficult for whole families to be living in one room etc, I understand that, but it was far more difficult for whole families to not even have one room, and had to live in the ditches. Parts of England suffered because there was no work and wages were low. In parts of Ireland there were no wages at all. and remember - it was only the potatoes that failed, not the apples, cabbages, turnips etc, The Irish starved not because there was no food, but because of what food there was was taken for export. This was not a natural famine, it was to a large extent an imposed starvation. The number of dead would have been much higher except for the actions of a lot of decent landlords. Dave, I am not saying that some english workers did not have it hard, but how many starved to death while quantities of grain and other foodstuffs were locked in warehouses in their own locality ?. I know that dwwelling on this topic will not alter the fact, but if we forget the events of the past there is a greater possibility of them happening again. Are we supposed to forget the holocaust, or Hiroshima ?. Do you think the children of Iraq will forget the sanctions just because some day they will be "in the past". Lets face it, England did not manage Ireland, they mismanaged it and the hurt remains.