What a load of BS, as I keep telling people here who ask questions like "was it really bad living in the troubles and getting shot at all the time?" for the most part life was good.

There is more to N.Ireland than Belfast and there is more to Belfast than small areas that dominate the news to give the world the sick view of N.Ireland most want to report.

As a civilian I have never been shot at nor seen a bomb go off never personally witnessed a riot or any sectarian BS or lost a member of my family due to any involvement with terrorists groups nor paid a single penny to any magasines or flags in my 40 years in N.Ireland and I live 10 miles from Belfast. Put simply I followed my G.parents example and shunned those who got involved in any of that rubbish my children do the same.

As a member of the security forces I have been shot,caught up in a bomb, witnessed the worst of our society and witnessed the best which far outway the worst. Get the chip off your shoulder. N.Ireland is no different than any other part of the world it is people making issues out of such things that keep us in the dark.

I know many missionaries who have come to Ireland worried that they might get killed in N.Ireland, those who come up from working in the deprived areas of Dublin are glad to get to Belfast and the rest of N.Ireland, simply because it is safer.Their parents breathe a sigh of relief when they write home and tell what it is really like that is just as good and just as bad as any other part of the world. Stop seeing Belfast and its areas as a handicap compared to certain American and English ghettos it heaven.