I think you're right, Bonnie. The 'Post' did try and deal with issues relevant to the Irish community in Britain as well as stories from 'home'. I think, though, that the readership was itself very stuck in the past. The letters pages certainly seemed to indicate that. I think the current and upcoming generation doesn't feel nearly the same need to self-segregate as my parents' generation did (though my parents themselves didn't).

Case in point: a couple of years ago the Liverpool Irish Festival commissioned a crew to make a short film about the Irish in Liverpool using kids from the Liverpool branch of CCE. At the first meeting, they asked the kids to talk about Patrick Pearse, the GPO, the Famine and all the regular motifs of first-generation Irish history. Most of the kids just gave them a blank stare. Twenty years ago I would have been dismayed. Now I'm not - if they're dumping some of the baggage that's maybe a good thing.

Personally, I think they knew all about those subjects but just weren't letting on. Teenagers hate putting their hands up.

There's the rub, though - in England, Irish culture in its orthodox form still rests heavily on an assumption of victimhood and I don't think the 'Post' was ever really able to get away from that. My parents came to England during the war and throughout their lives here were treated with kindness, friendship and generosity by the English people they lived and worked amongst for over 50 years. I'm sure their experience was by no means unique - but sometimes you'd never have guessed if from reading the 'Post'.