well everybody's somebody's baby - even the legitimate targets.

And intemperate acts somehow trigger off intemperate responses. I don't think any of us are surprised by them any more. The daft rhetoric of Thatcher, the shouting of Paisley, the self justifying tripe from the general direction of the IRA.

I won't make excuses for the sick and racist jokes, but I feel sure some of so called'Irish' jokes that were around in the 70's were the English peoples way of dealing with fear.