.... and anyway, we're not going on about 'stuff that happened centuries ago'.

We are being so entirely present-day.

The thing about it is, Ooh-Ahh2, we are not polling your take on history. Nor, indeed, are we polling the nature of your gripes.
We don't want to necessarily know why the average Brit is anti-Irish....

...just that you accept that he or she is.

You are performing admirably, I can assure you