Anyone who's interested in the Great Famine should read Cathal Poirtear's books, in which he collects contemporary documents and word-of-mouth accounts. Very interesting.

Thing is, the British government of the time was kind of Thatcherite. They were in thrall to the doctrines of Malthus, who believed in the survival of the fittest - the idea that if you allowed the strongest to survive and breed, it was better for the race.

This was applied to the famine in Ireland, on the basis that the country was overcrowded and full of lazy, workshy people who would starve because they wouldn't lift a hand to help themselves.

As in all famines, most deaths were not from starvation but from the cholera and typhus that follows on a huge number of corpses.

As for Queen Victoria, there was a tragically funny incident when an Indian maharajah offered a large contribution to help the famine-stricken people, and was tactfully told that he shouldn't give more than Her Majesty.

One of the groups that helped greatly - forming a tie that has never been broken - was the Choctaw nation, who collected money and sent it.

However, as people have pointed out, this is thread drift.

In relation to Northern Ireland at the moment, it seems to me that the unionists are stalling until a unionist-favourable prime minister comes in in England and the whole idea of devolved rule is sidelined.

Of course, then we'll probably be back to red war. Alas.

What a lost opportunity, when the people of the North could get together so well if they'd just have the generosity to do so.