well keith some of us don't have the time to look at mudcat more than occasionally, and never have the time to create false posts and other underhanded tactics. i guess you are retired. so am i but i practice music two hours a day(or fix instruments) take an on line course two hours a day and still cook for my sweet wife--she still a wage slave.

however three points. first and foremost the english have never used anything but the most brutal and bigoted tactic in their conquest of ireland--or most colonies. they removed the natives of ireland from the good land by military force, failed to feed the population(who at the time were citizens) when famine hit. outlawed the natives from access to the courts or any other institution for hundreds of years and when some legal rights were given they changed the law every time native irish won cases in court, right up to the present abolishment of the principle of the presumption of innocence. now a jugde can infer evidence of guilt from the failure of the accused to testify and can so instruct a jury.   this is the empire that fought three wars to force the chinese to allow them to sell opium to their population, a drug war addicting about twenty per cent of the population. this empire and its remants have absolutely no claim to any moral position. it is and has always been a war like and unethical empire right up to the illegal invasion of iraq.

two, if they helped a priest in covering up a bombing i hardy see how that goes to the credit of the british government

and three gerry adams and his followers took a great and heroic chance in entering the peace process. they risked their lives to find a better way. they deserve some recoginition for that.

northern ireland was an artificial military comstruct from the beginning. the british government signed article seven of the league of nations charter and article six of the united nations charter. both of which disallow splitting up countries on decolonialization so as to avoid war. they shoul have obeyed their own international laws but never have, up to and including using torture in ireland and being convicted of torture in the european courts.

if you want peace you have to at least try to end the injustice