The hundreds of years of war, strife and internecine violence in Ireland pre 1923 and in Northern Ireland subsequently will be forensically analysed by historians for centuries to come. For many of those separated by the Irish Sea from these events they might as well have taken place on the moon. But for the inhabitants of that island tribal history reaches back eons. For me a headline last week in the Irish Post brought back its own memories. During my professional life about thirty five years ago I was consulted by a tall well built man with a London accent. Nothing unusual in that description except that during our conversation he remarked in an aside almost casually that he was a member of the Parachute Regiment who was involved in the shootings on Bloody Sunday. That was it. A few sentences spoken in about ten or fifteen seconds and we were back discussing his prime reason for consulting me. Some things are embedded in our long term memories. We just don`t know at the time.
Thank you to my readers for gifting me your precious minutes reading these posts from time to time. "Merry" is a very English description of a state of being. Have a very merry Christmas and if driving north of the border bear in mind the wise and canny Scots have lowered the drink driving limit.
Thank you for your observations during the past year, often highlighting items that otherwise one might have missed. Sometimes amusing, often insightful, generally sound common sense, a pleasure to read. Relevant to your last point of course is the European Court decision ("non-binding") to reject the Scottish Government's proposals on alcohol pricing. Of more interest to me was a DJ's decision to reject (again) an application to extradite 5 people to stand trial for their alleged role in the Rwandan Genocidal Massacres. Happy Christmas.
ReplyDeleteThank you 12.50....your comments are much appreciated
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