[Acrylic-bob]

It is easy to make sweeping generalisations about people and events, easy, but wrong. The current discussions concerning the IRA are a case in point. The Irish situation has its roots in history and is more about the conquest and subjugation of Ireland by England than it is about religion. There are similar simmering resentments in Scotland and Wales and also to a lesser extent in Cornwall and Brittany. The Basque region of Spain is another example.

There is a wealth of evidence to support the idea that this is a common trait in peoples of the P1, P2 and P3 Celtic groups. It makes little difference what the current issue of contention is. They would argue about what day it was if there was nothing more convenient to hand and still come out of the argument feeling cheated at having been proved either wrong or right. Moreover, they will still be arguing on Judgement Day and I have no doubt that they will all feel equally as hard done by then too.

Occasionally the arguments become heated and get out of hand. In the past it was limited to a bit of a punch up and stealing cattle. Irish and Welsh poetry of the dark ages is full of that sort of thing. Here, in the north of England, we are familiar with Scottish border raiders, who came south to steal a few cows and cause a bit of an upset.

The ready supply of armaments in the twentieth century has added a more deadly edge to the tenor of these arguments and has caused horrific injury and untold misery. But the arguments continue, going round and round in pointless circles.

To say that the conflict is primarily a clash of religions misses the point entirely. To use the current conflict in Ireland as an analogy, when considering the actions of Islamic extremists is a mistake.



Before any of you leap to the defence of the old country, please bear in mind that I have Irish and Breton antecedents, and thus I know whereof I speak – Dear God, do I know!