Massively long story-and also different depending on what way you look at it! NI is roughly 55% Protestant and 45% Catholic. Two main camps-Unionist and Nationalist. As a general rule (not exclusive) Protestants are Unionists and Catholics are Nationalists. At the moment NI is part of the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales and NI). Its not however part of Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) Minor point though. Unionists want us to stay British, Nationalists want us to rejoin the rest of Ireland so its one nation again. It was split in 1922.
As for what the IRA is doing-who knows! Its been the centre of the political problem for that last couple of years. The Unionists are saying the IRA has failed to get rid of its guns as part of what was called the Good Friday Agreement of 1999. The IRA say the Unonists have failed to live up to their part of the agreement-so its a stalemate. They're expecting movement soon though.
Although there has been peace here since 1999-its a bit of a red herring. Since 1999, terrorist related incidents have gradually gone up! Last year had the highest amount of terrorist incidents since 1992 (when the troubles were still in full swing). The peace is more of an illusion-and anyone who serves in the Armed Forces or the Police here can vouch for it.
Thats a VERY brief version of events and i'm sure there are people out there who will disagree with some of what i have said-but every story has three sides to it, my side, your side and the truth-none are ever the same!
I don't want to clog up a movie forum with politics but feel free to send me a private message if you are curious about anything else. I've got some good pics from here as well.
Oh yeah baby, it's Stifler time woo-hoo!!
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20 years ago
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furryforest
20 years ago
Not at all-its all a strange set up! Where i work-the Protestants cause 95% of the trouble. The ratio where i am is 13:7. My friend works where its vice versa and its the Catholics who cause most problems. As for the GB/UK thing i have no idea where it comes from. The front of my passport states Passport for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland-so i guess GB is still classed as a geographical thing. The only time i find it relevant is when buying anything on the internet-a lot of companies will only deliver to GB and exclude NI! Just to confuse things more so-the British Isles includes the Republic of Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales and NI! Like UK and GB weren't bad enough!
The Protestants (UDA/UVF/LVF) are very much active. They continue to carry out punishment beatings regularly and are very deep into drugs. I recently had the joy of coming under a UVF attack. The IRA are very active-you may have heard of the Northern Bank Robbery? At Christmas the IRA stole £26 million pound. (56'160'000 Canadian Dollars) they also murdered a member of the Catholic Community-McCartney which has cost them dearly). As for who attacked first-no idea!! You could trace that one back hundreds of years! If i remember right the Protestants are slightly ahead on the attacks scale!
Oh yeah baby, it's Stifler time woo-hoo!!
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20 years ago
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furryforest
20 years ago
I think Cromwell had a definate slant on it! I studied 20th Century British and Irish history to a higher level. The older stuff i'm not too sure about. But from what i remember it all started because of what was called the plantation. Britain sent settlers (the majority of who were crims and the lowest forms of life) to Ireland to populate it. They seized land from Irish Ealrs and thats basically the start of it. Both sides are definately up to their neck in blood. Cromwell sent a force to Drogheda (then the capital of Ireland i think) and levelled the city. He left no one alive. A war crimes contender today! One of the Earls went to Tyrone and threw every man, woman and child into a river. Any who tried to climb out were stabbed with pitch forks! Not nice at all.
The siege of Londonderry is oneof the battles you refer to. The apprentice Boys closed to gates whilst James surrounded it. Its still celebrated today. It requires a massive Police presence in riot gear to Police it. I had the joy of doing it last summer-it gets bloody warm in that stuff on a sunny day!
Oh yeah baby, it's Stifler time woo-hoo!!
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20 years ago
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furryforest
20 years ago
Yeah the British/English had a flare for brutality. Britain first instigated concentration camps during the Boer War. Though if you look at it-all Empires have a history of brutality. Greeks, Romans, Ottoman, Russian, American, Britain to name a few.
The changing of the gaurd was on a few days ago. I'm reliably informed that if a gaurdsman faints on duty, his comrades can not stop and help him and if they have to must march OVER the top of him. He also faces a charged for fainting when he comes too-pretty harsh i'd say!
Oh yeah baby, it's Stifler time woo-hoo!!
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20 years ago
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furryforest
20 years ago
Yeah its a weird set up. My dad was charged for fainting on parade-turns out he was suffering malnutrition as well so he got well roasted!
Alas the fog and rain stories are generally..TRUE! It rains alot. If its not raining its overcast. We do get some good weather. Though to be honest i'd rather have rain than loads of sun. When i was in Australia they had all sorts of hosepipe bans etc. I never have to worry about running out of water-plus its great excuse not to cut the grass!
Oh yeah baby, it's Stifler time woo-hoo!!
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20 years ago
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furryforest
20 years ago
Sorry for the delay-was working an 18 hour day yesterday! I think he got fined-not 100% sure!
We sadly don't get much snow-maybe one day a year-the only thing you can depend on here is rain!!
I know Canada has a large French contingent but is it that much? what would the ratio be. From my understanding there are certain parts of Canada that are very French if that makes sense?
I'm hoping to make it to Toronto this year-Zoom fly direct from Belfast for a very reasonable rate.
I never knew that about the Commonwealth-though to be honest i don't know much about it!
Oh yeah baby, it's Stifler time woo-hoo!!
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furryforest
20 years ago
thats amazing about the French aspect of Canada-i had no idea what so ever!! Quite scary some of the stuff you were saying there-especially about fines. We got a report recently about the vote of no confidence in the Canadian Government-there was a row about the Queens visit to Canada and whether she would be seen with any Liberal politician.
As for the motto-thats quite sad! But then there are alot of motto's that have been around for years-such as the latin motto on the Royal Crest.
Beleive it or not we have a strange set up in Northern Ireland. Our Police stations and Government buildings can only fly the Union flag on something like 12 days of the year because flying it other times offends the Nationalist community who think its intimidating that a country fly its own flag from its Government buildings!
I love snow-but i love heat more!! I doubt i'd cope well woth -20oC!!! Coldest it ever got that i can remember is about -13 and that was cold enough for me!
Oh yeah baby, it's Stifler time woo-hoo!!
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