48 Comments

• kurtjohnson | Jan 05, 2011, 08:34 PM EST

  Thanks!

• DanOLoingsigh | Jan 04, 2011, 09:22 AM EST

  @kurtjohnson Your central proposition is the sole stimulus for your entire philosophy, providing adequate explanation for any event, and neatly overturning the Socratic paradoxes after centuries of debate.

• kurtjohnson | Jan 03, 2011, 10:57 PM EST

  The USSR most likely had its sites set on invading western europe at some point anyway. The Nazis (swept into power by the dehumanizing treaty of Versailles engineered by the british terror state) were definitely evil - their supremacist ideology was primarily based on a materialism/determinism arguably evolving from degenerate anglo-dutch doctrines (they'd probably be right at home attending an orange invasion of an indigenous Irish neighborhood). However, the bolsheviks were also murderers on a colossal scale.

• londonirishtom | Jan 03, 2011, 12:44 PM EST

  @sirpeter – Up Mayo!! Tom Maguire and South Mayo flying column - Tourmakeady ambush, May 1921, now all we need is Sam Maguire to pay us another visit (This is no time to go bragging over his Cork heritage, please) I agree that Hitler’s decision to invade Russia was the turning point of the war, and the sacrifices made by the peoples of the USSR were immense, but there was that period between the fall of France and the Germans Eastern offensive where the Brits were the only ones in the war.

• sirpeter | Jan 03, 2011, 09:36 AM EST

  @londonirishtom ..I have accurate figures with details,names ,what happened ect.from the achieves.In all fairness what did Mayo do during the black and tan war? Ireland also fed England during the war.England was a food importing country. The simple fact remains the English army scuttled back to England as fast as their limey legs could carry them leaving all but their vomit bags.Only for the Russians at Stalingrad and the Americans coming into the war.Big Ben would be chiming to Der Führer Ruft. Churchill would have taken his fat ass into the hills and begged the IRA to show them guerrilla tactics.Like the tactics they used to kick their Black and Tan asses up and down West Cork in 1920. Towngate's father of course would have turned traitor this time to the Germans and changed his name to Herr Towngatestickelgrubber.

• londonirishtom | Jan 03, 2011, 04:53 AM EST

  @kurtjohnson - check out the activities of Father Charles Edward Coughlin and friends.

• londonirishtom | Jan 03, 2011, 04:49 AM EST

  @JOHNTOBIN – Thanks for info on D Day weather, agree the comments are a lot more interesting than the original article. I think the term ‘neutral in favour of the allies’ is about right for most of the war, another example was the repatriation of US/Brit airmen.

• bridgetony52 | Jan 03, 2011, 03:17 AM EST

  KurtJ – It was GERMANY that declared war on USA in WW2, not the way you have it, and have you forgotten USSR?

• kurtjohnson | Jan 02, 2011, 11:45 PM EST

  Towntroll with his silly fictional history - "britain" on its own would have eventually been steamrolled. The US stopped Germany in WWI and WWII primarily through its industrial capacity. britain only decided to fight the nazis when it knew the US would join after it spent considerable sums on influencing US public opinion (as it did in WWI). As always, it was purely out of self interest and had absolutely nothing to do with preventing or stopping atrocities (which britain added to in places such as Dresden rather than attempting to stop the concentration camps). There's no evidence that Hitler harbored any hostile intentions toward the Irish - in fact, the Nazis even produced a sympathetic film to Ireland - "My Life for Ireland." What are you on about re racism Towntroll - there's no such thing as a british race.

• JOHNTOBIN | Jan 02, 2011, 08:13 PM EST

  This debate is very interesting.I would like to add a bit more.I feel that the Irish Republic did the right thing in remaining neutral during World War 2.If it had participated and fallen to Nazi Germany it would have been a back door straight in to Britain.The Irish Goverment assisted the Allies in many subtle ways with weather reports and Intelligence information.The Goverment of the Republic supplied the main weather information for the D-Day invasion.There were regular meetings between Irish and British security organizations such as MI6 and G2.De Valera was a friendly neutral as far as he could go to the Allies.

• DanOLoingsigh | Jan 02, 2011, 07:40 PM EST

  Let it not be forgotten that the ‘Governments in Exile’, Dutch, Free French, Polish, Czechoslovakia, Norway, Yugoslavia, all found a home in London. This is not forgotten in these countries

• londonirishtom | Jan 02, 2011, 07:10 PM EST

  @sirpeter – Re the British contribution to WW2. The main achievement was staying in the war long enough to destroy the ‘Invincible Nazi’ myth and to deplete the strength of the Luftwaffe, mainly in Crete and Battle of Britain. Re the Falklands, the Argentineans had quite a large navy, including an aircraft Carrier, the ‘25th of May’. The logistics of mounting an 8000 mile mission was a considerable achievement, not many democracies would have attempted such a high risk strategy, or been capable of successfully accomplishing it, eg Dien Bien Phu. It may pain you but I think you need to give credit where it’s deserved. I was no fan of Thatcher, but I think she was right to stand up to a Tin Pot dictatorship, which hastened democracy in Argentina.

• londonirishtom | Jan 02, 2011, 07:10 PM EST

  @sirpeter – it’s not easy to get accurate or even ‘best guess’ figures on atrocities, but I can’t see it getting near the holocaust figures It’s a misreading of Irish History to view it as centuries of constant conflict. Let me illustrate by recalling a conversation I had in Castlebar, at the Mayo central library and county archives some years ago. I spoke there with a former Irish Army officer, who was researching the role of the British Army in Mayo, between around 1820 and 1916. He told me that the only documented killings by the British Army in Mayo, that he could find were 1) when defending a food convoy they shot 2 raiders in famine times 2) A soldier was shot after going berserk in or near the military barracks. So that was nearly a century, and three fatalities. By now a book based on his research may be in print, but I have no reason to doubt his figures, which he got from contemporary sources based in the county.

• Towngate | Jan 02, 2011, 07:06 PM EST

  NOTHING OUT OF CONTEXT! You can wriggle and bluster all you want but do not try to hide your Vile Race Hate by claiming and suggesting to the unwary or gullible that your Comments in Molly Muldoon’s Post “ Margaret Thatcher...” December 31. @SirPeter at 10.34. - were MISQUOTED. No Sir, your very own Race Hate-laden words are plain for all decent people to see! - and they make it perfectly clear that you are an ungrateful deeply ignorant unworthy fool.

• sirpeter | Jan 02, 2011, 01:36 PM EST

  Now creakygate..I think we all know who really beat the Nazi's...The Americans and The Russians.England was whipped. Without American arms and materials,all ye had was rocks.Monty was told to shut up and get back in his box and take his ego with him, at one stage by Eisenhower.He had to be put in his place by his commanding officer Eisenhower. I don't think the Americans and the Russians even spoke to Churchill at the Yalta agreement.England was finished as a military force at world level and still are.It's a bad state of affairs when you have a third world country like Argentina giving England a headb*tt.Still Britain did a good job sinking their one ship and saving the last of their colonies the Falkland islands.All 62 people were very grateful...ha ha ha

• seamusmac | Jan 02, 2011, 01:29 PM EST

  jb66ss396, I agree wholeheartedly with your statement. But I have one question. Does your 66ss396 have solid or hydraulic lifters?

• Towngate | Jan 02, 2011, 11:26 AM EST

  BONNYKATE: This blog says she was willing to unify Ireland. She was so pally with Garrett we thought there might even be a scandal!! I am no fan for a very personal reason - but remember she was a plain young woman who rose through an army of male opponents in her own party: "Conservative and Unionist", don't forget, to hold the Highest Office in the land for many years! Through my work I know of Willy Whitelaws Statement that "Britain has no further interest in Northern Ireland". It was the internal Irish squabbling that kept them there. Britain - and I dare suggest the ordinary people too, have been willing to dis-engage from Ireland since the first Home Rule Bill! ..............As for the disrespectful Cur who suggests that if the Nazi's had succeeded in dominating Britain and the rest of Europe, that Ireland would have retained its independence for even half an hour, is seriously delusional and in need of urgent psychological attention........................................ BRITAIN AND AMERICA SAVED IRELAND FROM THE NAZI TYRANNY AND IRELAND HAS NEVER EVEN BOTHERED TO SAY 'THANKS'!

• oldboreen | Jan 02, 2011, 11:20 AM EST

  Every Irishman and woman dreams of a united Ireland- but 'please God not in my lifetime'

• sirpeter | Jan 02, 2011, 10:45 AM EST

  OK Creaky..I see where you are coming from.The British Imperial War museum,STOLE world history and made it their own.Sur ye might as well.The British stole everything else.Plenty artifact's stolen from around the world in the British museum.Saw Irish booty too.Give the stuff back to it's rightful owners ye bunch of pirates.

• kateomprint | Jan 02, 2011, 10:33 AM EST

  The only reason we have peace at the moment in Northern Ireland is because Mr. Paisley was ill at the time and probably thought of his own mortality and he was trying to secure a place with his Maker, because other than that he would never have spoken to Gerry Adams or Bertie Ahearne. I think he considered Bertie a complete gombeen but he was a means to an end. Without the help of the Americans and of course John Hume without whom none of it would have been possible. A lot of our problems seems to stem from people who can't let go of the past. Maggie Thatcher was a complete and utter b***ch who didn't care one way or another for Ireland. I think we were just a thorn in her side that she couldn't do anything about. Garret Fitzgerald was I think the first politician to broach the subject of peace in NI. somewhere along the line she said "that the lady was not for turning". She didn't care how many people died in NI so long as she was safe in her ivory tower.

• sirpeter | Jan 02, 2011, 10:25 AM EST

  But Creakygate..It was the British Imperial War museum.Everything in there was about the Brits and the good old days..Then a big section on Germany history and Jewish history..I think it's there because the British Imperial War museum want to balance out the atrocity's in British Imperialism or else they just want to draw in more money. Which do you think it is Creaky?.Did you like my...We will fight on the beaches speech...ha ha ha

• Towngate | Jan 02, 2011, 09:37 AM EST

  THE LAST POST: For the person responsible for the last four ranting posts to REPEAT his contention that "GERMANY AND THE JEWS - THAT'S NOT EVEN BRITISH HISTORY." - is reprehensible and treasonous, as it is not only British history - It's Ireland's and America's too!

• sirpeter | Jan 02, 2011, 09:00 AM EST

  Creakygate..Even though large tracts of Europe and Tyrannical State of Britain have fallen to the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we Irish shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end, we shall fight them for 800 years..Nayyyy!!..1000 years. We shall fight on the seas and oceans,Yayyyy!! We shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air.Yayyyy!! We shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be. Yayyyy!!!we shall fight on the beaches.Yayyy!!We shall fight on the landing grounds. Yayyyy!!!We shall fight in the fields and in the streets Yayyyy! We shall fight in the hills Yayyyy! We will throw Towngate to the Gestapo. Yayyyyy!!!!!We shall never surrender.

• sirpeter | Jan 02, 2011, 08:16 AM EST

  Creakygate..Not my point creaky:"If Britain and her Friends had not challenged Nazi Domination and had fallen".The jewish murders caused by Germany is not British history.What part of your tiny mind can't get around that..How can it be British history when it had nothing to do with the British.It's like teaching a remedial class student..You have a mental block to the simplest of things.

• sirpeter | Jan 02, 2011, 08:03 AM EST

  JOHNTOBIN..NO!! I most certainly do not see them as traitors.I wish they would stay and march on Dublin.Barnyjo says, am I willing to accept the casualties I will no doubt create. I won't answer that question because I might get banned for inciting violence or something..I didn't read the rules of the forum.But I have a better question.Will my government except the casualties that are going to be caused by health cuts,because we have to pay foreign bankers.When it comes to numbers dead.Governments have no problem excepting casualties.That goes for all governments.They preach freedom and democracy and righteousness and good...But when they go to war to spread these good things...It's a cup of hemlock because ordinary people keep dying wherever those words go.

• sirpeter | Jan 02, 2011, 07:21 AM EST

  londonirishtom...Give me a break!!..90% of the posts here are 10 times more sloppy then mine..anyone can see..i said 4 years after that...so it's oblivious it's a typo..i left out 1916 to 1920. I said 31,482 ADMITTED British Military Outrages in Ireland..not deaths!!..I AGREE WHY not have a museum on ‘Irish on Irish’ atrocities eg Enniskillen, Omagh, Altnaveigh, etc. BUT at least it would be correct and it would be Irish history..Germany and the Jews is NOT British history..Now TOM my posts are pretty long and i spend very little time writing them..i don't check them, if picking out one typo makes it a sloppy post..I think you are clutching at straws..and it tells me you really can't find anything wrong with the content..Question to you..Is Germany and the holocaust part of British history?...answer me that?. Tom...The last part is a hint to why it doesn't get the attention.As for overblown..Let me say this..If i was to write down every atrocity and murder,PLUS the deaths by hundreds of mini famines caused by English rape and pillage over 800 years..It would make the holocaust look like a bad student riot..I'm not taking from the Jewish holocaust..Kurtjohnson says it nicely..Sirpeter doesn't use history as a weapon but identifies historical realities needed to adequately understand the root of Ireland's problems and identify solutions (i.e. purging degenerate anglo materialist/post colonial doctrines and values).I don't know who you are Kurt..But you summed up almost everyone of my posts on IrishCentral.Well Done!! And in just a few lines too.

• Towngate | Jan 02, 2011, 06:56 AM EST

  CURPETER THE BIGOT @10.34 has surely reaches new depths of stupidity and ignorance when he states:. .."...Germany and the Jews that's not even British history..." If Britain and her Friends had not challenged Nazi Domination and had fallen - how long before 'sitting duck' Eire would have followed? (Twenty-two minutes, by my reckoning!). We must face the facts: If it was not for British Bravery, curpeter's little shamrocky mossbank would be ringing to the sound of Jackboots and hard steel - and his sacred 'Celtic Culture and Heritage - as well as his precious 'Ancient Language' would be a very far distant memory!

• londonirishtom | Jan 02, 2011, 05:38 AM EST

  @sirpeter, Sloppy post, between May and March 1920 is going backwards; the generally accepted figure for War of Independence casualties includes around 1400 killed on all sides, not including the subsequent Civil War; its an overblown sense of where the Troubles sits in world history to compare it with the HOLOCAUST. Re Imperial War Museum; why not ‘rectify their mistake’ with a museum on ‘Irish on Irish’ atrocities eg Enniskillen, Omagh, Altnaveigh, etc.

• JOHNTOBIN | Jan 02, 2011, 04:09 AM EST

  I would like to ask sirpeter if he considers the thousands of Irish men and women who migrated to the United Kingdom for better opportunities and a higher standard of living in the last hundred years or so traitors to the land of their birth?

• Watereskhill | Jan 02, 2011, 01:55 AM EST

  Mrs Finchley obviously spoke through two sides of her mouth. Must be weary to be a Unionist these days. All that marching and loyalty with drums and flags in all weathers.

• sirpeter | Jan 01, 2011, 10:34 PM EST

  barneyjo..Alot of the articles on this site are about Irish history or modern Irish day politics.Standard Irish history as thought to the masses is much to blunt a weapon for me.You have to hone Irish history with a whetstone and sharpen it with the truth.How many here know you can't drive 30 miles in any direction,from any spot in Ireland before you come to a mass grave.How many people here know that between May 1st and March 20th,1920 there were 31,482 ADMITTED British Military Outrages in Ireland (I'll let your imagination deal with the real figure,the ones they got away with)From murder to torture,to starvation of mostly innocent prisoners,to raiding and wreaking hundreds of thousands of homes to the burning down of my beloved city of Cork. That's just 4 years out of 800 under British rule...I visited the British Imperial War Museum about two years ago. They have a whole section dedicated to the atrocities of the Germans on the Jews. I said to myself..Germany and the Jews that's not even British history..So i told them they made a mistake..I said that section should be dedicated to the atrocities of the British on the Irish....HUSH!HUSH! whispers the British Government to Irish Government in Dublin. HUSH!HUSH! whispers the Irish Government to the Irish Minister for Education. HUSH!HUSH! Sirpeter,It will make men bitter. HUSH!HUSH! ye all!!The Royal Shilling Stinks. For the British Lion first fondles ere it kills.My Government are a pack of liars.The only casualty has been the truth.

• kurtjohnson | Jan 01, 2011, 08:38 PM EST

  "One year later Mrs Thatcher made the famous remark that 'Northern Ireland is as British as Finchley'. Typical terror state supremacism. It's most likely that Akins prior representations were lies consistent with the anglo concepts of honor and fidelity.

• kurtjohnson | Jan 01, 2011, 08:34 PM EST

  Sirpeter doesn't use history as a weapon but identifies historical realities needed to adequately understand the root of Ireland's problems and identify solutions (i.e. purging degenerate anglo materialist/post colonial doctrines and values).

• barneyjo | Jan 01, 2011, 05:48 PM EST

  @sirpeter - if you are so intent on using history as a weapon, then I assume that you are prepared to accept the casualties you will no doubt create!!

• sirpeter | Jan 01, 2011, 02:17 PM EST

  I THINK YOU are rattled creaky,even over the rattle in your chest old man.I never disrespected the ideas of an intelligent man in my life.There is only one thing worse then a foreigner having contempt for Irish culture,and that a so called Irishman having contempt for Irish culture on an IRISH site.Contempt for our thousands of patriots who died under British rule. Contempt for out music and traditions.Contempt for our 1916 patriots who were shot down one by one like dogs.Even contempt for the Irish/American's on this site,who are proud of their Irish ancestry who seems pleased to have a little cert with a few little benefits given to them by this country....IN EVERYONE OF THESE THINGS YOU HAVE SHOWN YOUR DISRESPECT AND CONTEMPT ON THIS SITE.No my friend..This is an Irish site and i don't think most of the people here would find cause for great hilarity!at the contempt you really hold them in. I see your little digs and contempt in your every post.Maybe most don't care what you post,but you are going to get an earful from me..BUSTER!!Happy New Year To You Too.

• Towngate | Jan 01, 2011, 09:52 AM EST

  CUCUMBER COOL, I do assure you. The rattle you hear is the one beside you in your pram! Carry on 'thumbing your softies in' by disrespecting, misrepresenting and transposing the ideas of intelligent Commentators and claiming to know what they feel or think on any subject, by all means: but don't expect to be takes seriously when you bleat on about the success of 'the NI Peace Process' (I wonder why!!!=NOD),yet continue a feeble attempt to generate anti-British hatred, just for your 'sport'! Stay in your pram and let's hope the cat jumps in and sleeps on your puss! In the meantime your pathetic attempts to identify my location, colour, religion, politics ethnicity and even gender! - continue to cause us great hilarity! How can one person be so wrong about so much? Easy! Take one useless Englishman: drop it in an Irish Swamp: Leave to marinade: When it thinks it's almost Irish, let it loose with a 'madie uppit' Title to attack it’s motherland England for rejecting it. Anyway: let’s wish it a Happier Next Year and Get Well Soon,Sur Tickeacht!

• sirpeter | Dec 31, 2010, 09:18 PM EST

  It's good to see you rattled so much Creaky.You stop been a pr*ck about everything Irish and then i won't have to make a fool out of ya all the time.Support..ha ha...Don't be a child,why do you think i need support.

• JOHNTOBIN | Dec 31, 2010, 08:18 PM EST

  To jb66ss396-Many of Englands past colonies and territories are now quite content to be members of The British Commonwealth.England must have done something right.Also,as a point of interest,DeValera was favourable to a form of membership of The British Commonwealth if all parts of Ireland could be united into one goverment.

• Towngate | Dec 31, 2010, 06:10 PM EST

  A COUPLE OF OTHERS?! You have no support on here,buster! But thanks for the warning! we are already trembling over our keyboards fearful of what terrors you are going to unleash on us as your last two burnt out brain cells rub vainly together! 'Phut!' or 'Click'? - take your pick! -Ya navvaeacht!

• sirpeter | Dec 31, 2010, 04:25 PM EST

  Creakinggate..ha ha ha...makey-uppie...Wot..any Comments....Three simple(tons)there...ha ha...You're rattled creakingate..I can tell.I'm going to expose your crap for what it is if you post any.You and a couple of others will be my new years resolution..

• DrTrelawney | Dec 31, 2010, 02:03 PM EST

  Kerry. I quote: "If those in the North didn't like it, give em a ferry ticket back to England." This is yet another manifestation of the willful -- or plain stupid -- misunderstanding of the Unionist position that still pervades. Why would a Unionist "go back" to England? He or she makes no claim to be English. Their position is that they are one of the constituent nations of the United Kingdom. You might as well say that, if somebody in Kentucky claims to be American, he or she should "go back" to Washington DC.

• Sparklet | Dec 31, 2010, 01:07 PM EST

  jb66ss396 - England's history maybe, and a lot of it is shameful, but it's the USA who currently stands accused of such behaviour right around the world. I find it totally ludicrous - not to mention racist and bigoted, how people can hold a nation responsible for the actions of past Governments. It's in the past. Move on.

• jb66ss396 | Dec 31, 2010, 11:01 AM EST

  Thatcher was part of a long line of racist, anti Catholic, anti-Irish English. England's history is a repetitive list of terrorism to other nations, worse than the countries we consider terrorist states today.

• KerryLKing | Dec 31, 2010, 10:40 AM EST

  Shame on those responsible for not having the fortitude to act on this opportunity to FINALLY let the Irish have the sole right to THEIR country. If those in the North didn't like it, give em a ferry ticket back to England. Just what did those men in 1916 die for....when you had dolts in the government afraid to act upon the opportune chance that Thatcher gave....cowards!!!

• DrTrelawney | Dec 31, 2010, 10:10 AM EST

  I think every sane person has known for decades that the British would ditch Northern Ireland if they could. It has always been a huge financial drain. Unfortunately, the majority in that statelet -- a deal older than, say, Israel note -- stubbornly want to remain within the Union. Don't forget Home Secretary Reggie Maudling's famous remark after his first visit to the North. "For God's sake bring me a large Scotch. What a bloody awful country." Having grown up in Belfast, I sympathise with the old lush.

• Towngate | Dec 31, 2010, 09:36 AM EST

  "STARLET"? ... a simple(ton) typo or another 'makey-uppie' word? - hard to tell in yet another unwelcome jumbled, mumbled, mystery lesson from the exponent of the 'triple softie-thumb-in'!"I say! - Not enough LEAD for a LAD, eh?Shame, Wot?!!" ........ No wonder you're so bitter and twisted and fit only to provoke HOWLS of(pitying)laughter from us!...........Ps: you are so riven with suppurating hatred, you render yourself incapable of understanding any Comments. Mine is only two lines. Have a go. Keep trying ‘till you 'get it'!

• sirpeter | Dec 31, 2010, 08:25 AM EST

  What are you on about Creakinggate..Are you the first in Ireland to realize what we all ready knew.Britain would have been quite happy to to climb out of the cess-pit OF THEIR OWN MAKING since the troubles began.The problem was they allowed Unionists to discriminate against Catholics since the foundation of the Starlet in 1920 and did NOTHING until it all exploded..It was only THEN..they wanted rid of Northern Ireland as it had become an economic liability. The fact remains...Partitioning of Ireland was a failure created by pandering to the Unionist's,who were quite willing to take up arms against the crown if they didn't get their way.This has always been the case.I have no doubt Britain would have happily dumped it's cess-pit onto Ireland and maybe given arms to REAL Irishmen we would have finished off what the men of 1916 were going to do.BUT creakinggate you conveniently keep forgetting it wasn’t the Real Aaaarsh chappies who were running the country..The Irish government in Dumpland had to take into consideration the Unionist section of Dumpland and the Anglophiles plus large protestant owned industry all over Ireland..ALL of whom were having none of it.When you say those blasted Aaaarsh chappies..look in the mirror Creakinggate. Don’t make it look so black and white because it isn’t.

• Towngate | Dec 31, 2010, 05:56 AM EST

  AT LAST we have it! Poor old Britain has been struggling to climb out of the cess-pit for years - but those blasted Aaaarsh chappies won't let them go!