With the pandemic easing, abd my finances in decent shape, planning my return to Ireland summer of 2022.

Does Ireland have summer? Can it afford it?

It has a summer, if you can call it that. My first time there there was a beach on the west coast. The Irish were all happily swimming in the Atlantic. So I jumped right in. So fucking cold I almost froze my nuts off. Lots of good reasons to visit Ireland, climate not being one of them.

Hah! You think the Atlantic is cold, you should give the North Sea a try. It's almost Baltic.

In a move opposed by all the major parties in Northern Ireland, and the Irish government, the UK government have effectively granted amnesty to any one who committed a crime related to the troubles prior to the Good Friday agreement. Basically, a statute of limitations will ensure terrorist and squaddie alike will not face justice.

Is justice a price worth paying for peace?

It's something I've all always favored. the squaddies and volunteers are old men now, who committed their crimes, if that they were, decades ago. The inclusion of the loyalist murder gangs rankles a bit, but so be it.
As unpopular as this is, this is the only path to putting the troubles in the rear view mirror.

The comparisons to the the ongoing Nazi hunts from WWII doesn't hold up, regardless of which side of the fence you are on neither the crimes of the crown nor the IRA approach the evil of the holocaust/

I don’t know what the holocaust has to do with it.

I’d be interested to see you explain to families of the disappeared, of kids gunned down by 2Para, people who had their knees shot out and can’t go home, how this is “putting the troubles in the rear view mirror”.

MacBride and Richard Talber, are singing by the bed, there's a glass of punch beneath your feet, and an angel at your head. There's devils on each side of you with bottles in their hands, you need one more drop of poison and you'll dream of foreign lands....

If you dare to come to England whilst you're here, I'll buy you a drink. I'll never go in to the European Union so long as it exists.

Sinn Fein has inherited the largest share of seats in the Northern Ireland assembly, whilst not gaining a single seat. Voters deserted the sectarian tradition in droves, to vote for the Alliance party. Sinn Fein was the only party not to lose or gain a seat in last weeks assembly elections. And every body is immediately talking about the threat, or the insistence, of an "Irish Unity" referendum.

Which completely fucking ignores the fact that Alliance has no official stance on the unionist/nationalist issue, and it is quite possible that the people who voted for Alliance are sick to death of hearing about it!

It will be hilarious in the coming months, watching the two sides attempting to justify their arguments for and against a referendum. I'm willing to bet not one of these politically tribal idiots would suggest including Ulster independence on the card.