Andy,
Long story short. When I went to Europe '80 and '81 it was to close a plant in Skelmersdale, England a place near Wigan and move the assets to Cork. I also had to close down the operations in Maidenhead a town near London. I spent a lot of time back and forth. The folks in England thought I was British because of my name (Harold-James, my first name) no matter where I went the non Irish in England always went out of their way to laugh at the Mick in various ways. If it was football, or just some dumb thing that occured.."probably some dam mick" "papist bas...." etc. If it was occasional I'd write it off but, it was constant... as if all the wrongs on earth were the result of the Irish. But, then in Skelmersdale when I first walked in I saw the ruddy faces that I took to be Scot with the accent... they were from Ireland the North. The Works Manager was English... he actually came to Ireland as Works Manager in Cork and was a nice person... "Bloody Hell" is all he seemed to ever say. The English workers were well informed and the last terminated the Irish ones were ... well .. let go pronto. The Managing Director took great pride in his ability to deal with "the Irish problem here". This coupled with the history I am familiar with in my own family line tainted my view. I start out with a negative feeling toward people in England till I get to know them and if they are nice... I am. If they are not I simply ignore them... I'm not a fighter... more a coward... but, I have feelings. If a people step on those feelings enough I feel bad.. I've not had too many good experiences to allow those feelings to become normal as where I grew up where everyone got along (in the neighborhood). Perhaps, as I age into more rational thought I'll become less cynical and more understanding... meeting nice folks on the forum does help diminish those feelings. Perhaps I've only met the mean spirited ones and the other 40 million are real decent folks and I'm all wrong. I don't know this though. Perhaps if I am able to retire in Ireland and visit more often I'll learn the true nature of the English if I am wrong in my thoughts today.
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