Annoyance or irritation with Rugby culture should not stop us from marvelling at the successes of the team
It would be fascinating to see figures overlaying strong identification with the Irish Rugby Team with broad satisfaction about the state of the nation.
It is in the interest of Irish society and Irish people that living in Ireland be seen as a privilege, and not a right.
Your culture doesn’t matter any more – it has no specific nationality.
Up until Monday, I’d have said Nationalists had a pretty strong argument to make on that front.
The Monarchy is not only dispensing honours – it’s also dispensing a sort of national glue, binding people to itself in orders of chivalry and distinction.
Far from weakening the Union with England and Wales and Northern Ireland, Brexit actually strengthened it.
The big problem here is – as the recent assembly results suggest – that nationalism in Northern Ireland isn’t growing.
How can you say to Unionists that you respect them and their votes while at the same time saying that their country is illegitimate?
If Northern Ireland is to have normal politics, then voting must have normal consequences.
That, at the end of the day, is what nationalism is: The willingness to give yourself and your life for the country you call home
Whether a horrific crime is relevant today, or just a form of outrage archaeology is, in Sinn Fein’s telling, a simple matter of first asking which side carried it out.