AIBU - England couldn’t care less about Northern Ireland

[ThisThatTheOther]

Northern Ireland has seen a return to violence , petrol bombs etc every night for a week now. It’s dominated the headlines here in Ireland. People are worried as peace up north is so fragile. Listening to the radio yesterday an old advisor of Tony Blair was on to discuss. The radio host read out the top 8 listed stories on all main English sites and the violence of Northern Ireland didn’t even feature. It’s the top headline again in all major Irish publications this morning but not in English publications.

It was headline news on the news sites I was reading - one of them being the BBC. But mumsnetters hate the BBC so they probably didn't read it.

@noblegiraffe

tit for tat politicians who irresponsibilly fuel our differences

Like yesterday's tweet from Arlene Foster: "This is not protest. This is vandalism and attempted murder. These actions do not represent unionism or loyalism. They are an embarrassment to Northern Ireland and only serve to take the focus off the real law breakers in Sinn Fein.
My thoughts are with the bus driver."

FFS.

Yes exactly, such an inflammatory statement.

This

"The reason why it doesn’t have traction in England is because we don’t get it. We don’t have this religious conflict. It doesn’t matter to the majority of people here if you are Catholic or Protestant."

I really don't care whether my neighbours are catholic/protestant/muslim/hindu/no faith/jedi star wars leads the way... it just doesn't matter at all. Why should it. But it really does seem to matter in NI and in parts of Scotland - to the point of killing/rioting etc

There was a fantastic thread on MN when the Tories cosied up with the DUP. So many had no idea about who the DUP were, much less NI and it turned into a really educational thread going back centuries and helping people understand how and why NI came to be and the oppression of Catholics and the civil war. I must try and dig it out and link it.

I also call bullshit on Brexiteers who claim ignorance over Brexit igniting violence. If they did proper research it was very widely talked about by people from NI, people involved in the GFA and people on all sorts of forums.

I'm from NI but left 30 years ago having grown up during the worst of the troubles. No-one outside cared much then and they def don't now.

Whats happening at the moment is the equivalent of a loyalist tantrum being drummed up by the DUP. The Tories Brexit have left them high and dry and as no-one is listening to their whining they have sent the kids out as a starter.

The reason it isn't been covered in the MSM is that Brexit is meant to be a massive success and negative coverage to be kept quiet. The fact N Ireland was always going to be a shit show needs to be kept quiet.

All the unionists I know who voted for Brexit couldn't see it they were turkeys voting for Christmas. Johnson paid the DUP for their votes and then fucked them over.

@SpringTimeDream

This

"The reason why it doesn’t have traction in England is because we don’t get it. We don’t have this religious conflict. It doesn’t matter to the majority of people here if you are Catholic or Protestant."

I really don't care whether my neighbours are catholic/protestant/muslim/hindu/no faith/jedi star wars leads the way... it just doesn't matter at all. Why should it. But it really does seem to matter in NI and in parts of Scotland - to the point of killing/rioting etc

It's more political now than religious, and you're very much over simplifying the issues.

I'm very much against the violence and riots, but there are complex issues behind them. If they were being addressed properly by our useless politicians, people wouldn't be (wrongly and inexcusably) resorting to violence and riots.
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@RampantIvy

It was headline news on the news sites I was reading - one of them being the BBC. But mumsnetters hate the BBC so they probably didn't read it.

Looked on the BBC news website on Tuesday and the only story was tucked away in the NI section, so that's not true.

@Aloethere

*But why is it that unusual.

If you ask anyone in Northern Ireland to tell you what is happening in Wales, they would not be able to tell you.*

It might not be unusual in England to not know about anything that happens outside of England but in lots of other places we take an interest in what happens outside of our country too. I am in Ireland and I can tell you about the riots in NI. Not my country but I still know about it. If there were riots in Scotland, England or Wales I would know about it too.
Some people read the news and take an active interest in the world, especially when things are happening in countries that are so close geographically to you, certainly I would imagine that people in the UK would take an interest in other UK countries, there are only 4 after all. It is mind blowing to me that lots of people in the UK don't even know all 4 countries in the UK. It would be funny if it wasn't so sad.

Of course you are going to know about what happens in Northern Ireland, it is not far from you, you share a land mass with it. And the RTE news loves showing problems in Northern Ireland on the news

I am Irish myself, and I know everything (too much) about Northern Ireland. How could we not? It used to be part of Ireland. If there are any problems in Northern Ireland, it is on the Irish rte news every day.

Of course us Irish are going to know more about Northern Ireland than people in England, it is not far from us, Northern Ireland is a one hour drive from my house in the Republic.

People who claim this has nothing to do with Brexit are obviously completely ignorant to the issues of a hard border. Which kind of proves the OPs point.

@SpringTimeDream

This

"The reason why it doesn’t have traction in England is because we don’t get it. We don’t have this religious conflict. It doesn’t matter to the majority of people here if you are Catholic or Protestant."

I really don't care whether my neighbours are catholic/protestant/muslim/hindu/no faith/jedi star wars leads the way... it just doesn't matter at all. Why should it. But it really does seem to matter in NI and in parts of Scotland - to the point of killing/rioting etc

Yes but the fact that it matters in Northern Ireland is historically an issue of our making because of Britain's behaviour in Ireland.

TBH I can't remember which day it was @noblegiraffe, but it definitely was a headline. I also get news flashes on my phone and this was one of them.

@SpringTimeDream

This

"The reason why it doesn’t have traction in England is because we don’t get it. We don’t have this religious conflict. It doesn’t matter to the majority of people here if you are Catholic or Protestant."

I really don't care whether my neighbours are catholic/protestant/muslim/hindu/no faith/jedi star wars leads the way... it just doesn't matter at all. Why should it. But it really does seem to matter in NI and in parts of Scotland - to the point of killing/rioting etc

It's not so much a Catholic/Protestant religious conflict but more a Loyalist/Nationalist divide. These people aren't fighting over their religion!

AIBU - England couldn’t care less about Northern Ireland

England only, or the UK as a whole?

I went on a city break to Belfast with a friend a few years ago (had a fabulous time). I was horrified at the scale of some of the events I'd never heard about. I'm from Yorkshire and remember being evacuated from shopping centres in the 1990s but otherwise have very little knowledge. For example, the Europa hotel in Belfast was bombed 36 times, more than any hotel in Europe ever. I'd no idea about Thatcher and the 1981 hunger strikes, or the Shankill bombing that killed 10 people.

I did GCSE History. WW1, WW2, the Cold War and... the Great Depression of the 1920s. That's it.

I think another issue is that smaller countries think more about bigger countries, than vice versa.

When I am in Ireland, people talk about things that are happening in the U.K. alot.

When I am in the U.K. no one ever talks about Ireland, or seem to know much at all about Ireland. People have said to me in the U.K, that "no one cares about Ireland".

It is how it is.

@lifeturnsonadime

People who claim this has nothing to do with Brexit are obviously completely ignorant to the issues of a hard border. Which kind of proves the OPs point.

They are protesting against the PPS decision to not prosecute anyone over the Bobby Storey funeral.

Of course there are issues ongoing re Brexit, but that is not what the riots are currently about.

I think Remainers are insisting that the riots are brexit related for their own agenda, and blatantly ignoring the people who live in Northern Ireland telling them people are organising "protests" (riots) out of anger of the lack of action taken against major political figures blatantly going against lockdown restrictions.

Of course us Irish are going to know more about Northern Ireland than people in England, it is not far from us, Northern Ireland is a one hour drive from my house in the Republic.

Oh that explains why they don't know about it's existence then. If you don't live an hours drive from it, it doesn't exist

We share a landmass but the UK shares, you know the UK. To not know anything about one of the 4 countries in the UK is not easily explained away by anything but willful ignorance in my opinion. That is shown here by the multitude of posters who use NI and Ireland interchangeably like they mean the same thing.

@Mamimawr

If the English media gave it the attention it deserves then they would have to admit that Brexit was a huge mistake and they don't want to do that.

Sadly, I feel that this is true.

@aloethere do you know everything that is happening in Wales, Scotland, the numerous Scottish islands?

What is the latest news in Wales?

@Sarahtrue11

I think another issue is that smaller countries think more about bigger countries, than vice versa.

When I am in Ireland, people talk about things that are happening in the U.K. alot.

When I am in the U.K. no one ever talks about Ireland, or seem to know much at all about Ireland. People have said to me in the U.K, that "no one cares about Ireland".

It is how it is.

I think this is true. Most people in England especially don't know or care about anything outside of the UK unless it directly affects them and even then they can barely grasp that the world doesn't revolve around them. The recent AZ business showed that clearly.

Well I knew about it, and it was the top story on the radio station I was listening to at 8am on the way to work this morning.

'England' isn't one homogenous mass to hurl accusations at willy-nilly.

Northern Ireland is a failed state in many ways.
It's still dependent on Westminster sending billions in subsidies and providing thousands of civil service jobs that wouldn't ordinarily exist.
Probably the biggest failing is that the vast majority of children are still educated almost exclusively within their own religion in primary and secondary schools.
Obviously Brexit was a ticking time bomb just waiting to explode. If checks had been put on the border with the Republic the Nationalists would now be rioting.
Probably the main trigger for the loyalists rioting is the fear of a united Ireland getting closer.
These fears have been exacerbated by Nationalist politicians such as Sinn Fein and people like ex Irish PM Bertie Ahern talking about dates for a border poll.
I suspect that loyalists in NI know that people in either side of the border won't support a united Ireland while violence exists.

I think they started reporting on Wednesday. It's been going on for 7 days now.

I don't think anyone is saying the violence is only related to Brexit, but there are a lot of bad feelings surrounding the new sea border that are contributing to anger and resentment.

They had to suspend Brexit checks at the ports recently because officials were receiving death threats, there was menacing graffiti around the ports, etc. It's not irrelevant.

@dreamingbohemian

I don't think anyone is saying the violence is only related to Brexit, but there are a lot of bad feelings surrounding the new sea border that are contributing to anger and resentment.

They had to suspend Brexit checks at the ports recently because officials were receiving death threats, there was menacing graffiti around the ports, etc. It's not irrelevant.

Its not irrelevant to the ongoing tension, no.

It's irrelevant to the riots, which are being organised with the sole intention of protesting against the handling of the Bobby Storey funeral.