Well fuck me pink and call me Rosie. AIBU?

[TooBigForMyBoots]

Do you know that Belfast and NI are in the British Isles? Are you aware that some British people claim they do not know that NI is in the same timezone as the rest of the UK?

YABU = You can't expect British people to know the history and geography of their country.
YANBU = Of course British people know this stuff. Anyone who says otherwise is having you on.

She was ridiculed for that at the time.

They're a bit thick if they think NI is a British island @DownNative

Depends on if you are catholic or not. Catholics are not fans of making fun of the dead.

Im atheist so I dont care.

I'm not stating otherwise, as I said I'm referring on a personal basis of myself and acquaintances. On the back of a post suggesting all Northern Irish citizens seem to walk around calling themselves Irish. As you can see from other posters, I'm not alone in my thoughts.

That's good to know. Thanks @Foreversearch.

I used to always get confused between Britain and the United Kingdom and I was born and raised here.

I don’t think anyone should be looking down their nose at someone having less of an education than them.

@EmilyGilmoresSass I am not disputing it but saying most are british and not Irish is not correct. The small minority seem to say they are NI the rest seem to choose a side. All my DP's family and its a huge family are Irish living in NI so I only see this side of it but I know some of his pals are British in NI however the circles we are in would be mainly Irish or identify as Irish.

On the catholic thing, my dp is atheist but puts catholic on the census to bump up numbers. I am sure both sides do similar.

I'm doing my best to work up the requisite froth - need to feed the media narrative!

In Ireland it is the history that is taught in British schools that we look down on rather than the pupils. You do not get proper history when it comes to Ireland.

Ideally you'd listen to/watch/read the news and realise that there seems to be something weird that you don't understand going on just west of Wales and lots of people seem to think it's really important, so maybe you should google or click on the box on the BBC news site saying "What is the Good Friday Agreement and why are people worried about it?"

It's not like Scotland having a different education system or Ireland having the same time zone: if you didn't know those I can totally see how the subject would never come to your attention. But the geo-politics of Northern Ireland is sodding everywhere.

"Over half of people currently in NI identify as Irish"???

No, this isn't correct.

In 2021:

42.8% identified as British, alone or with other national identities.

33.3% identified as Irish, alone or with other national identities.

31.5% identified as Northern Irish, alone or with other national identities.

And, no, Northern Irish doesn't mean the same thing as Irish. I would certainly say that Northern Irish is a partitionist identity as it pertains to within Northern Ireland itself - not outwith.

There's good reason why Northern Irish and Irish are separated in the census. It reflects the increase in the middle ground, if you like.

Not really a surprise tbh. Some people from the south of England won't know that Newcastle is part of England and some people from Yorkshire don't know that Sussex exists!

@DownNative I didnt look at the census the other half did so apologies if i didnt listen to actual full facts - he was talking and meh. The great thing is that people can identify as NI rather than choose Irish or British though.

That's not what you asked at all. You asked what we think "British people" know. You didn't ask "do you personally know that the island of Ireland and Britain have the same time zone?"

I spent so long in an airport in Belfast recently that I would have sworn I'd entered another time zone when I returned to the mainland.
This thread is bad form, OP.

Lots of countries have more than one timezone. This is a non-issue.

I don't think I've seen the thread you are talking about but if people haven't travelled much out of the area they live then I can understand why they may not know this.

Australia is one country and has different time zones

Do you not think that it's important to know your country's geographical borders, monetary currency and time zones?

Yes, you're not alone in your thoughts and the 2021 census supports your comments. An Irish identity is not the majority one in Northern Ireland still.

I put Northern Irish and British in census forms. I'm from a Catholic background too.

Australia has 9.

I think you're being a tit or being goady for some reason known only to yourself. Probably both

We've all had the benefit of being entitled to free education, and I refuse to believe that any school teaches that Northern Ireland is so far away that it is in a different time zone.

so maybe you should google or click on the box on the BBC news site saying "What is the Good Friday Agreement and why are people worried about it?"
That relies on everyone having an interest in history/politics in the first place to want to give up their free time to what they'd probably see as homework. You have to be interested.
Just like someone telling me I should know more maths and should be searching that out in my own time.
Er, no. The interest has to be there, rightly or wrongly.
I didn't do history at high school, found it boring, but find it fascinating now so do find myself falling down history Google worm holes for fun.
Not everyone will though.

Thank you @downnative. I was about to smack my head off a wall at the fact we apparently all call ourselves Irish when we don't. Given I live here I'd have thought my input helpful but apparently not.

But not the UK. We have one time zone. AIBU to think that we should know this?