h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Just testin!

St. Patricks day 2004...
Have a good one!
Free Guinness here!

Wow! Go you!

Happy St Patricks Day Mark!

I mean Of course!

Meh, I bet nobody does this for St George's Day. What with Blair seeiing it as racist to be English.

Keep St George in my heart, keep me English.
Keep St George in my heart I pray.
Keep St George in my heart, keep me English.
No Surrender to the IRA (Scum)

But happy St Pat's to all those Irish not affiliated in any way with the bombing of my home town, sorry for the blanket scorn effect of this point. And to you AD (even though you're a Manc like me...).

Its amazing how the patriotic people forget there own saints day until someone elses comes around..

And i thought you were atheist anywho

"Its amazing how the patriotic people forget there own saints day until someone elses comes around.."

St George's day is April 23rd. Just because I don't wake up in a morning, stand on my roof and shout that to the heavens doesn't mean I don't know that.
However, when I celebrate St George's day, I get abuse. On a march with the scouts once we were waterbombed by asians and given abuse for being racist. However, Manchester will happily stage a celebration for the Irish Republicans, and fly the Irish Tricolour, which last time I checked was a symbol not ony of Ireland but of the IRA, who caused millions of pounds worth of damage to Manchester, where WE live Mark, and have killed many English people. That to me is rubbing my face in the s**t and saying 'ha, we agree with the IRA, you Englishmen are scum!'

"And i thought you were atheist anywho"

I am. I'm not a Christian. However, I am English, and St George's day is as near to 'England Day' as you get, seeing as we have no Bastille Day or Day of Independence.

Im aware of were i live. Im also aware of the bomb, mainly because i had planned to go to the workshop that day which was pretty close to it..

Bad two examples there. The french and the americans. One celebrates because they arent good at anything else and the other does it to sell more goods, as well as glorifying in the slaughter of the English.

The Irish flag is no different to any other flag, and in someways what your saying is racist. You've linked the IRA to one of its symbols, the flag, which is linked to all irish people as a whole. You've then gone on to say that the Irish 'have killed many English people' and 'caused millions of pounds worth of damage to Manchester'.
You've also not mentioned the years of brutallity inflicted by the English onto the Irish. Some of the trouble can be traced back to Cromwell.

Still, its one of those things that makes me laugh. Then again, when better for your fun loving atheist to celebrate then a Saints Day.

"Bad two examples there. The french and the americans. One celebrates because they arent good at anything else and the other does it to sell more goods, as well as glorifying in the slaughter of the English."

Your lack of knowledge and hatred of the French astounds me. It is a celebration of their revolution. The American day is the same although rightly it's anti-British. Difference being, Americans don't expect me to celebrate it.

"The Irish flag is no different to any other flag, and in someways what your saying is racist. You've linked the IRA to one of its symbols, the flag, which is linked to all irish people as a whole. You've then gone on to say that the Irish 'have killed many English people' and 'caused millions of pounds worth of damage to Manchester'."

No, I stated that the tricolour is the symbol of the IRA as well as the symbol of the Republic of Ireland. FACT. I then said IRA terrorism has killed many English people. FACT. Not every Irish person is a member of the IRA, but every member of the IRA is Irish, and does view the Tricolour as the symbol of their terrorist organisation.

"You've also not mentioned the years of brutallity inflicted by the English onto the Irish. Some of the trouble can be traced back to Cromwell."

Nope, then again I don't expect a big St George's Day Parade in Dublin or Belfast. Or a celebration in NY for Bin Laden's birthday, which using your logic can be justified as Americans have in the past killed Arabs.

"Still, its one of those things that makes me laugh. Then again, when better for your fun loving atheist to celebrate then a Saints Day."

Yes, I am an atheist. Yes I love fun. Yes I mark St George's Day, as it is the only celebration my country has of it's heritage. You can take what you want from occasions like this, I choose to ignore the religious undertones, and focus on the celebration of the English culture and history.

"At 11.20am on Saturday June 15th 1996 a 3,300lb (1500Kg) IRA bomb exploded in Manchester city centre. At least 80,000 lives were placed at risk by the bomb but prompt police action ensured there were no fatalities. The most serious injuries were caused by falling glass over 300 metres from the site of the explosion. The retail heart of the northwest was more or less ripped out together with a vast area of office space. Damage estimates amounted to £700m. About 200,000 sq ft of retailing and 300,000 sq ft of office space was destroyed. The bomb remains to this day the biggest ever detonated on the British mainland."

God bless those cheeky Irish chappies.

ok i have to object now,
It sounds like you are saying all irish are responsable for that act,
these people are extreemests i dont yet see how this conversation came about after a saints day celebration...

I've said multiple times here Anth, that I regard the Irish and the IRA as two seperate entities. But I don't see why Manchester, which suffered at the hands of the IRA should celebrate their country, when the IRA want Ireland to have nothing to do with Britain. Especially when in Londonderry, you can get your head kicked in for not dropping the 'London' as it is the English capital. There's a great deal of anti-English sentiment amongst many Irish people, and a group of them tried to kill my townskin. Why, therefore, should I be expected to celebrate. That's all I ask, and yet nobody tells me!

This still going on?

But you just did blame the irish...

no one said you had to celebrate,
you caould just have treeted it like anyother day of the year,
its you thats makeing a fuss,
its a saints day, just so happens to be the patren saint of ireland
what does it matter who celebrates i and where they do so?