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'For God's sake, bring me a large Scotch. What a bloody awful
country!' HOME SECRETARY REGINALD MAUDLING, RETURNING FROM HIS
FIRST VISIT TO NORTHERN IRELAND IN 1970 In the early years of the
twentieth century, simmering discontent began to boil over on the
island of Ireland as the nascent IRA took its guerrilla campaign
against British rule to the streets. By 1921, Britain had beaten a
retreat from all but a small portion of the country - and thus
Northern Ireland was born. Kevin Meagher argues that partition has
been an unmitigated disaster for Nationalists and Unionists alike.
As the long and fraught history of British rule in Ireland
staggered to a close, a better future was there for the taking but
was lost amid political paralysis, while the resulting fifty years
of devolution succeeded only in creating a brooding sectarian
stalemate that exploded into the Troubles. In a stark but reasoned
critique, Meagher traces the landmark events in Northern Ireland's
century of existence, exploring the missed signals, the turning
points, the principled decisions that at various stages should have
been taken, as well as the raw realpolitik of how Northern Ireland
has been governed over the past 100 years. Thoughtful and sometimes
provocative, What a Bloody Awful Country reflects on how both
Loyalists and Republicans might have played their cards differently
and, ultimately, how the actions of successive British governments
have amounted to a masterclass in failed statecraft.
For over two centuries, the 'Irish question' has dogged UK
politics. Though the Good Friday Agreement carved a fragile peace
from the bloodshed of the Troubles, the Brexit process has shown a
largely uncomprehending British audience just how uneasy that peace
always was - and thrown new light on Northern Ireland's uncertain
constitutional status. Remote from the British mainland in its
politics, economy and cultural attitudes, Northern Ireland is, in
effect, in an antechamber, its place within the UK conditional on
the border poll guaranteed by the peace process. As shifting
demographic trends erode the once-dominant Protestant-Unionist
majority, making a future referendum a racing certainty, the
reunification of Ireland becomes a question not of if but when -
and how. In this new, fully updated edition of A United Ireland,
Kevin Meagher argues that a reasoned, pragmatic discussion about
Britain's relationship with its nearest neighbour is now long
overdue, and questions that have remained unasked (and perhaps
unthought) must now be answered.
“For God’s sake, bring me a large Scotch. What a bloody awful
country!” Home Secretary Reginald Maudling, returning from his
first visit to Northern Ireland in 1970 As a long and bloody
guerrilla war staggered to a close on the island of Ireland,
Britain beat a retreat from all but a small portion of the country
– and thus, in 1921, Northern Ireland was born. That partition,
says Kevin Meagher, has been an unmitigated disaster for
Nationalists and Unionists alike. Following the fraught history of
British rule in Ireland, a better future was there for the taking
but was lost amid political paralysis, while the resulting fifty
years of devolution succeeded only in creating a brooding sectarian
stalemate that exploded into the Troubles. In a stark but reasoned
critique, Meagher traces the landmark events in Northern
Ireland’s century of existence, exploring the missed signals, the
turning points, the principled decisions that should have been
taken, as well as the raw realpolitik of how Northern Ireland has
been governed over the past 100 years. Thoughtful and sometimes
provocative, What a Bloody Awful Country reflects on how both
Loyalists and Republicans might have played their cards differently
and, ultimately, how the actions of successive British governments
have amounted to a masterclass in failed statecraft.
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