"British Occupation". Hmm. A US view of UK history! ;-) ;-) ;-)
And how else would you term the invasion and holding by force of another
country ? This country was occupied by the British for a long time, and
like the Americans we had our Declaration of a Republic (1916) and our
War of Idependence (1918-1922).
What is more controversial (as used by extremists) is to apply the term
to Northern Ireland -- where the majority *do* want to be part of the UK
(which is why I don't use it in that context). That is probably why the
term has fallen out of favor recently, but historically applied to what
is now the Irish Republic, it is quite accurate.
We have a young Irish chap in our team at work ...
Does he actually refer to himself as a 'chap' ? If so, I wonder how
typically Irish he us. ;-)
(contracts in the UK -
better pay)
Nice side swipe. Citation please ? We have a lot of British people
working here too, and the pay scales in the two countries are pretty
similar -
http://www.finfacts.ie/Private/isl/PayinEurope.htm
puts us slightly higher, though the recent downturn has hit both our
countries.
Most telling of all is that you referred to it as 'UK history',
suggesting a certain reluctance even now to admit we are a different
country.
Tom Wade
