Lack of knowledge about the Anglo-Irish relationship past and present has deep personal and political consequences

Before emigrating from Ireland to teach in England in 2006, I assumed British people would know as much about me as I did about them. I was put right just one year into the job, in an east London staffroom, when a colleague teased: “Why the salad, Jen? I thought you Irish loved a potato.”

Contrary to the stereotype, Irish people don’t just happen to love potatoes. Pushed on to infertile land in west Ireland, most notoriously at Oliver Cromwell’s command, farmers had been encouraged to grow the ill-fated crop by their British colonisers. But when the blight came, little was done to help them. The resulting Great Hunger brought the death or emigration of 2 million people – more than a quarter of the Irish population – between 1845 and 1852.

Continue reading…

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You May Also Like

Asos triples profits as Covid crisis boosts online sales

Fashion retailer makes record half-year profit of £1o6m amid surge in shopping…

Eight men arrested over Royal Mail delivery scam texts

Police mount operations in London, Coventry, Birmingham and Colchester during week of…

West Ham confirm arrival of Lyon’s Lucas Paquetá in club-record deal

Brazilian signs five-year contract in move worth €60m (£51.3m) Paquetá becomes West…