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Northern Ireland isn't a nation, Celtic or otherwise.

Mccamleyc-It has it's own national football team and government, or do you mean it's a regional state with the EU like the Republic of Ireland is ? I can't quite remember the name of the EU guy the Irish Govt. had to answer to regarding the budget, maybe you can remember his name and title

This article on the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ site links in with the migration patterns of humans
/news/science-environment-11729813

The related story site link to- Farmers spawned most european men is an interesting read and mentions Ireland has the least genetic diversity in Europe, suggesting it was one of the last places in Europe to be settled by humans on their migratory paths

Enoch Powell would have agreed with you, Christopher. He once corrected me extremely peremptorily when I used the term in his hearing. I have been at a loss ever since to know how to describe our homeland - neither "beloved province" nor "failed statelet" quite capture my feelings about the place. I have nonetheless usually thought of myself as predominantly Celtic - it would be interesting to find out if I'm mistaken.

mccamleyc,
Ireland has never been a Nation either, that does not make Ireland something that people cannot feel attached to, or want to be part of.

Parrhasios,

When I was At Methody Enoch Powell came and spoke to us, it was after he had basically left politics but was still someone who had been there. He was a really interesting man, and in some ways misunderstood. He was jumped on for his rivers of blood speech, but given what we have done in NI, even he didn't predict that hatred.

He predicted many of the tensions which would exist, and do exist, in a multicultural Britain and in some ways we have gone beyond that because we have tensions within 'ourselves'. I know it is un pc to agree with Enoch but what he said has come to pass. The problem we have is how to deal with it, Enoch wanted to deny entrance, or to deny it existed, neither would work, we still have to find the answer.

Northern Ireland is a region. In terms of terminology, you can't say Scotland is a nation either. Scotland is a country and the Scots are a nation.

I think it's Iceland has the least diversity in its ethnic makeup, not Ireland.

mccamleyc,

According to the Oxford Dictionary a nation is "a large body of people united by common descent, history, culture, or language, inhabiting a particular state or territory".

I think it's fair of Northern Ireland to claim it's a nation using that definition.

Whether it's Celtic or not, I've no idea. But I suspect a lot of the Celtic genes in the British Isles are thoroughly watered down by Norse and Briton influxes.

Instead of Celts,I prefer to think of us as one race- the Human race. All the rest is just cultural. The fact that in Ireland, 100% of Y chromosome DNA lineage (the male line) comes from the Near East- Turkey and Anatolia makes any idea of nationahood and racial purity ridiculous

You think people in northern Ireland are "united by common descent, history, culture, or language"?

As United as the Scots and the Welsh and the Cornish. The closer you zoom in on a location the more it divides. One county/district in competition with another, one town in competition with another. We all have dreams, it's just pursuit of some peoples dreams ends with people being killed. Whatever side of the coin it is, whether it's done on behalf of Religion or Tribe,it's still evil

There is very very little difference in the genetics, but genes are not really what identity is about. Go back 70,000 years and were all African.

Dave - # 5

Enoch Powell was an exceedingly peculiar man whose manners, in my opinion, left quite a lot to be desired. I met him a few times as he used to visit my mother with whom he said he had "a psychic connection". He gave her a book of his sermons which contained some of the most idiosyncratic (and occasionally monstrous) theology I have ever forced myself to read.

I don't really think he was right about immigration either - the Thames has yet to foam with much blood and, outside tabloid-land, very many immigrants live entirely adapted and integrated lives in our society fully accepted by their neighbours.

The influx of new peoples with new cultures and voices is absolutely to be welcomed as something which improves and strengthens a society. As an internationalist I do not believe in the nation state so I unhesitatingly and unreservedly welcome all immigrants to our shores and oppose any discrimination against them whatsoever.

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