OFFLINE

Well, the Queen is coming.  Are the Irish excited?  Or mortified?

After the Bloody Sunday killings by the British Army in Londonderry in 1972, the British Embassy in Dublin was burnt down.

Seven years later, one of the Queen's relatives, Lord Louis Mountbatten, was killed by the IRA while holidaying on the Irish coast.

What are the relationships between the two countries now?    And will this visit be of historical significance?  Will it mean anything for the two nations?  Or is it a colossal waste of money?

I've always thought there was probably still (some) animosity ...some ill will, by the Irish toward the Monarchy.  But I wonder if perhaps this is like saying "Southerners hate the Yanks" in America?  Has enough time passed?

125 there were those in the American South that held a lot of contempt and outright hatred of the Norht, Yasnks and the like.  The wounds were still open and bleeding.

30 years ago, the feelings were more of that of 2 friendly rivals.  Jokes were told, but for the most part...no real bad will existed.

Today, most in the south (especially schoolkids) probably dont think much about that war, or how we were treated during reconstruction.  In fact...our schoolkids probably are oblivious to that period of our history.  (Too busy playing with their iPads and worrying about Lady Gaga and Charlie Sheen I guess).

OFFLINE

Well, there are the usual complaints from the Republican side (our brand of republicans not yours) about it being "too soon" (although the don't say too soon after what), but most ppl don't really care one way or another. We're more concerned with what our new government will look like and what they're going to do about the economy than about whether or not some old lady with no real political power anyway is going to visit or not. In fact, there's a tongue-in-cheek petition going around asking her to take Ireland back into the British Empire, as our own politicians did such a **** job of running the place :-)

Am sure that coming up to the visit there'll be a lot of the usual talking heads in the newspapers etc saying that this is a betrayal of everything our forefathers fought for in the War of Independence etc, but seeing as our previous government effectively handed over the running of the country to Brussels in exchange for a loan that no-one wanted to bail out our failing banks, then that point is kind of moot.  

OFFLINE

Well, I just kinda wonder if she's trying to rebuild bridges, or what?  I wonder if some political good can come with this visit?