Watching Panorama tonight

[Booldawg]

Alot of British muslims feel implicated and untrusted due to the ongoing threat of terrorism in Britain. Are there any Irish people (on this site) who experienced similar feelings living in mainland Britain in the 70s?

[Octavius]

My dad certainly did. Nothing violent, but certainly he was treated with suspicion, contempt and sometimes people were just downright racist and nasty.

[sandmaster]

Disappointing. I was certainly not aware of any of my Irish friends or clients feeling that way. An my daughter's last boyfriend was a Muslim and he didn't feel threatened. There are some idiots here who will take any excuse to foster hatred - they forget that many of the 'minorities' here came here to escape hatred and persecution. But I still dislike the Burka!! Fosters suspicion and some contempt. (forgive my spelling if it is wrong)

[ummmm]

I got a few jibes as a kid.

Does anyone remember Paddy Bashing?

[Octavius]

Not really, was he a navvy on the building of the North Circular?

[brionon]

The Irish should thank their lucky stars that they bombed the tolerant English. The USA and the French to name only two might have re-acted more violently.

[danchip]

my grandma told me about paddy bashing when she was a child

[Octavius]

brionon, you either underestimate, or are clearly naive about the level of support for the IRA that existed in the US. I remember being in an Irish bar in New York when a collection plate came around.

[danchip]

didnt many british people boycott mcdonalds at the time because the american owners were bank rolling the IRA

[Ethel]

No, they didn't.

McDonald's does not, and never has, funded the IRA. This story is based on an old urban myth that dates back to the 1970's when McDonald's first opened up shop in the UK. The payslips used for UK staff at that time were imported from the USA, and included printed reference to the American equivalent to NI pension contributions - the 'Individual Retirement Account' - or 'IRA' for short. The rumour that McDonald's donated to the IRA terrorist group arises from this misunderstanding.

[Octavius]

Or perhaps the Noraid collection boxes they chained to their counters.

[ludwig]

Terrorism was quite popular in America when it was something that happened somewhere else and was directed at somebody else.
It became less popular after 9/11. Gerry Adams and Martin Mcguiness found it harder to get invited to swanky Washington parties. Even Teddy Kennedy stopped seeing them. No coincidence that we only got real moves towards peace and compromise from 2002 onwards.