[BfloGuy]

But a significant majority of people in these six northern counties wanted to remain part of the UK.

Thank you for mentioning that.

I remember, many years ago, a colleague asking me why Britain insisted on keeping Northern Ireland a part of the United Kingdom when it was so obvious they wanted independence. I told him that the majority of the population in Northern Ireland was Protestant and wished to remain under British rule. The IRA was a distinct minority trying to get its way through terrorism.

He was shocked. No one in the media (from which he'd formed his opinions, of course) had ever come out and stated that one simple fact.

[A_perfect_lady]

I remember, many years ago, a colleague asking me why Britain insisted on keeping Northern Ireland a part of the United Kingdom when it was so obvious they wanted independence. I told him that the majority of the population in Northern Ireland was Protestant and wished to remain under British rule. The IRA was a distinct minority trying to get its way through terrorism.

The response I always heard to that was that the majority in Northern Ireland were British and Scottish transplants who'd been given land taken from Irish Catholics, so of course they would vote to remain with the UK.