[Irish_Thatcherite]

....wasn't it imposed by one man's fiat, not by referendum or anything?

That is correct, while it wasn't nessecary for a referendum to introduce it, it was generally the case that a controversial proposal would be brought before the people - not this time; all the calls for compromise (polls supported compromise), and even a referendum were arrogantly ignored by Minister Michael Martin (now demoted, LOL!)!

BTW, any Irish roots yourself?

[Irish_Thatcherite]

< /I >

[nina0113]

About a quarter, but you'd have to go back to the 17th century and add up the 32nd's or 64th's or whatever. My last immigrant ancestor was mid-18th c. Mostly Welsh, that's what our family counts itself as. Some Scottish as well.

(and a little English, but we don't talk about that!)