[Darth Reagan]

Before I travelled to Ireland, I had never really paid attention to the NI problem. At the time, my understanding that the IRA was simple a PLO for NI. Once arriving there, I realized that the IRA was not alone -- you notice this immediately by all of the paintings on the sides of buildings from the various unionist gangs. I blame myself for inattention, but I blame the press for conveying the wrong impression.

I've since paid more attention, and shall do so in the future. I found Irish people to be some of the nicest people in the world, and I just loved my time there, short as it was. I loved the North as well as the Republic. And I still don't know whether to call it Derry or Londonderry.

[Norn Iron]

Just think of NI as the overlap of two states: UK and Ireland; British and Irish.

The hardmen on either side are the gable wall historians.

The London and Dublin establishments are horrified by the shenanigans but don't really know what to do.

It's also called the Maiden City or Stroke City. The latter has nowt to do with your health; it's the symbol in Londonderry/Derry.

The small habitation in the early 1600s was called Derrie - King James' officials used the Scottish language in the documents, not English. It was later named Londonderrie because the London companies had financed and built what later became the walled city we see now.

Partial historians such as Bold Fenian curiously enough use the English form of the name: Derry!