What if you replaced Britain with France and Belfast with London, would most English would support the IRA?

I think you paint an interesting picture. Unusually intelligent for this medium. Perhaps it is worth considering that all this has happened - 1066 and all that, when France did indeed invade England and set up a state that enacted what we would call apartheid, probably just as brutal at times as the repression in Ireland. It is also worth noting that the irish nationalists of the 16th century, perhaps the fore runners of Sinn Fein were in factt Normans that had moved into ireland (Henry II, 1152 if memory serves me correctly) and "went native". I think the key to this is time. Give any society centuries and the divisions will slowly disappear. Tony Blair converted to Catholicism recently. Not so long ago an ex "prime minister" would have been beheaded for that. The IRA might not have been mad in the 1960 or 1970s, Bloody Sunday showed what the British Army were capable of, and the catholic community was under the boot, denied proper jobs, housing etc, with Gerrymandered constituencies drawn up, but increasingly in the 80s they represented an unwillingness to move on and negotiate. Remember what Gandhi and the ANC achieved, under incredible brutality, by non-violent means. So IMO the alternative history you write is stimulating but makes no allowance for an "ERA" petering out, just as the IRA, CIRA et al will eventually, and rightly, run out of steam as the racism and repression of the North fades and dies away. Just give it time. The CIRA, IRA etc should not still be fighting, and should not be supported by anyone who wants a united Ireland. It will happen someday, but not by bombing. Those days are over. also - 300 years is incorrect. try 900.

Your wasting your time asking sensible questions like that on here coz ya only get dumb shitz like me who are going to give you silly answers! Good luck in your quest tho! :-) xxx

Possibly - but if you replaced Germany with Italy and Edinburgh with Madrid I might have a suntan

Interesting point the way I see it the north of Ireland was colonised by English and Scottish settlers by king James 400 years ago repressing the native population which is still on going to present day.I think the only way it could resolve the problem is to have the British and Irish to hold national vote to see what country they want Ulster to join,as Britain cant subsidise colony's any longer,the problem being that Eire might not want flag waving bigots in Ulster to be part of them I think Britain would glad to see the back of them