the problem with the union

[jon1959]

So nothing to do with an unequal union then.

I honestly have no idea what point you are trying to make - or how it is relevant to the post from Rjk you disputed.

He said the response of the government (in London) to the Irish famine showed 'we have never been a union of equals'. Surely that is about the way the UK government affects the lives of people in different parts and in different circumstances (better not to be poor, Irish or catholic) rather than some legalistic analysis of the different acts of union (England with Scotland and then Ireland?).

A case could be made about unequal rights in the union - nationalist have done that for centuries - but that wasn't the point made.

[Q]

I honestly have no idea what point you are trying to make - or how it is relevant to the post from Rjk you disputed.

He said the response of the government (in London) to the Irish famine showed 'we have never been a union of equals'. Surely that is about the way the UK government affects the lives of people in different parts and in different circumstances (better not to be poor, Irish or catholic) rather than some legalistic analysis of the different acts of union (England with Scotland and then Ireland?).

A case could be made about unequal rights in the union - nationalist have done that for centuries - but that wasn't the point made.

The union is unequal and there is no way for it to be equal. Wales is a sidebar to England in the union. That’s it.

However the potato famine is more complex than stated in this thread. The then conservative government in the first year of shortages ensured through their actions no one died, they looked to remove the dependence of the Irish people on the potato and they removed the laws keeping corn prices high. They did this as a British government of Ireland. It worked.

In subsequent years the local land owners - Irish and British - forced the changes they led to the starvation of people but kept polices that helped them. Not London or England but the influence of the Irish land owners

People like to blame London and conservatives and often do so correctly but the food shortages in Ireland and the change in policies was driven by Irish land owners not English ignorance.

The British government became driven by a small group demanding the action for their pocket. That was and remains the issue in many governments

https://www.irishcentral.com/roots/t...8889-237694361