# I haven't heard any negative news about Northern Ireland for awhile. Everything OK?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-havent-heard-any-negative-news-about-northern-ireland-for-awhile-everything-ok/277099>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [November 29, 2004, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-havent-heard-any-negative-news-about-northern-ireland-for-awhile-everything-ok/277099 "2004-11-29T05:17:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![TwistofFate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@TwistofFate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwistofFate)\
**Post date:** [November 30, 2004, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-havent-heard-any-negative-news-about-northern-ireland-for-awhile-everything-ok/277099/21 "2004-11-30T11:11:37Z")

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Things are improving, and if the current deal works out there will be two massive shows of symbolism, including the rather interesting possibility of Ian Paisley shaking hands with Martin McGuinness!

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**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\
**Post date:** [November 30, 2004, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-havent-heard-any-negative-news-about-northern-ireland-for-awhile-everything-ok/277099/22 "2004-11-30T17:04:29Z")

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> [@ruadh](#):
>
> It is one country, it’s just a country divided into two different states.

Well, that is sort of the point, it was certainly not always that way, the borders were pretty tight for much of the last century, weren’t they?

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**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\
**Post date:** [November 30, 2004, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-havent-heard-any-negative-news-about-northern-ireland-for-awhile-everything-ok/277099/23 "2004-11-30T17:18:47Z")

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> [@Gangster Octopus](#):
>
> the borders were pretty tight for much of the last century, weren’t they?

Not much of the last _century_. Much of the last few decades.

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**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\
**Post date:** [November 30, 2004, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-havent-heard-any-negative-news-about-northern-ireland-for-awhile-everything-ok/277099/24 "2004-11-30T17:26:05Z")

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> [@TwistofFate](#):
>
> Things are improving, and if the current deal works out there will be two massive shows of symbolism, including the rather interesting possibility of Ian Paisley shaking hands with Martin McGuinness!

I’ll take “Signs of the Apocalypse” for $500, Alex…

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