Fat Buddha CBE
Growing up a Catholic in Birmingham in the 60s and 70s and living in Balsall Heath and Tyseley just about everyone I knew, apart from my own family was Irish or of Irish descent. They all loved country and Western. The republican paper was flogged in the Big Bulls Head but that was about it as far as nationalism went.
Even if it was all as you say (it wasn’t) who could blame them, given our ignoble history there.
I’m not a catholic but most of my mates in Saltley were from first generation Irish families. Their parents and especially old biddies in the Smoke were nostalgic and regularly lachrymose about the old country (‘my old Irish home, far across the foam’ etc). Not really surprising, the English are no different in their ‘ex pat’ form. All of the lads I was friends with were strongly nationalist and wanted a united ireland (except for the odd Protestant friend from the north who had left because of the troubles). They hated what the British state had done in Ireland but not the people they knew, and they hated the bombings and attacks, especially in Birmingham, not least because of the troubles it caused them and their families. It’s hard making a new life and bringing up a family far away from where you come from.
