Live in the present, not the past and give the queen a royal welcome

Nobody needs to bow or scrape, but it would be nice if all would be polite when an 85-year-old woman comes to visit, just as our President Mary McAleese has been welcomed with graciousness on many occasions to Britain ...

Let’s not forget that she is making a big gesture too by going to the Garden of Remembrance

IT’S sad that some Irish people define their identity as Irish by reference to their hatred for the British. It’s sad too that so many prefer to blame Britain for our own woes rather than admitting to Ireland’s own failures. And it’s sad too that they are so caught up in the history — and demanding retribution and apologies for it, while offering weasel worded regret for the wrong done by some Irish people and always justifying it as a response — that they prefer to live in the past rather than in present.