Foxy,

What you said, undoubtedly without thinking, was " And who amongst
us does not love Ireland and the Irish."

My answer was/is "Thousands", and I am of predominantly Irish descent
(Brian Boru is an ancestor) and have seen various manifestations of hatred for the Irish for most of my life.
Some of that hatred is with good reason, or don't you remember the Irish terrorism in Britain?

It happened in 19th century US after the potato famine and in Oz . Bushrangers were often linked with police and official policy against Irish.

Dear Is Mise,

I grew up with our Irish parish priest being a
very close family friend. He was a regular
visitor for lunch at our home on a Sunday. I
learned a great deal about Ireland from him.
He was a lovely man. And I hold a very strong
affection for the country as a result.

Yes, the country does have a sad and troubled
history. But so does the country of my ancestry -
Lithuania.

I prefer to dwell on the positives rather than
the negatives though.

And I'm glad to learn that your ancestry is Irish
after all.

The topic is about rough crazy boys and society that cruels the spirit and defeats lives. But along comes Uber. "Rogue taxi operator Uber could diversify into one of the world's oldest forms of passenger transport by taking on Melbourne's horse-drawn carriage industry - and it wouldn't fall foul of the law.

The popular riding-sharing service has criticised the Andrews Government over a legal loophole that allows horse-drawn carriages to pick up passengers in the city without the carts being registered or the drivers required to be licensed."

These guys are Ireland's future entrepreneurs , tionsclaoioch ceannai.

Dear Nick,

I don't think that the horse-drawn carriages in
Melbourne are going to give any sort of competition
to taxis in the city. After all they don't travel
great distances and are merely a tourist novelty
item as they are in other cities - like New York,
for example. Taxis have no cause for concern.

Here are two more links that may be of interest.

One is on the Norwegian travelling musician that sums
up beautifully her experience with the lads and horses
in the Liberties:

http://extra.ie/news/real-life/norwegian-travelling-musician-makes-incredible-short-film-lads-liberties

And the other is on the Ballinasloe Horse Fair where she bought
her own horse:

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/thousands-attend-ballinasloe-horse-fair-1.2378678