: For as long as the majority of Northerners want to stay in the UK, surely it's only democratic to allow that?

Interestingly the people of Hong Kong were not given that option a few years ago and my feeling is that if Britain was worried that if it did not hand it over then China would have taken it back anyway by force...cynical old me eh? I don't really give that much weight to what Bono says about anything as his mouth seems to work faster than his brain. Most people in Britain i'd wager just want to be shot of the whole ugly mess in Northen ireland but feel some duty to be seen to resolve it in a democratic way...I'd just watch this whole way 'justice' is meted out closely. i don't value the live of an american above an afghan or an arab myself and find the last few weeks depressing to have lived through and am still looking for the perfect society where there is no fanaticism or death penalty...or advocate of rough justice a la richard...Lapland anybody?