Are we the greatest nation on the planet?

corner of hells

dxhound2005 wrote: »

Half the country emigrated but our population increased by one million in the last twenty years. That is some achievement.

He's a product of our fine educational system , maths being his speciality.

janfebmar

Gonad wrote: »

“I think, by declaring a state of emergency, by admitting that a country that trains nurses can’t keep them, that a country that has, tonight, in bed and breakfast accommodation, children who have to get up around six o’clock tomorrow morning, get a bus for an hour, go to school, walk the streets, come back to the bed and breakfast.

“What on earth did we fight for our freedom for? To live in a kip like this

Eamon Dunphy

After all the handouts from the EEC / EU, all the €200,000,000,000 we borrowed and owe, you think we would be doing better all right.

dxhound2005

janfebmar wrote: »

Some achievement for global insustainability?
Most banana Republics in Africa do better.

In developed countries a falling population is not a good thing. And the doomsday ideas from the 1960's and 1970's about overpopulation are old hat now.

andekwarhola

We've definitely got a realtively large, for want of a less clumsy phrase, a imagination imprint globally, relative to our size which I guess is down to our mass emigration historically. To be fair though, a lot of it is grounded in cliche but a lot of what we have achieved as very small -and colonized -country should be lauded.

To be fair, on the global sports front, elite rugby is a fairly small pool.

While we probably won't ever be a big player in the global (association) football stakes, we could certainly punch far higher above our weight than we currently do with the right setup. We're currently in a transition period where the old model of granny rule and mooching off imports to the English system is proving to be defunct but we're a relatively well-off country with a young population and the highest participation sport by a mile is football. With the right investment and coaching structures (which to be fair, the FAI, schoolboy associations and some clubs are addressing). we could easily be on the football level of succesful - and similar sized - countries like Croatia.

kingchess

Ireland ranks second in the good country index,top spot going to Finland.the good Country index measures how each Country contributes to the Planet and the Human Race through their policies and behaviors.

RasTa

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

On holiday in Poland at the moment with the missus and whippersnapper. We were mulling over the idea of maybe going to live in another country and looking at the pros and cons when it hit me that the quality of our food in Ireland is actually quite outstanding. We probably take it for granted but the quality of meat is superb and it's relatively inexpensive. Every foreigner I know including the extended family rave about our butter and it is miles better than anything you can get here. We have a huge range of eggs to choose from. I went to a fairly large chain of shops here today looking for some and all I could get were poor in comparison.

Our beef is the best in the world but eating out is nowhere near the standard over here in England

Feisar

Pronto63 wrote: »

Lyons tea
Guinness
Black and white pudding
Bacon and cabbage
Hang sandwiches

I forgot our contribution to the world of fine dining

Guinness is English

Feisar

RasTa wrote: »

Our beef is the best in the world but eating out is nowhere near the standard over here in England

You can’t get our best beef in this country

Feisar

Gonad wrote: »

“I think, by declaring a state of emergency, by admitting that a country that trains nurses can’t keep them, that a country that has, tonight, in bed and breakfast accommodation, children who have to get up around six o’clock tomorrow morning, get a bus for an hour, go to school, walk the streets, come back to the bed and breakfast.

“What on earth did we fight for our freedom for? To live in a kip like this

Eamon Dunphy

At least we house our homeless children.

Mysterypunter

dxhound2005 wrote: »

Half the country emigrated but our population increased by one million in the last twenty years. That is some achievement.

Non native Irish have moved in, good luck to them, raising families and putting down roots. Sadly low paid jobs and a generous welfare system has contributed to population increase, not any kind of economic recovery. Anyway tiz Patrick's weekend, have a bottle, it will be grand

Kintarō Hattori

Aegir wrote: »

You need to meet more interesting people.

Do you enjoy food?

screamer

Greatest notions.....absolutely

Feisar

Gonad wrote: »

“I think, by declaring a state of emergency, by admitting that a country that trains nurses can’t keep them, that a country that has, tonight, in bed and breakfast accommodation, children who have to get up around six o’clock tomorrow morning, get a bus for an hour, go to school, walk the streets, come back to the bed and breakfast.

“What on earth did we fight for our freedom for? To live in a kip like this

Eamon Dunphy

At least we house our homeless children.

grindle

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

Do you enjoy food?

He may think he does, but he may also be half-Dutch.

Some people place no importance on flavour and any focus they have on food is utilitarian.

"Yum. This keeps me alive."

I lived with a Russian girl recently trying to convince me of buckwheat's benefits and all she could say was "But it's really good for you" :rolleyes:

I mean, it's a good brown rice replacement but if I want tasty food I don't eat buckwheat.

RasTa

Feisar wrote: »

You can’t get our best beef in this country

Yeah I know, I was so outraged I moved.

corner of hells

Feisar wrote: »

Guinness is English

British owned , since bought by Diageo , who also own various breweries and distilleries around the world. Hennessy Moet , Gordon's , Smirnoff etc .. all being English ? With thier English names.

Feisar

corner of hells wrote: »

British owned .

Well Diageo is American isn't it?

Aurther Guinness was one of the landed gentry, basically a tan and would have identified as English. He had a brewery and went over to London and got a stout recipe. THE IRISH DID NOT INVENT STOUT. Guinness would not employ a Catholic in a management position until 1972 when they were forced to by the government.
Despite all this through the power of marketing Guinness is Irish.

JohnnyFlash

Feisar wrote: »

Well Diageo is American isn't it?

Aurther Guinness was one of the landed gentry, basically a tan and would have identified as English. He had a brewery and went over to London and got a stout recipe. THE IRISH DID NOT INVENT STOUT. Guinness would not employ a Catholic in a management position until 1972 when they were forced to by the government.
Despite all this through the power of marketing Guinness is Irish.

It’s lovely stuff though.

corner of hells

Feisar wrote: »

Well Diageo is American isn't it?

Aurther Guinness was one of the landed gentry, basically a tan and would have identified as English. He had a brewery and went over to London and got a stout recipe. THE IRISH DID NOT INVENT STOUT. Guinness would not employ a Catholic in a management position until 1972 when they were forced to by the government.
Despite all this through the power of marketing Guinness is Irish.

Why do you need to post some of paragraph in capitals , it's almost like you're trying to emphasise something .

corner of hells

JohnnyFlash wrote: »

It’s lovely stuff though.

Tis , I'm enjoying some now.

Feisar

corner of hells wrote: »

Why do you need to post some of paragraph in capitals , it's almost like you're trying to emphasise something .

Sorry if I'm missing something. Everyone seems to think us spud pickers invented Guinness/stout.

corner of hells

Feisar wrote: »

Sorry if I'm missing something. Everyone seems to think the spud pickers invented Guinness/stout.

Most of us "Spud pickers" have read the history of the Guinness brewery in the Dublin , aware of it's famous lease , where the family are from and historically brilliant work done by the Guinness family for Dublin.
Guinness has its own medically facilities for it's staff , its own swimming pool and sports grounds , a history of promoting staff from the floor to management position , providing housing and educational support for the people of Dublin.
How's that for a dumb Spud picker.

cnocbui

Pronto63 wrote: »

5. What other nation, with the possible exception of the USA has the entire planet celebrate their National Holiday.


Are we great or what?

I hate to break it to you, but the reason Paddy's day is celebrated world wide is because, millions, upon millions of Irish people left what you think is the greatest country on Earth.

janfebmar

Plus we are great crack and fond of the gargle and a party to celebrate.

dxhound2005

cnocbui wrote: »

I hate to break it to you, but the reason Paddy's day is celebrated world wide is because, millions, upon millions of Irish people left what you think is the greatest country on Earth.

England, Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Russia, Poland, India, China, Mexico, Bangladesh.

Millions of people left those countries, but their national days are not celebrated as much as ours around the world.

grindle

JohnnyFlash wrote: »

It’s lovely stuff though.

It's lovely and well-loved because it's mildly tasty yet bland I think. No? Lowest common denominator. The current main brew anyway.
There are so many stronger tasting or more unique tasting than Guinness' 4.2% swill... but... Guinness Foreign Extra Stout. Holy shít. Easily one of the best beers in the world, the only Irish beer I'd compare to a Belgian Ale for flavour - barely any Irish person knows about it for some reason but it's like comparing luncheon meat to a huge bacon-back lumped into a pot with cabbage.

Rubberchikken

you were doing fine up to number 3. boyzone. westlife. u2. youre obviously having me on.

they are scraping the barrel and not something to be proud of.

odyssey06

dxhound2005 wrote: »

England, Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Russia, Poland, India, China, Mexico, Bangladesh.

Millions of people left those countries, but their national days are not celebrated as much as ours around the world.

In many of those countries there hasn't been a fixed national day, or the date chosen is heavily politicised.
If our national day was say, the founding of our state I doubt it would be as widely celebrated.

St Georges Day isn't even a holiday in England.
Russia and Germany's national day seems to date from the 1990s.

France's national day marks a revolution which led to a general European war.

So some of the spread of St Patricks Day is down to its fixed longevity, inoffensivesness and whatever else about the Irish we seem to throw a good party. How much of the celebration of St Patricks Day is due to the spread of the Irish pub?

El Tarangu

Omackeral wrote: »

Non-sporting but it's embarrassing that the vast majority can't hold a sentence in their own national tongue.

We should probably focus on teaching everyone to speak English properly first :pac:

jbt123

I'm watching the BBC news coverage of the Christchurch shootings. Some Maoris have put leprechaun hats on the shrine for the victims...

Even our make believe world transcends all borders and cultures..