It's really hard to appreciate the mindset of an imperialist administrator - although reading Orwell's experiences in India is perhaps a good starting point - not comprehending that treating people like animals will eventually result in insurrection. I may well be making a wild generalisation, but my experiences travelling around Ireland and knocking on doors led me to believe that the Irish were/are(?) not really that concerned who governs them as long as the administration is fair and doesn't interfere too much in their lives. I understand that the IRA arriving at your farm was often something to be feared every bit as much as a Crossley tender full of Black and Tans.... something I learned foolishly asking 'what happened' pointing to gaunt ruins in the garden of a B&B in Kilkenny. Some people on both sides of a divide will always hijack higher ideals for self profit and a naked lust for power and violence. The list is endless, from Lenin, Guevara, Mao to seemingly just about every modern politician. Why the British leaders decided they needed to execute and make martyrs of the leaders of such a tragi-comic farce as the Easter Rising is beyond belief. No one benefited. I was watching a programme on Irish music a week or so back during which Sinead O'Connor said that kicking the British out of southern Ireland merely replaced a brutal, out of touch regime with an authoritarian dictatorship by the Catholic church....