Why is this? The Irish spent enough time fighting to get away from the United Kingdom before the split of the island and after as well. Is there a plan to unite again and the English to pay all the Irish debts? The Olympic Flame should be brought to ReykjavÃk Ãsló Stokkhólmur Kaupmannahöfn and Helsinki as well.
It's all very puzzling really - the organisers state that the torch will pass within 10 miles of 95% of the population. It would seem that the bulk of the unlucky 5% live in the north of Scotland, yet they see fit to send it overseas! A lot of school kids up here are not impressed.
It's all part of the "national guilt" for the Potato Famine and The Black & Tans - it will please the bleeding heart plastic paddies who appear out of the woodwork every Paddies Day and rattle on about their nan in County Meath. BBC will love it and no doubt send a full TV AND Radio crew complete with Nicky Cambell and Peter Allen to report on it.....
It was part of the United Kingdom. It's now an independent country that would collapse without Britain. But hey, as long as they're happy. The real disgrace is that the torch isn't coming to Watford. Frankly I'd force the people behind that decision to do a week of public service in the company of Jeremy Clarkson. Police presence optional.
I used to have a Service Engineer working for me that I nicknamed "The Olympic Touch" - because he never went out!
The fire was reintroduced at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, and it has been part of the modern Olympic Games ever since - if you believe Wikipedia
Thanks for that Leo. It was the torch relay that was introduced in the 1936 Olympics, according to Wikipedia.
Just looked on the IOC website and the facts are correct about the flame 1928 and the relay in 1936, but the flame at the Winter Olympics was used for the first time in 1936 at Garmisch-Partenkirschen in Germany.
that does seem incredibly strange, especially if the North of Scotland is to miss out...bloody ijjits in charge again!
Maybe we're doing a deal where the FAI are going to provide us with some young talent for the football team, Scotland certainly aren't helping out on that score.
That's because the best Scotsman for supplying the service is currently returning from a long-term injury.