Ah, there's plenty of unis with a contingent: I went to Trinity in Dublin for undergrad and Edinburgh for my masters and there was a sizeable posh contingent at both (although for obvious reasons, Irish people were far more mocking of it - we used to call them all "Team England")

It's good to hear of limited bureaucracy - I want to keep my name (although my kids likely will not) and the one worry would be travelling - particularly if my kids were using their Irish passport while I have an American one.

It totally depends on your priorities. I'm not really pushed on which name my kids choose, but I love having the same name as my sister and I'd want that sibling similarity for my kids as well.

My sister was a VISTA and said the exact same thing: the paperwork nearly killed her.

I also ate very cheaply in college - it wasn't for the money, it was because I was incredibly unhealthy, and living off crackers and cupcakes is nothing like organic veggies.

ACTUALLY apparently teenaged kids are targetted because they think they might have some kind of drugs on them (random, but I used to get searched a lot as a teenager since I only had a carry on and that's another red flag)

For me, there's something a bit questionable about a UK native taking the role. A big problem in Western Europe has been when ambassadors overly identified with their host country (rather than representing the US position) and I'd say that'd be 100 times harder in your homeland.

I'm so surprised as to how media coverage has ignored "woman in early days of pregnancy outed with serious pregnancy complications" and gone straight to "YEAH, BABY!"

I read somewhere that her book discourages vaccines? If so, I am definitely "BLEH" on her parenting views.

I know. It's like he just discovered after being Minister for Health that he has a problem with this. Right on about ULA as well - I never thought I'd find the day where I was like "Sinn Fein and ULA are SO RIGHT."

Unfortunately the Minister for Health has said they're unlikely to even begin drafting legislation until next year. It's horrible - the Irish people are upset about this, why does our government continue to ignore us?

But the problem is, we don't know. And if a woman is begging doctors for a termination because her life is at risk, don't we want to know we did everything we possibly could?

On the other hand, Fellowes' horrible representation of Irish republicans (just painful for Irish people to watch) would worry me a bit as to how he'd represent the experiences of a diverse ethnic cast.

He's kind of wrong about Ireland as well. As in technically, it's supposed to be available for the life of the mother, but as the ECHR case of ABC v Ireland shows, that's not always happening.

I would really recommend reading Fischer's Albion's Seed. He presents the argument that conservative vs liberal America has its roots in the debates between conservative Puritans and liberal Anglican cavaliers. There is a long American history of secularism.

They spend a good bit of time in Donegal. You will actually see her and the kids wandering around Donegal Town from time to time.

Oh, yeah, they totally bend the rules for Irish Americans they're incredibly proud of. Which is a bit funny, but everyone has their quirks, right?

It's fairly common in big American cities: generally includes Tayto, Kerrygold and Flahavans, amongst others.

She has a house up in Donegal, so I'm guessing that she misses stuff like Kerrygold. Hell, we're only in London and my boyfriend never stops going on about Tayto, the Kerrygold and the potatoes...

I actually did that. As a Delawarean, I know Joe will comfortably win our state and I'd like to give some help to a third party. But if I was in a swing state, I just could NOT do it.