The Irish Times on the Fake Celtic Cult of Ireland & Britain - & Historic 'Bling'
The man who launched the UK's poisonous Celtic myth in 1707 - Edward Lhuyd. Yesterday, we were asked by an American plastic Celt why we negated the 'Celtic culture' of the UK? It was the same as negating the handed-down history of any tribe, she said. Actually not. The passing of time will blur things - and what has been handed down for generations will usually be slightly inaccurate at least - but still have a ring of truth. However, the UK 'Celts' were not a tribe. They didn't exist until 1707 and since then this horrible fake 'thing' has become an industry and a way of practising racism. Which is how England, the largest and most multi-ethnic country of the UK, suffers the Barnett Formula (reviled by its own creator, the late Lord Joel Barnett), the West Lothian Question and asymmetric national devolution. By the way, the American plastic Celt began her conversation quite reasonably, she was, apparently, terribly excited about an American university ...