So I’m in Boston MA for a few days, and I’m finding I have trouble with history here.

The whole downtown area is geared around Paul Revere, the Revolution etc. That’s not what I’m having difficulty with, though it is a little Brit-unfriendly at times (it was a couple of hundred years ago, guys, enough already) Everything I love about the US started here.

After spending half the day sorting out laundry, I ended up in an “Irish” pub for a bit. It had spotlit portraits of Padraig Pearse etc behind the bar along with a copy of the ’16 Declaration. So here’s where things get difficult.

Here’s the thing: I’m a Brit and a Londoner as far as it goes (born London, grew up in Sussex, moved back and lived in London half my life), but my family’s Irish all the way. Have I got a word to say against the ’16 Rising? Of course not. Have I got anything to say against the bombings in the 70s, 80s, 90s? The ones that were funded through pubs like the one I was just in? Damn right I do.

So here’s where things get difficult. Especially given that this very same town was hit so recently by the marathon bombings. The contradiction between pride in revolutionary history, the expectation of security against anyone causing bloodshed here, and the fact that a fair few people here funded bombing campaigns in Britain is hard to get my head around. I honestly don’t know what to think.

So yeah, this place is difficult.