Above: I saw this man selling the Big Issue outside Russell Square tube station. He had gone to some trouble to decorate his stand for St Patrick's Day. Originally I just wanted to photo his display, but he insisted that I took his portrait as well in case anyone "back home" would see it who might know him.
Today is St Patrick's Day. In southern Ireland the saint is called Padraig, which is ironic as he was actually Romano-British and presumably would not have pronounced his own name with an Irish accent. St Patrick is buried at Down Cathedral in Northern Ireland.
Ten per cent of the British population (6 million people) have at least one grandparent who had/has Irish ethnicity. Occasionally you come across small communities which are identifiably "Irish" but most of these immigrants are completely absorbed into the main population leaving only surnames as a clue to their ethnic origin. Often they become "more English than the English".
An article in the Guardian late last year speculated that as many as 120,000 Irish people could be planning to migrate to the United Kingdom due to the severe economic climate in southern Ireland.
Above: the usual celebration of St Patrick's Day is related to excessive drinking.
Patrick Bergin and Jessica Grist appear in Steve Mac's Paddy's Revenge:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pl6vZ0POzZY
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Mac
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