Guinness ‘considered being English’

Appropriately enough for the time of year when a lot of alcohol is consumed, here’s a story about how the IRA campaign of the late 70s and early 80s nearly cost Ireland one of its best-known tipples:

Brewer Guinness was prepared to drop associations with Ireland and promote itself as an English company during the Falklands crisis, state papers have revealed.

The company may have been forced to cut ties with Irish organisations and functions because of the IRA bombing campaign, public relations chief Edward Guinness told embassy officials in London.