Last week in London, I interviewed Adrian Dunbar. In that interview, he expressed the view that Ireland is drifting towards unity in the future.

There’s something very interesting though in how he spoke of this in the context of his interview.

Sometimes, when the words ‘Irish unity’ are mentioned, they send a chill down the spines of Unionists, perhaps especially when voiced by Republican politicians.

And yet, when voiced by an actor living in Britain, the prospect of a united Ireland surely seems a whole lot less threatening for the Unionist community.

Maybe there’s an irony in that, considering the words of people such as Gerry Adams were voiced by actors during Britain’s broadcast ban of 1988 to 1994.

During those times, many in Adrian Dunbar’s profession were paid to turn the drawn-out vowels of ‘Belfast English’ into perfectly polished BBC tones.

The person who came up with that idea surely deserves the Olympic Gold for Spectacular Own Goals!

But on a serious note, we’re a long way from the days of broadcasting bans, pub shootings, fish ‘n’ chip shop bombings, and all the rest.

In the same breath, time is perhaps of little comfort to the people of places such as Omagh, remembering this very day, August 15, 26 years ago.

Whether we were Catholic, Protestant or otherwise, we all grieved that day for a town we know so well.

And it was the very same for Enniskillen, 11 years previously to that.

I think sometimes, within some elements of Unionism, there’s a failure to understand that many within the Nationalist community – indeed, probably the majority – also grieved for the bombing of the places they loved during The Troubles.

A true love of Ireland also entails a love of the Northern part of the island.

And regardless of whether it’s in a united Ireland or a United Kingdom in the future, there’s a particularly ‘Northern’ character to this part of the world.

Parts of it do have similarities to the great northern cities of England, for example, Liverpool, Manchester and those in the north-east.

At the same time – not least because the Mull of Kintyre’s a stone’s throw across the water – we’ve got a great deal in common with both urban and rural parts of Scotland.

Those facts and characteristics have existed for centuries. They’re not going to change overnight.

The Giant’s Causeway would still have the same ancient geology that it’s had for countless years, whether it’s Irish, British or even Martian!

In the same way, any new Ireland would have to celebrate its rich Ulster-Scots heritage, remembering that the origins of the British people on the island of Ireland extends upwards from Northumbria and Cumbria, rather than downwards to London.

As I have said before, there should be more to Britishness than waving flags and professing love for The King, the Army and the class system.

There’s a rich history far beneath this modern veneer that connects these islands across millennia.

Above all, as seen in last week’s interview, it’s possible to have affection for both Ireland and Britain, as do many of the Irish community in England, for example.

We’ve a lot that connects us, especially in cultural terms.

Adrian Dunbar, for instance, talked about how proud he was to have created such an iconic character as Ted Hastings, on British television.

That’s because he grew up watching British television as not just Northern Nationalists did, but as many in the Republic did as well.

To most of us, ‘Grange Hill’, ‘Only Fools and Horses’, ‘EastEnders’ and ‘Coronation Street’ were as native as ‘Bosco’ or ‘Glenroe’.

In the same way, so many of our musical, artistic and sporting passions have a strong British element to them too.

You’ll find Manchester United and Liverpool jerseys in more corners of Ireland than you will across the water, where there’s a much greater emphasis on supporting your local football club.

There are probably more Manchester United jerseys in Bundoran’s most Republican pub on a Sunday night during the soccer season than you’d ever find in a pub in Charlton, Millwall, West Bromwich, Coventry, Scunthorpe, Torquay or Doncaster.

The same is often true of Irish people’s music collections.

Though Ireland has a better selection of singers than we do of soccer players, we’ve all been influenced to some extent by shows such as ‘Top of the Pops’, and everybody from Bowie to Blur.

Again, when it comes to the Arts and literature, the influence of British writing, film and popular culture on our minds has been massive, unless we’ve lived in a cave all our lives.

Even some of Ireland’s greatest writers, from Yeats to Shaw, have spent time in Britain, celebrating that culture without diluting any of their own.

In George Bernard Shaw’s case, he critiqued the culture and history of his adopted home, very openly.

He used to have arguments with George Orwell, who said there was no point debating an educated Irishman, because he was always going to win the moral argument that things such as Colonialism and Empire were wrong.

That’s why it’s strange so much of Britishness is still about Empire. If that bit got abandoned and the society moved on from a ‘when we ruled the world’ mentality, things would be so much better.

As I have said, there’s so much that Britain has given the world beyond invading other countries and subjugating other races.

It has also given a great many Irish people the opportunity to better themselves, including the likes of myself, and many in professions where there just aren’t so many jobs in Ireland.

Adrian Dunbar too spoke of how he got his foothold in the acting world through the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

Added to that, shows such as ‘Father Ted’ would never have been made without British support.

Culturally then, most Irish people of the present age seem happy to embrace such aspects of Britishness.

We’re becoming increasingly comfortable with shades of grey, rather than seeing everything in binary terms of green and orange.

Hating Britain or British people is not – or should not be – a feature of Irish Republicanism, and isn’t for most.

Understandably, some hate aspects of the history, but there’s more to Britishness than the historical baggage of Colonialism.

Instead of looking at Britain through a political lens, and thinking of Cromwell, Churchill and the like, maybe we should think of the place through a cultural lens?

By doing that, we might have the imagination to create a brave new space on this island where we are mature enough to create a marriage of difference to end Ireland’s historical divorce.

Paul Breen is @paulbreenauthor on X.