Getting to know the neighbours

We know everything about Britain. And we know nothing about Britain. In some ways it is the most familiar place in the world after Ireland; in some ways it is the most foreign. What is absolutely certain - and what has been obscured by our post-colonial embrace, in Europe, of a more egalitarian colonial status - is that Britain is the foreign country with which we have most in common. It is also without a doubt the foreign country which we most need to understand.

Some educated Irish people will swear blind there is no British culture at all - and still watch British TV and listen to British pop.

"Higher" British art, such as new plays, new classical music and new art, comes to us in small dribs and drabs, so the works are never seen in the context of their Britishness. So it is great news that the British Council is busy exploring the possibility of marking 10 years of having a Council representative based here, by running a special season of British culture in 1999. Harold Fish, director of the Council in Ireland, says he hopes this will chime with a new tune in Irish-British relations, if the talks process is successful.

So far, Music Network and a number of other partners have started working with the Council on the season. A visit by a major British orchestra is likely, but unconfirmed, a new music commission may be made, and new British plays may finally make their way here. Hopefully, seminars and debates will also make their way into the programme of this unnamed season ("Britain in Ireland" might not be quite as acceptable as the recent "Wales in Catalonia", for instance). We await more details with interest.