Dr Hickman says: The evidence for dominating Ireland has involved lengthy discussions on the

Dr Hickman says: "The evidence for dominating Ireland has involved lengthy discussions on the Irish national character directly linked to notions about the Celts as a "race" or the Irish as a nation.The emphasis prior to the 16th century was on the paganism, superstition and barbarism of the Irish. Before then, Dr Hickman says, the caricature concentrated on their wildness and savagery.From the reign of Elizabeth 1, the English began systematically to colonise Ireland and the stereotype became more detailed: in particular the notion of the Irish as "stupid" became common. "Most of this was designed to show how English rule could be used to benefit the Irish," says Dr Hickman.An anonymous contemporary of Shakespeare included a very ignorant and wild Irishman in the play Sir John Oldcastle, based partly, scholars think on MacMorris in Henry V.During the 16th and 17th centuries, the stereotype changed: the half- human savage became a figure of contempt. She said yesterday: "Many people assume that current English hostility or discrimination towards the Irish is the result of events in Northern Ireland so they see it as regrettable but understandable."Dr Hickman, who is conducting a nationwide study of discrimination against the Irish for the Equal Opportunities Commission, argues that Ireland is important to the security of England and successive generations have tried to justify invasion and colonisation by stereotyping the Irish as wild and uncivilised.The Pope sanctioned the Anglo-Norman invasion on the grounds that Ireland was alleged to be only nominally Christian. Even Irish jokes go back at least to the 16th century and chroniclers as long ago as 1187 were attacking the Irish for their filth and ignorance. Dr Mary Hickman, director of the Irish Studies Centre at the University of North London, says in her book, Religion, Class and Identity, that since the Anglo-Norman invasion in the 12th century the English have tried to justify their attacks on Ireland by racism.

Anti-Irish racism is as old as the 12th century: it is not the result of IRA terrorism, says a study published yesterday. A conference on the science of Stonehenge at the Royal Society in London today will also discuss the findings.But the new research does not offer an explanation for why Stonehenge was abandoned in 1600BC, nor why it was built in the first place.. We now know it was in continuous use throughout."Using Bayesian statistics and more precise radiocarbon dating scientists were able to establish the site's chronology to within 80 year's Older processes were only reliable to within 500 years. The method was pioneered at Queen's University, Belfast, and the Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit at Oxford University.The results of the research are on display at the South Wiltshire Museum in Salisbury, Wiltshire, as part of National Science Week. But it now appears most of the work was done in 50 years, indicating that those responsible must have lived in a more structured and ordered society than historians realised.Dr Geoffrey Wainwright, chief archaeologist at English Heritage, said: "It had been thought that there was a long period in the middle of the life of Stonehenge during which it was abandoned and then reactivated. But new evidence from English Heritage shows that the main part of the monument, a ditch surrounded by an earth bank, was in active use from around 3000BC and the stones were constructed between 2550-1600BC. It had also been thought that the ditch, about 8ft deep and 10ft wide, had taken centuries to build. A new method of dating relics shows the existence of a sophisticated civilisation much earlier than scientists had imagined.

Previously it was believed that the mysterious stone circles were built between 2100BC and 1100BC. Stonehenge is almost 500 years older than previously thought, new research shows. for assurances about safety standards".John Major assured the Commons yesterday that privatisation would not affect safety standards in the nuclear industry.. Trade unions have warned for years that staff cuts threaten safety in areas such as the nuclear industry and railways.The HSE's funding is to be cut sharply over the next three years as part of the Treasury drive to cut public sector administrative costs. But Mr Davies in his letter says that extra funds are needed "to maintain effective regulatory regimes for the newly privatised industries of rail and coal, where there is, as you know, considerable pressure. Mrs Short, of Blaydon, Tyne and Wear, began a course of treatment with cancer drugs immediately after the birth..