Titanic was built in the Harland and Wolfe shipyards in Belfast (and now they film Game of Thrones there), although she was registered in Liverpool ('cos that's where the White Star Line headquarters were) and didn't pick up paying passengers until Southampton. (I'm a Titanic geek, too).

The political situation in Northern Ireland remains complicated (although it's mostly peaceful). My family would be classed as Protestant (even though I'm the only one who actually goes to church) and Unionist - meaning wanting to stay part of the UK, so 'officially' that's what I'm expected to believe. I'm not sure that's going to be best for NI in the long term, though.

You may be aware that Scotland held an independence referendum in September 2014. The turnout was very high and the outcome was 55%-45% in favour of remaining part of the Union. I wanted Scotland to remain because I view myself as British first and value the cooperation between the four nations that make up the Union. However, the promises made by the government to get people to vote NO to independence haven't really been held up and, with Scotland being largely more left-wing than the rest of the UK, the actions of the current Conservative government have led to a surge in support in the Scottish Nationalist Party and another referendum seems inevitable, especially if the UK votes to leave the EU next month.

If Scotland gets independence, I suspect Wales will follow, the Union will collapse and then Northern Ireland will be in serious trouble. In that event I think a United Ireland is the best outcome, but I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Ideally I'd like to see the UK become federal in government (and a Republic once Elizabeth passes on), with much representation and decision-making power for each region (including separating Highlands, Northeast and Lowlands in Scotland and divisions within England too), but the same cooperation and identity we have now.

(You might now see why I was keen to include nationalist/separatist tensions in Erinor - I feel I need to explore these themes more a lot more, just to get my head around them. )