I've been thinking about this whole "joking about the violence in Northern Ireland" thing, and I've realised that I should stop. Northern Ireland does indeed have great problems, but the people there are trying to put the past behind them, and we should all help them in that task. We've got to stop dragging up negative stereotypes from the times now gone and look instead to the future - a future in which Northern Ireland is a forward looking vibrant region that people from all over the world will wish to visit, live and work in.

As part of this I'm going to do my bit by going to QCon, seeing the area - and perhaps meeting the people - and then coming back and writing it all up here in my standard convention travel report.

Well, that's assuming I get back alive of course.

Tags: qcon