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Winston Churchill expressed support for a united Ireland in a conversation after the Second World War according to a recent report in the Irish Times. After the Remembrance Day ceremony at the Cenotaph in London in 1946, Churchill told John Dulanty, Ireland’s ambassador to Britain, that “I still hope for a united Ireland. You must get those fellows in the north in, though; you can’t do it by force.” The ambassador relayed Churchill’s comment in a confidential report to the secretary of the department of external affairs, Frederick Boland. This report adds an interesting detail to the long and complicated relationship Churchill had with Ireland.

Another recent news article, this one in the Daily Mail, reported that in 1947 Churchill urged the Americans to drop an atomic bomb on the Kremlin. As detailed in a new book, When Lions Roar: The Churchills and The Kennedys by Thomas Maier, he apparently made this suggestion in a talk with Senator Stiles Bridges of New Hampshire in the hope that the senator would be able to persuade President Harry Truman to launch an atomic strike. Over on his blog, Richard Langworth does an excellent job of explaining that this is not quite a new revelation as well as putting Churchill’s statement in to perspective.