The Pakistani taxi-driver in New York refused to take the Irish troubles seriously. "These Protestants and Catholics, they are all Christians. In Kashmir we have Hindus and Muslims. Now that is a serious problem.
I thought of responding with the famous Winston Churchill quotation about the dreary steeples of the Ulster quarrel which survived all historical cataclysms saecula saeculorum, but the driver had gone on to predict imminent world war, so there didn't seem much point.
Serious problems or not, serious interventions on the North have been made on this side of the Atlantic in recent days. First there was George Mitchell's dramatic speech in Washington which linked intransigence and violence in an unusual, intriguing and novel way for a foreign politician. This was followed the next night by Senator Ted Kennedy's forceful contribution at the Irish America magazine awards in New York.
One basic message that can be drawn from this is that the United States has definitely not lost interest in the Irish problem: if anything there is a greater sense of urgency. There may be exasperation and frustration, but there is no stepping back.
Northern Ireland may be only one of a litany of international issues which concerns the US but it is one in which the president takes a particular interest. He has said more than once that his Irish visit in late 1995 was one of the great experiences of his life.
At a time when his stock was low in other respects, the Irish of both traditions put out the flags and bunting and cheered him to the echo. He devoured Conor O'Clery's book, The Greening of the White House and invited the former Irish Times Washington Correspondent into the oval office last week for a 10-minute chat to mark the launch of the US edition, entitled Daring Diplomacy.
Clinton does not necessarily share all the opinions and sentiments expressed by Mitchell and Kennedy, but he is very close to both men and has taken his lead from the Kennedys in the past on issues such as the granting of the Adams visa in 1994.
The power and prestige of the White House is such that it can draw in most shades of the Northern Ireland political spectrum.
The Ulster Unionist Party delegation were clearly satisfied with their reception and with the fact they were getting their message across in a pro-active way instead of leaving a clear field to nationalists and republicans.
After their meeting with Samuel "Sandy" Berger, who is replacing Anthony Lake as National Security Adviser, David Trimble, Ken Maginnis and Jeffrey Donaldson answered questions from reporters on the White House lawn.
Squirrels gambolled in the shade of a tree that was planted by Richard Nixon's wife, Pat. The sun was shining. Did someone whisper "hope"? On a lighter note, the White House spin-doctors were emphatic this was not a press conference, it was a "stake-out" where camera crews and journalists lay in wait for the politicos.
It is understood the president watched the coverage of Drumcree last year on CNN and was, to put it mildly, not impressed. The image of the unionist leadership was damaged in Clinton's eyes as a result, sources close to the White House said.
Perhaps in the future we will see the unionists at the annual awards ceremony of Irish America magazine. The Scots-Irish have made their own very substantial input to the Irish-American diaspora which the magazine itself has amply covered.
The star-studded attendance from politics, business, the arts and the professions was a demonstration of the growing strength of the Irish-American lobby. It may never achieve the awesome power and influence of the Jewish lobby, but it is a force to be reckoned with.
UNLIKE Ireland, where successful people of humble origin are usually reticent about their backgrounds, Americans and particularly Irish-Americans regard it as a point of pride that their ancestors came over with no money or education and worked hard to ensure their children got every chance in life.
That fierce pride came across in a very moving way from many of the recipients of the Irish America awards. There was also the sense that they "want to give something back to the old country".
The peace process is seen as an opportunity to make a constructive, non-violent contribution as distinct from the "dollars for guns" of the past.
The Massachusetts senator, who had been named "Irish-American of the Year", was introduced by John Hume. Kennedy is a powerful orator and his speech was sharp and to the point. John Major and Tony Blair should drop other preconditions and promise Sinn Fein entry to the talks in return for an unequivocal IRA ceasefire.
The senator grasped some of the nastier nettles. It was fashionable to dismiss the last ceasefire as a sham but, in a pointed dig at Downing Street, Kennedy said this "comes with ill grace from those in high places who do not want to admit or accept their responsibility for failing to respond to the ceasefire".
He didn't mince his words either on decommissioning. It was "a phoney issue because the IRA and the loyalist paramilitaries can each disarm today and rearm tomorrow". Decommissioning in parallel with the talks was a "good suggestion" but it should not be a precondition for getting to the table.
As one observer pointed out: "That's an initiative from Kennedy, not just a speech." His intervention was seen as strengthening the hand of the "peace tendency" in the republican movement.
Although the Mitchell and Kennedy speeches were made within the same 24-hour period, there is no evidence the two men were working in tandem. Kennedy's commitment to peace in the North over many years is widely acknowledged, but it could be said that Mitchell has made an even greater investment because since last summer he has been captain of a ship which has run aground.
The period between now and the resumption of the talks on June 3rd provides an opportunity to set the ship afloat once more. Ted Kennedy, George Mitchell and, presumably, Bill Clinton are drumming their fingers impatiently. Something's got to give.