Profile for Hedley Lamarr
Attorney General. Assistant to Governor-State Procurer.
Latest comments from Hedley Lamarr (see all)
Hedley Lamarr has commented 78 times (0 in the last month).
Advertise
-
Books
-
Hearing the Other Voice from the Grave: Why Should we Listen to David Ervine’s Stories?
Ed Moloney’s Voices from the Grave: Two Men’s War in Ireland has received considerable attention in the press and in the public realm since its publication earlier this year. Although the book relates the experiences of the Provisional IRA’s Brendan Hughes and the PUP/UVF’s David Ervine, much of the discussion has focused on Hughes’ stories [...] read our review » -
Help me with the West Wing: Essential viewing or Party Political Broadcast?
Having somehow managed to avoid watching a single episode of the widely praised West Wing TV series I was delighted to discover the entire Box set in my Christmas stocking – and with enough spare time over the holidays to give it a good lash. But with 10 episodes of the first series under my [...] read our review »
-
Of the Old North and other Vanished Kingdoms..
I’m currently trawling through Norman Davies’s fabulous new tome – “Vanished Kingdoms” – Five stars in the (London) Telegraph’s review from Ben Wilson: All the nations that have ever lived have left their footsteps in the sand,” writes Norman Davies. “The traces fade with every tide, the echoes grow faint, the images are fractured, the human [...] read our review »
-
Comment on For Nationalists Only: What’s great about living in the United Kingdom?
on 17 April 2012 at 10:07 pm
To tell the truth there’s more I’d change about the South since partition than I’d take with me from the UK.
I’d take the NHS, many aspects of the welfare system, it’s multiculturalism, the rail network, the more stringent planning system, and probably many other things which it may take a while to think about.
I admire Unionism’s focus on bread and butter issues which is sharper than Nationalism’s.
Go to comment
Comment on Happy travels! Guantánamo Bay: a decade of failure
on 15 January 2012 at 2:01 pm
Sorry guys. I didn’t mean to stray off the topic.
Go to comment
Comment on Happy travels! Guantánamo Bay: a decade of failure
on 14 January 2012 at 8:06 am
sliabhluachra- I was replying to Catherine when she wrote
“Hedley, I understand the argument but not sure that I would entirely accept it. Groups that made a point of not being nationalist or unionist campaigned on issues of human rights and civil rights issues here throughout the ‘troubles’.”
Amnesty International did campaign on those issues as an organisation. They didn’t ignore any region in the world. For example they campaigned against the use of punishment shootings etc by paramilitaries and state actions also.
As for the cases sliabhluachra mentioned I don’t have any specific knowledge on them so I can’t comment definitively on them. Maybe sliabhluachra has a link?
Go to comment
Comment on Smithwick and the murky outline of British counterinsurgency tactics…
on 13 January 2012 at 10:19 pm
Oh! Here it is…
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2003/apr/17/northernireland.nickhopkins
http://www.birw.org/inquiries_PatrickFinucaneJusticeDelayed.html
(part 2.3)
Can’t find reference to the jukebox. Maybe in his book?
Go to comment
Comment on Smithwick and the murky outline of British counterinsurgency tactics…
on 13 January 2012 at 10:03 pm
What was the story Stevens told of the fire at the archives of documents held by the RUC and the song ‘Ring of Fire’ on the jukebox by Johnny Cash?
Go to comment
Comment on Happy travels! Guantánamo Bay: a decade of failure
on 13 January 2012 at 9:42 pm
Catherine- Amnesty as a global organisation campaigned on those issues. They didn’t campaign on behalf of political prisoners as a rule unless they suffered human rights abuses such as lack of a fair trial or torture or inhuman conditions. They campaigned for the immediate release of prisoners of conscience who differ from political prisoners as they don’t use violence.
They did campaign on behalf of prisoners convicted of violent acts who suffered a miscarriage of justice.
The rule on not acting on issues on your own country was global. It was a necessarily universal rule:
You may have been biased.
You may be at risk of attack.
You may have been at risk of arrest and/or imprisonment.
You may be tortured at the hands of state or non-state actors.
These were risks that had to be avoided using a reasonable caveat to any campaigning on human rights issues. You were obviously more at risk in less stable countries and instead of having one rule for a war zone and another for a stable zone it was fairer and safer to make it a universal rule.
The same issues would be campaigned on anyway, by others who weren’t at risk. In other countries.
Go to comment
Comment on Smithwick and the murky outline of British counterinsurgency tactics…
on 11 January 2012 at 8:27 pm
It is ironic that the leadership of the IRA who were ousted due to their ownership of the truce (and it’s weakening of the IRA) are now lauded as archytypal physical force Republicans, when their Northern replacements (at the head of the PIRA) are now on the receiving end of the same sort of abuse.
Maybe not so ironic after all when you consider the Long War (20 years or so) strategy of the politics-focused Northern leadership who replaced the Southern set who never deviated from the school of physical force.
The focus on politics as well as the weakening of Republicanism due to the truce was also a factor in the decrease in casualties.
As for people who think Gerry Adams had a crystal ball and could see into 1998 and beyond or believe future events such as political success dictated things in the 1970s or made Gerry kill off Hunger Strikers try reading “War and Peace”. It holds a great truth regarding the folly of equating hindsight with foresight.
Go to comment
Comment on Happy travels! Guantánamo Bay: a decade of failure
on 11 January 2012 at 6:38 pm
I know Sliabhluachra is just being sarcastic. It was hard to tell at first.
The reason why AI didn’t campaign on issues in their own country until recently was due to risks of impartiality and risks of attack.
Some of the reasons behind the campaigns for LGBT rights are listed below:
-women raped to “cure” their lesbianism, sometimes at the behest of their parents;
-individuals prosecuted because their private and consensual relationship is deemed to be a social danger;
-loss of custody of their children;
-individuals beaten by police;
-attacked, sometimes killed, on the street – a victim of a “hate crime”;
-regular subjection to verbal abuse;
-bullying at school;
-denial of employment, housing or health services;
-denial of asylum when they do manage to flee abuse;
-raped and otherwise tortured in detention;
-threatened for campaigning for their human rights;
-driven to suicide;
-executed by the state.
As for Guantanamo ending Internationalism Terrorism- didn’t it just add to it?
Go to comment
Comment on Smithwick and the murky outline of British counterinsurgency tactics…
on 11 January 2012 at 5:44 pm
There are many variables which may have led to a decrease in fatalities. It was around this period when the IRA realised another “year of victory” was going to pass and they settled in for the long war.
Making Sense of the Troubles explains Mason’s approach during and after the second Loyalist Strike of tackling the IRA with determination caused many loyalists to conclude that it was no longer necessary for them to involve themselves in paramilitarism.
Changes which came with Ulsterisation and Criminalisation also were important. The use of confession-only evidence increased the prison population without the recruitment incentive of internment.
Go to comment
Comment on The Smoking Gun
on 23 November 2011 at 12:39 pm
Mick- I realise that this is what they got but we only know this with hindsight. If there was a high level of trust it may have been worth the gamble. Otherwise Republicans may have thought they had the government on the ropes and went for something more solid.
Go to comment