history
It’s Derry again – with London and Liverpool, commemorating the Battle of the Atlantic
Tweet From the Dalai Lama to a “ VVIP” at the weekend, Londonderry is proving quite a venue, one of three for commemorating the Battle of the Atlantic this weekend. Good to see the UK City of Culture grafting this on to the programme and the recognition given to its role as a major port [...] more »
Decade of remembrance, reconciliation or renewal?
Tweet Here’s something we’ve been poor at talking about so far. Last year was the first of a decade of significant centenaries in Irish history. The first of them, the signing of the Convenant actually passed without a great deal of comment, or any serious revisiting of its meaning in contemporary society. On on level [...] more »
Lessons from the Balkans: Tactical, strategic, psychological and spontaneous uses of extreme violence.
Tweet Stunningly good conversation on Start the Week this morning on BBC Radio 4. You can catch the whole lot here, but the clip above begins with this penetrating opening statement from the Balkan writer Aleksandar Hemon: What happened in Bosnia, people always try to explain it as thousands of years of hatred: which of [...] more »
Ulster Presbyterians and the endurance of principle…
Tweet If a man vow a vow unto the LORD, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond; he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth. Numbers 30:2 If you didn’t see Will Crawley’s evocative first spisode in a new three parter [...] more »
DigitalLunch: History, Storytelling or Propaganda?
Tweet Starting in five, we have a late lunch (to enable those in the US to join us, if they’re so inclined), we take another look at the past through the prism of history. I’m jointed by by Hiram Morgan of UCC From the Tudors who stand accused of being the first great propagandists of [...] more »
Aftermath of a riot as it used to be done in Belfast…
Tweet The footage here is, I think, shot in the Beechmount area of west Belfast (I take correction on that) in 1988. No commentary, just raw footage. The presence of masked paramilitaries underlining the absence of security forces. more »
The Sad State of North Belfast’s Riverside
Tweet A bright, cold, day earlier this week saw me head out for a constitutional along what is now rather a pleasant route along the banks of the Lagan past the Odyssey and up to the Titanic Museum. With the hazy afternoon sun making the East Belfast bank of the river look particularly pretty, and [...] more »
Copernicus’ “Google Doodle” and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
Tweet Sunday past was the 413th anniversary of the execution of Giordano Bruno (burned at the stake for heresies such as proposing that the Sun is a star and that the other stars in the sky are also Suns, probably accompanied by planets very much like ours). Today, more auspiciously, is the 460th anniversary of [...] more »
Richard III, history and the pressing needs of a modern university…
Tweet I don’t know if you watched it, but C4 had a documentary on the uncovering of Richard III last night. R3, it seems, may have been more significant as a fictional character in Shakespeare than as an significant monarch in the history of the English state. A mere punctuation between prolonged civil war (as [...] more »
Memories of 1982, a strange year
Tweet According to what’s appeared in the papers, the archives of 1982 have produced few surprises. Perhaps Wally Kirwan’s suggestion of cross border internment put (safely) to Garret FitzGerald comes close but it was never going to happen. The two governments had allowed themselves to be pushed apart by the 1981 hunger strike and a [...] more »
Are our versions of history sundering or reconciling us?
Tweet Martin Kettle in the Guardian pens a lament for the ignorance of the English about their own history. The outcome, he claims is a” loss of national self respect” and the threat of a disintegrating Union. For once, the term “English” is used deliberately. It’s a long time since AJP Taylor’s superb English History [...] more »
[Amended] Happy Birthday News Letter (the oldest regular English language newspaper in the world)…
Tweet In about half an hour, there’s an unveiling of a plaque to one of the least remarked upon artefacts of Irish history: the founding of the News Letter 275 years ago Francis Joy. Ben lowry of the paper notes this morning: Early News Letters are among the most important historical documents in Britain or [...] more »
CAIN archive: “I presume that it is not contemplated that External Affairs might suggest”
Tweet So, great news for pol and history anoraks… Cain have got hold of some fascinating fragments of history from the national archive in Dublin and put them online… You can browse it all from the home page here. And the way Cain have structured it you can dive in by year. The early stuff [...] more »
Essex, Bacon and the early treachery of (Irish) politicians…
Tweet I used Google Plus to interview an old friend from schooldays to talk about a series of lectures he’s holding next week in the Linen Hall Library on one of the least considered and probably most pivotal moments in the history of Ulster. Dr Hiram Morgan looks at that critical period that led under [...] more »
How the Dutch have seen us
Tweet There are some great images of local interest in this Netherlands photographic archive. They give a fascinating glimpse of how the Dutch have seen us down through the years. From the home of William III, we can see a September 1690 pamphlet account of his military campaign in Ireland, including the siege of Derry and [...] more »
The Covenant had its day. A new one is needed
Tweet It’s salutary to see the scanty outside news coverage in advance of the Ulster Covenant anniversary focusing on a few hundred metres of territory around Carlisle Circus. The heritage of unionism seems reduced to rioting and bigotry. Many will agree, however unfairly. For the most part it’s about just another day of tricky parades management that provokes [...] more »
Has the Republic disposed of the malign legacy of Charles Haughey 30 years ago?
Tweet The spotlight should not fall exclusively on the history of the North these days. We’re told that the launch of a constitutional convention in the Republic is imminent. Doubts are rife that it will it do the job. Although sparked by the financial collapse, it must review the robustness of the Republic’s institutions from much further back, [...] more »
Londonderry born imperial policeman remembered
Tweet Many thanks to my old colleague Kevin Connolly, BBC Middle East correspondent and a former Ireland correspondent for keeping his old antennae in good working order to discover the remarkable character of Londonderry born Sir Charles Tegart, commissioner of police in colonial India and Palestine. As Kevin says, they don’t make them like that any more. I don’t [...] more »
What was the Ulster Covenant about?
Tweet What was the Ulster Covenant whose centenary is being commemorated on “Ulster Day” 29 September really about? 400,000 signed the Solemn League and Covenant and the Women’s Declaration in a vast demonstration of public opinion that still impresses today. The production of the largest Union Jack is history, 48’x25’was an example of PR sureness [...] more »
The extraordinary war/emergency story of one British made Irish flown Supermarine Walrus (L2301)…
Tweet Courtesy of Ciaran on Twitter… and the Fleet Air Arm museum in Yeovilton, Somerset... here’s the story of one aircraft which was delivered to the Irish Army Air Corps just prior to the outbreak of World War Two (or The Emergency as you Mexicans call it)… 1939 – built at Woolston, Southampton for the [...] more »
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Books
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Book Review: The McGurk’s Bar Bombing
Tweet The McGurk’s Bar Bombing: Collusion, Cover-Up and a Campaign for Truth with a foreword by Colin Wallace, just published by Frontline Noir, is the first book by Ciarán MacAirt, grandson of one of those killed in the bombing and the most visible campaigner on behalf of the victims and their families. The book pulls together the [...] read our review » -
Turas, by Colin Neill – a story of strangers in a strange land
Tweet Colin Neill’s first novel Turas peeks into a world in which many Ulster Protestants feel uncomfortable. It’s 2020 and the Irish unification that unionists and loyalists confidently predicted would never happen has become a reality. President Adams is ensconced in Phoenix Park. The newsreader reported that … a short ceremony at Stormont had confirmed [...] read our review »
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Unionists, Loyalists, and Conflict Transformation. A book about how things are changing.
Tweet Unionists, Loyalists, and Conflict Transformation in Northern Ireland is a new academic tome by lecturer and researcher Lee Smithey. In the book the Pennsylvania academic outlines his findings based on 67 interviews over eighteen months with grassroots activists in unionist and loyalist communities and organisations. This is largely a book about men, even though [...] read our review »
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