1991: Negotiating a Strand 2 talks venue + complaints that Paisley was locked out of his toilet #20YearRule

One single buff-coloured file, three or four inches thick, contains the stapled minutes of NIO meetings with political parties in May 1991 as they negotiated about the strand one, two and three talks. While perhaps the single most frustrating file I’ve flicked through in PRONI over the last couple of years, the level of detail in the civil service minutes of meetings is incredible, and the retention of humorous asides provides a lot of colour about the characters involved and their relationships.

Selling salacious gossip rather than news

The Sunday Life / Belfast Telegraph has been running a series of stories surrounding the claims by a Kent based individual called Christopher Luke that he had some sort of relationship (possibly homosexual) with the late UUP leader Jim Molyneaux. These claims have been rubbished by a variety of unionist leaders: Lord Maginnis and Jeffrey Donaldson to name but two. Possibly the most comprehensive point has been made by Graham Craig who actually proposed Lee Reynolds as the stalking horse …

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“He then lapsed into petulant silence, refusing to speak during the rest of the plane journey”

Great piece from the Irish Times archives today on Ian Paisley circa 1980… Secretary of State, Humphrey Atkins, found a most reasonable politician in the DUP leader during the recent constitutional talks. This helped arguments in London that Paisley should be thought of seriously as a future prime minister at Stormont. Then the DUP leader had himself arrested outside Armagh Cathedral on the visit of Mr Haughey . The “street demagogue” reappeared. A day or two later, the Official Unionist …

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