Londonderry
Presbyterian minister welcomed with a cup of tea at dissident protest camp at Free Derry Corner
Presbyterian ministers can’t seem to keep out of the news this week. Suzanne Breen reports in the Sunday World that Rev David Latimer (minister of the recently refurbished First Derry congregation, and a Territorial Army chaplain) made an unannounced visit to a dissident republican protest camp at Free Derry Corner over the weekend. In a [...] more »
It’s not Jerusalem, its Yerushalayim…
Last Saturday was my annual pilgrimage to the Maiden City to commemorate the Relief of Derry. Personally I have never been one of those Unionists who got overly hung up on the interchangeable use of the words Derry and Londonderry. I’ve been a member of the Apprentice Boys of Derry for 20 years this very [...] more »
“encouraged by a small number of people opposed to the peace process…”
Twenty-six people were arrested during last night’s rioting in nationalist areas of north and south Belfast and Londonderry. There were also reports of public disorder in Armagh, and the Dunclug estate in Ballymena. RTÉ lists Strabane, Newry, Ballymena and Armagh city, as well as Belfast and Londonderry. In Londonderry, we are told Sinn Féin Foyle [...] more »
A quick round-up…
Londonderry courthouse is the target of a car-bomb consisting of 50kg of home-made explosives packed into a beer keg and described as a “substantial viable device”. British Army technical officers carried out a number of controlled explosions on the device during Sunday night. They’ve also carried out a controlled explosion on a small suspicious object [...] more »
Calls increase for new investigation into Joanne Mathers’ murder
The call by Lowry Mathers for further investigation of his wife’s murder (which I covered on Wednesday) may or may not achieve justice for them and their son. Whilst the precedents for success are not good, his comments, after 30 years of dignified silence, seem to have struck something of a chord. It is worth [...] more »
“good fences make good neighbours”
Boundary issues of a different kind feature in another Belfast Telegraph report, although the BBC version seems to play it down somewhat… Derry City Council have agreed to apply for planning permission for a 1.8 metre high, 170 metre long, “fence” at an “interface” at the playing fields at Lisnagelvin in Londonderry - the UK’s City [...] more »
The Last Bloody Sunday March: Changing How We Remember the Past?
The adjective ‘historic’ gets used far too often in Northern Ireland, but yesterday’s Bloody Sunday March in Derry just might be worthy of the word. In the wake of the Saville Report, the committee of the Bloody Sunday Weekend decided that this would be the last year that the march went ahead. The rationale is [...] more »
DRD Minister intends to grant £8.6million to City of Derry Airport
Some £60-odd million has been spent by various administrations on the City of Derry Airport in recent years – including £19million in 2008 on “safety work”. And still no sign of a buyer… But, as the Irish Government prepares to cut the subsidy it provides for the Londonderry-Dublin flight, the Northern Ireland Regional Development Minister, [...] more »
Strand Road security upgrade: “the correct, necessary and proportionate thing to do”
The BBC reports an increase in security measures at the Strand Road police station in Londonderry in response to a “severe threat” . The station has been the target of bomb attacks twice this year. From the BBC report Bollards have been erected outside Strand Road police station in Londonderry to protect the building from [...] more »
“The clue is in the name.”
More symptoms of political psychosis in the UK City of Culture 2013. As reported in the Londonderry Sentinel A new call for the change to the title was made at the Cultural Partnership Forum meeting on October 5, when Donncha MacNiallais, a spokesman with the Bogside Residents Group, raised his concerns, saying the use of the [...] more »
More symptoms of that political psychosis…
They’re at it again in Londonderry, where The Sentinel reports that Sinn Féin MLA Raymond McCartney “has attacked the Ordnance Survey of Ireland for its preference for ‘Londonderry’ over ‘Derry.’” That would be the same place that will be the UK City of Culture in 2013… From The Sentinel report “I have raised this matter directly [...] more »
Derry Essay: The Protestants of Londonderry
First there is a generational difference. Older people who came through the 1969 – 72 experience, many of whom moved across the river from the Cityside to the Waterside and further afield have vivid memories of that time and perceptions have been formed as a result of it. Then there is the younger generation who [...] more »
“who pull down statues, who deny the history of any place”
With Londonderry keen to capitalise on its 2013 UK City of Culture title, despite the apparent confusion of some, Mark Devenport notes a singular failure of irony by Northern Ireland junior Minister, Sinn Fein’s Gerry Kelly. Rejecting TUV calls for the historic buildings at the Maze to be demolished, Gerry Kelly told reporters in North Belfast this [...] more »
Derry/Londonderry will be UK City of Culture 2013
From the BBC report Londonderry has been chosen as the UK’s inaugural City of Culture. The announcement was broadcast live from Liverpool on the BBC’s The One Show on Thursday night. Derry, which was short-listed alongside Birmingham, Sheffield and Norwich, will take the mantle in 2013. more »
Decision time for the Derry/Londonderry City of Culture bid…
Over at Listenderry, Mark’s calling for volunteers to cover the unveiling of the winner of UK City of Culture… Whether you are in Derry/Londonderry or just plain old London get in touch with him via email or the Listenderry Facebook group… As Brian noted on Monday the Mail says they are favourites (but it wouldn’t [...] more »
Londonderry SF councillor still confused
Sinn Féin councillor, Maeve McLaughlin, who doesn’t believe Londonderry [And Northern Ireland? - Ed] is still part of the UK, is now complaining that she can’t search the National Archives of Ireland for ‘Derry’. As the Derry Journal reports Sinn Féin councillor Maeve McLaughlin said a number of local people had raised concerns about the website. [...] more »
The Fountain: A part of Londonderry that Derry forgot…
Nice observational piece here from Middlemarch on Listenderry… A writer from a nationalist background who took a quiet walk into and around the tiny Fountain area: the only part of Derry city’s west bank which retains a substantial Protestant population… more »
“Martin McGuinness was more likely than not to have been in possession of a Thompson sub-machine gun”
Saville made no finding on whether Martin McGuinness had ”fired a Thompson sub-machine gun from the Rossville Flats”. But, despite Eamonn’s ‘not proven’ claim, it’s more a case of ‘not [fully] tested’. From the Saville Inquiry’s Consideration of the evidence relating to Martin McGuinness [scroll down] 147.349 We were unable to obtain a written statement from Infliction, or call [...] more »
“None was posing any threat of causing death or serious injury.”
The Guardian identifies the key findings of the Saville Inquiry report. The significant one for the families “None of the casualties shot by soldiers of Support Company was armed with a firearm or (with the probable exception of Gerald Donaghey) a bomb of any description. None was posing any threat of causing death or serious injury. [...] more »
Bloody Sunday Live blog…
Bloody Sunday report The Saville Inquiry report has been published on the inquiry website. You can catch summary details about the report, family reactions and political commentary through the many, many media outlets camped out in Guildhall Square. more »
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Books
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A Political History of the Two Irelands competition…
It’s not often we get free things to give away to our readers, but courtesy of Palgrave Macmillan we have a nice paperback copy of Brian M Walker’s excellent history of partition of the island and how identities shifted in both the north east and the south and west: as most of the territory that [...] read our review »
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The peace process not such a good model after all
Which reminds me…. Platform for Change’s driving force Robin Wilson has produced a corrective to the notion that the lessons of the NI conflict are easily exportable. Like myself, Robin is associated with the Constitution Unit. He introduced his new book in a CU blog which I here reproduce. The water crisis in Northern Ireland [...] read our review »
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Christopher Hitchens, 1949 – 2011
Writer Christopher Hitchens has died aged 62. He was as contrary as he was brilliant. Here is a brief In Memoriam from Vanity Fair (his outlet of choice since 1992) and, here, a longer tribute from his friend Christopher Buckley Stanley in The New Yorker. Better, perhaps, though to post one of Hitchens’ own writings in [...] read our review »
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