unification
Why a #BorderPoll ill-serves the cause of a united island
Tweet “I live in terror of not being misunderstood.” From The Critic as Artist, by Oscar Wilde So, what is a reasonable, even a Nationalist, objection to the calling of a Border Poll in the next parliamentary term north and south? The most obvious is that from what we know of the current public will [...] more »
Decoupling religion from political identity a necessary pre-requisite for any unification project
Tweet It’s always hard to get whether Gerry’s referring to the chicken or the egg when he talks about a united Ireland. In any case, his party has been campaigning for a referendum they almost certainly don’t want (at this stage), and which, thankfully, the Secretary of State will almost certainly not grant. Happy days. [...] more »
Nationalism needs separate and competing visions for ‘unification’…
This is a version of the article of mine that appears in the Political Review supplement of today's Belfast News Letter. It examines the call for nationalist unity from Declan O'Loan and asks: cui bono. It concludes that nationalism’s best chance for unification may be to remain free to develop separate and competing visions for unification. more »
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Books
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Ex- Combatants, Religion and Peace in Northern Ireland: Book Review
Tweet It’s probably safe to assume that most people in Northern Ireland would not associate religion either with ‘peace’, or with ‘ex-combatants.’ But a new book by John Brewer, David Mitchell and Gerard Leavey, Ex-Combatants, Religion and Peace in Northern Ireland: The Role of Religion in Transitional Justice (Palgrave, 2013) fruitfully brings the three together [...] read our review » -
Books: Listening to Van Morrison…
Tweet Great little review of Listening to Van Morrison by Griel Marcus… It’s a short book, not a biography or a career survey, but an attempt to follow those moments in Morrison’s music, as he’s made it from his first records with Them, from Belfast in 1965 to the present day, when something happens that [...] read our review »
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Children of the Revolution (Bill Rolston)
Tweet What was life like for children of political activists during the Troubles? A new book by Bill Rolston and published by Guildhall Press during the summer has collected together the stories of twenty Children of the Revolution whose parents’ activities – and in many cases, imprisonment – had a significant affect on childhoods and [...] read our review »
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