Patrick Corrigan This winter will mark 53 years since the last use of capital punishment in Northern Ireland. On 20 December 1961 Robert McGladdery became the last man to be hanged in Belfast’s Crumlin Road Gaol, for the murder of Pearl Gamble. The death penalty for murder was finally abolished in Northern Ireland on 25 July 1973. However, depending on where you live, you can be beheaded for charges of sorcery, stoned for adultery, or hanged for drug smuggling. This is 2014, and …
As far as the eye can see, young pro-democracy protestors have taken to the streets of central Hong Kong to demand the right to elect freely the next chief executive of the territory. The students’ speeches, songs and placards celebrate the freedoms they want to enjoy. Beijing has announced restrictions for the 2017 election – which effectively rule out any prospect of a democrat standing. The youth of Hong Kong are not happy with how their non-democratic future is shaping up. …
With the start of US-led air strikes on Islamic State targets in Syria this week, and Parliament due to vote today on British military action in neighbouring Iraq, attention is once again focused on the conflict which has cost so many lives since 2011. When G8 leaders met in Fermanagh last year, they committed themselves to helping to bring peace to Syria. The soaring death toll in the sixteen months since, at the hands of Syrian state military, opposition forces and …
As world leaders meet today in New York for the UN Climate Summit, Eithne McNulty of Trocaire writes this guest post for Slugger to argue: Climate change is no longer a stand-alone issue, it is the entire context in which the world exists Humans, along with every other species, depend totally on the proper functioning of the planet for the air we breathe, the water we drink and the food we eat. A small change to nature’s system can have the effect of knocking the …
Baroness Warsi’s hard-hitting resignation letter to David Cameron has served to focus attention on the UK’s policy on the carnage in Gaza. The former Foreign Office minister says her resignation was prompted by the government’s “morally indefensible” policy – one of arming the Israelis, while pressuring the Palestinian Authority not to seek justice through the International Criminal Court. Despite the Prime Minister’s dubious expressions of sympathy for the people of Gaza, a more one-sided UK policy could scarcely be imagined. …
But how long will she have to wait? Happy Belfast Pride! On Thursday, Panti Bliss, aka Rory O’Neill, paid the city a visit to give the Amnesty International Pride Lecture. Alan in Belfast has a full audio-recording of the lecture here, but meanwhile here’s a little taste of what Panti told us before the sell-out lecture at The Mac. Update – here’s the full lecture: listen to ‘#pantibliss @PantiBliss versus Homophobia – the annual @AmnestyNI @BelfastPride lecture’ on Audioboo Patrick CorriganI am …
Kamalesh Sharma, the secretary-general of the Commonwealth – and Chancellor of Queen’s University Belfast – is under fire after being accused of withholding crucial legal advice that could have prevented Sri Lanka from hosting the imminent heads of government meeting. The legal opinion said that the firing of the Sri Lankan chief justice by President Mahindra Rajapaksa was a contravention of the Commonwealth Charter, which sets out the supposed shared values of the member states: democracy, human rights and the …
Do you remember where you were when you heard about Omagh? I do. My future wife and I were down South on holiday. When the news came on the car radio – and with every bulletin, it became worse – we could hardly believe our ears. Hadn’t we just voted for peace and a new start in Northern Ireland a few short months before? 3.10 p.m this afternoon marks the exact moment fifteen years ago when a car bomb exploded …
In 1963 Martin Luther King Jr stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., and gave his famous “I have a dream” speech. Today, fifty years on, in tribute to the great civil rights leader, the US marks Martin Luther King Jr Day with a federal holiday in his name. Today also sees Barack Obama take to the steps of the city’s Capitol Building for his second public inauguration as President of the United States of America. …
There’s just a day to go before the Great Big Politics Pub Quiz, so we hope you’re busy swotting up from Schott’s Almanac of Political Trivia, BBC Democracy Live, Hansard, 1996 Forum Election manifestoes and your box-sets of The Thick of It / The West Wing (delete as applicable). Some of our legislators will be among us, laying down the law from the quizmaster’s chair from 7:30pm or thereabouts in The Black Box. This year, we’re raising money for the emergency work of the Red Cross …
There’s just one week to go before the Great Big Politics Pub Quiz, and as Malcolm Tucker once memorably said: “I’ve got a to-do list here that’s longer than a f#cking Leonard Cohen song.” The politicians are coming down from the hill and they’re headed for The Black Box. Tuesday 20 November, from 7:30pm to be precise. Currently confirmed to take a turn in the quiz-master’s chair are UUP leader, Mike Nesbitt; Environment Committee chair, Anna Lo MBE; Policing Board …
All war is terrible. But there is something particularly terrible about a city under siege. Think of Derry, Leningrad, Sarajevo. That’s been the fate of Homs in Syria since Spring 2011. It was there that reporter Marie Colvin was killed by Syrian government shelling in February of this year. Who knows how many residents, whose names we don’t know, have shared her fate before and since. Most of the city is now under government control but fighting continues in certain …
A four-day ceasefire to mark the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha has come into effect, albeit patchily, in Syria. The BBC’s Lina Sinjab reported this morning from the capital: Damascus hasn’t had a quiet morning for a long time, but so far, the ceasefire is being honoured. During the Eid holiday people visit cemeteries where their beloved are buried and put flowers on their graves. There are thousands of new graves to be visited today Yet, almost as soon as …
For those who missed the Slugger for Syria post, this is an event announcement to confirm that the Great Big Politics Pub Quiz is back, this time to raise funds for the Red Cross / Red Crescent Syria crisis appeal. In Syria the need is desperate and the situation is deteriorating. Syrian Arab Red Crescent volunteers are risking their lives to provide a lifeline for everyone in Syria caught up in the conflict, supplying emergency food, shelter and medical care. …
“An artillery shell had just landed and the hospital entrance was a grotesque tableau of blood, bodies and tears. A small team of doctors set to work against a soundtrack of bombs and bullets.” So began Ian Pannell’s BBC report from Syria last week. His words and pictures were moving, distressing, enraging: “Two-year-old Ahmed screamed in terror and agony as a surgeon sewed his scalp back into place. His head had been torn open when a rocket landed on his house …
We’re winning! That’s not a claim you may hear too often from human rights activists, but in the case of the global struggle against the death penalty, it’s true. The momentum around the world is towards ending executions. The vast majority of countries have now abandoned the death penalty. On the eve of World Day against the Death Penalty, that’s worth noting. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtLxXU0Gotk&feature=youtu.be Yet a small, and increasingly isolated, group of governments continue to put their own people to death. …
This week California passed a law banning therapy aimed at making gay teenagers straight. Now Britain’s biggest professional body for psychotherapists, the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) has instructed members that it is unethical for them to attempt to “convert” gay people to being heterosexual. The other main professional body for British psychotherapists, the UK Council for Psychotherapy, had issued similar guidance to members back in 2010. The professional guidance comes on top of the BACP withdrawing professional membership from ‘conversion …
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 the Battle of the Boyne, right through to a not-so-appreciative account of the men of Orange to be found in a newspaper cartoon at the height …
When David Hockney published his etching In the dull village in 1967, the UK government was busy passing the Sexual Offences Act to (partially) decriminalise homosexuality in England and Wales. It was another fifteen years before Northern Ireland caught up – with the passage of the Homosexual Offences (Northern Ireland) Order 1982, and that was only after Jeff Dudgeon took a case to the European Court of Human Rights. In 2012 the campaign for LGBT equality has moved on. …
Culture Night Belfast (and in a few other towns besides) is almost upon us. Tomorrow night is a chance for thousands of people to take to the streets, bars, cafes, offices and other nooks and crannies around the city to experience all sorts of arts and cultural experiences. While most events are concentrated on the Cathedral Quarter area of the city, this year’s Culture Night has extended its reach across the city. There are simply too many events to preview effectively …
