Patrick Corrigan

Wot knowledge-based society?

Patrick Corrigan on March 25, 2011, 10:59 am

| Readers 4

Defenders of Northern Ireland’s education system often claim its one of the best in the world. Indeed, in their promotional materials, InvestNI make the (unreferenced) claim “the education system in Northern Ireland is recognised as one of the best in Europe, consistently outperforming all other UK regions in academic qualifications“. What to make then of the just-published report from the Asssembly Public Accounts Committee, which notes that the proportion of unqualified workers in Northern Ireland is the highest in the …

The Irish Independents – but where are ours for #AE11?

Patrick Corrigan on February 27, 2011, 10:14 pm

| Readers 20

One of the fascinating features of the Republic’s general election has been the prominence – and success – of a wide range of independents. Colourful characters aplenty will be in the new Dáil Éireann – from the nationally known business journalist Senator Shane Ross, to Luke Flanagan, ‘Ming the Merciless’, the marijuana-smoking mayor of Roscommon. Then there’s millionaire property developer / man of the people Mick Wallace, whose pink football shirts and posters and flowing white locks, brought some colour to …

Tunisia. Egypt. Where next?

Patrick Corrigan on February 12, 2011, 12:20 am

| Readers 8

First Tunisia. Now Egypt. The dominoes are toppling. Autocrats across the region and beyond are trembling as 2011 becomes the year of people power. Where next? That’s the question on the perspiring lips of despots and dictators everywhere as they realise that even the dollars, arms and political might of the United States can’t be counted on to save them from their people’s demand for human rights. The Economist has come up with a rather fun way of predicting which …

‘Thailand’s Mick Fealty’ on trial

Patrick Corrigan on February 10, 2011, 12:28 pm

| Readers 4

As local politicos, hacks, twitterati and bloggers prepare for this evening’s Slugger Awards, let’s spare a thought for Chiranuch Premchaiporn, Thailand’s Mick Fealty, currently on trial in Bangkok. Her crime? Not removing comments quickly enough from a web forum. If found guilty, she faces the prospect of decades in jail. Ms Premchaiporn runs Prachatai (Thai People), an online newspaper and web forum which offers news, analysis and comment in a country with severe restrictions on the mainstream media. The comments …

Egypt, human rights and being caught on the wrong side of history

Patrick Corrigan on February 4, 2011, 1:54 pm

| Readers 26

The people of Egypt continue to show extraordinary courage in taking to the streets en masse – and in the face of apparently orchestrated violence – to demand the human rights which have been denied them for so long. Countries like the US (and the UK) have been well aware of these human rights violations by the Mubarak administration for many years. Indeed, the US State Department compiles its own annual human rights report for Egypt. Pick any particular year you like. …

Egypt: Will it be the secret policeman’s fall?

Patrick Corrigan on February 1, 2011, 9:23 am

| Readers 3

President Hosni Mubarak’s shuffling of the Egyptian cabinet while Cairo burns, has all the appearance of rearranging deckchairs on a doomed Titanic. Yet, despite the protests, he may still survive. If he were to go, who would replace him? His son, the just as unpopular Gamal? The Muslim Brotherhood? Mohamed ElBaradei? Or Omar Suleiman, intelligence chief and new vice-President? Whatever the outcome of this week’s events across Egypt, any administration genuinely wishing to bring the country out of chaos must urgently address …

Immigration detention conditions slammed. Larne plans move ahead.

Patrick Corrigan on January 28, 2011, 4:32 pm

| Readers 12

With the UK Borders Agency (UKBA) moving ahead with plans to open a short-term “immigration removal centre” in Larne, concerns were heightened today with the publication of a damning report by HM Inspector of Prisons into Colnbrook Immigration Removal Centre and Short Term Holding Facility near Heathrow. Colnbrook is operated by private company Serco on behalf of UKBA and is just the latest such centre to be the focus of significant criticism in a HM Inspector of Prisons report. A whole series of reports …

The Belfast blitz: remembering the victims

Patrick Corrigan on January 7, 2011, 4:32 pm

| Readers 370

After almost seventy years, it looks like Belfast may erect a public memorial to the victims of WWII bombing raids on the city. Most people in present-day Belfast are probably vaguely aware that it was bombed during the war, but a memorial may help to prompt more understanding of the actual scale of the devastation wreaked by the Luftwaffe’s bombs. On the night of Easter Tuesday, 15th April 1941, two hundred Nazi bombers attacked the city. With over 900 people killed, …

Obituary: Professor Kevin Boyle

Patrick Corrigan on December 27, 2010, 9:36 pm

| Readers 117

Many in Northern Ireland and much further afield will be deeply saddened to hear news of the the death of Professor Kevin Boyle, who passed away yesterday. Prof. Boyle was one of the UK and Ireland’s leading human rights academics, as founding director of the Irish Centre for Human Rights at NUI Galway and later director of the Human Rights Centre in the University of Essex. Originally from Newry, Kevin Boyle became a civil rights leader while at Queen’s University …

Torture and our “special relationship” with Malaysia

Patrick Corrigan on December 8, 2010, 12:44 pm

| Readers 29

Thousands of prisoners are tortured in Malaysia every year. Why should we care? Well, Northern Ireland has a “special relationship” with the country, don’t you know. Shouldn’t that relationship be leveraged “for the greater good”, as Sir Reg has it, to help end this barbaric practice

Seeking asylum is not a crime. The human face of detention.

Patrick Corrigan on October 29, 2010, 6:19 pm

| Readers 106

There has been much, often ill-informed, comment on the airwaves over the last couple of days on the proposed immigration (temporary) detention centre planned by the UK Borders Agency in Larne. Much has come from local residents that foreign nationals being held in secure detention might escape, might take people’s jobs, might lower property values … who knows, they might even start barbecuing swans given half the chance. Of course, the quality of the discourse was hardly helped by the BNP …

Torture. It hasn’t gone away you know.

Patrick Corrigan on October 11, 2010, 1:50 pm

| Readers 30

Charlie McManamin was a 16-year-old boy, when – according to his shocking testimony – he was interrogated and beaten until he confessed to terrorist offences. He’s just one of the people – including a former police officer – making detailed allegations of torture in a new film and report on the Guardian site today. Hundreds of men and women convicted of terrorism offences in Northern Ireland are now planning to appeal against convictions based on confessions that were, they allege, …