Rusty Nail Belfast Gonzo and Mark McGregor have given their takes on yesterday’s march; one thought Belfast Gonzo’s observations raises in his comparisons to Drumcree is this being Republicanism’s last stand. Read Anthony McIntyre’s commentary. Rusty Nail
The Irish News has more on the helicopter escape from Stormont by Gerry Adams yesterday. Will this go down in song, the day Adams broke out of the St Andrews II talks by escaping in a helicopter to Cork? How very daring. Instead of meeting with Gordon Brown and Peter Robinson and the Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin at Downing Street, he was at the English Market in Cork campaigning against the Lisbon Treaty (Taoiseach Brian Cowen campaigned …
Up like a bird and high over the city “Three men are Gerry Adams is missing” I heard the warder Deputy cry “Sure it must have been a bird that flew into the prison Stormont Or one of those new Ministers” – Wolfe Tones re-write of “The Helicopter Song” An MLA it was, Gerry Adams in his Provo Birdie. The Irish News reports: However, if the prescribed mood for the day was understated, Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams mustn’t have …
FAO Those following the hunger strike controversy: As noted yesterday, the Derry Journal had carried a rather confused piece quoting Richard O’Rawe’s cellmate, Colm Scullion, in the wake of the claims by Eamon McCann. Today, they refer to complaints made by O’Rawe and carry an instant rebuttal from Greg Harkin. The heart of the matter comes down to semantics over the words “deal” and “offer”, as Harkin writes, “Mr O’Rawe’s entire argument rests on what constituted a ‘deal’ or ‘offer’”. …
All those who would support CCTV cameras filming your bedroom window, please raise your hands! Because Newry & Mourne Council has a fabulous apartment they have no problem filming, rejecting the resident’s complaint about said camera on Monday. Lawrence O’Keefe said,
Eamon McCann’s Belfast Telegraph article and Radio Free Eireann interview about Richard O’Rawe’s account of the prisoner acceptance of a deal which would have saved the lives of six hunger strikers has created more questions than answers. McCann’s pieces were firm in his conviction that “Richard O’Rawe is telling the truth”, based on confirmations he had from the “Mountain Climber”, former prisoners on the same wing and Richard’s cellmate. Richard’s cellmate, Colm Scullion, was then quoted by the Derry Journal …
David Trimble, who features, of course, in Jonathan Powell’s account of the peace process, Great Hatred, Little Room, has reviewed the book for the Guardian today. He takes issue with some misrepresentations of his positions, and points out some of them in his review, and also takes Blair and Powell to task for their “feel good” approach to things. He also adds to the Clinton debate by noting there is only one reference to her and it involves her secret …
Making a point of slamming the barn door once more after the horse has long since bolted, Gerry Adams tells the Irish News the Andersonstown News’s front page apology was “inappropriate” and he was “quite surprised” at it. “The paper has a right to say what it wants,” he said. Just as an aside, Jonathan Powell has an amusing anecdote in his book describing an exchange with Gerry Adams that captured the essence of Adams’ approach to things. “For me, …
Lisburn SDLP councillor Matthew McDermott is reported by the Irish News to have returned his young achiever (“40 under 40”) Belfast Media award in protest at their handling of the Squinter column and subsequent front page apology to Gerry Adams MP MLA. “A columnist of any repute should be allowed to do what they are paid to do and criticism of politicians or political parties, including my own, is part of the rough and tumble of this business,” he said, …
Adelante over at Gaskin’s blog has tipped us off to a new nefarious securocrat plot designed yet again to destabilise the Republican Movement. This time, their cunning plan is to do so by attacking Gerry Adams, because an attack on Gerry Adams is an attack on all of us (and hence why we were so hurt and upset by Squinter’s ill-fated article; he wasn’t just criticising Gerry, he was attacking us into the bargain for being stupid enough to vote …
Eamon McCann verifies Richard O’Rawe’s account of the 1981 hunger strike in which he alleges that six of the hunger strikers need not have died as the prisoners had agreed to accept an offer from the Mountainclimber, only to be over-ruled by Gerry Adams. Evidence which has now become available helps clarify a dispute sparked three years ago by the assertion of former IRA prisoner Richard O’Rawe that terms for ending the strike, accepted by the prisoners’ leadership in the …
Brian Rowan writes of the DUP-SF backchannel, allegedly facilitated by a well known journalist, and warns that the denials made in the past will come back to bite in the future: “The danger in all of this is that the denial continues and the truth emerges.” Read about it in the Belfast Telegraph and the BBC. Thanks, Jone, for the link – I didn’t know it was made public. If true it places the journalist in a very compromised position, …
Just FYI for the files: The Andersonstown News has removed Blinker’s, er, Squinter’s, article about Gerry Adams from their websites, and from Squinter’s blog. (Hint: it’s quite easy to start your own blog – ask Newton Emerson, Eamon Lynch or Anthony McIntyre, who also benefited suffered from the censorship control-freakery of Teach Basil, for tips*). We print it below for posterity’s sake – to remember the day the bold men struck a blow for freedom of speech. * Insert your …
The Andersonstown News accepts that the tone and the timing of the Squinter article last week during a period of community mourning was inappropriate and unnecessary and apologises to Gerry Adams and our readers for any hurt caused. “Hold me now. It’s hard for me to say I’m sorry. I just want you to know. Hold me now. I really want to tell you I’m sorry. I could never let you go. After all that we’ve been through, I will …
Speeches, photos, videos and statements for this Easter. Provisional IRA statement Belfast Speech by Conor Murphy West Belfast Bebo video of parade: Part 1 and Part 2, and Part 3 Video of Belfast parade by Typhoo Photos of Belfast parade by Aontacht Derry Speech by Gerry Kelly, Drumboe Speech by Anthony McIntyre, Derry Photos of Derry parade by Seanfderry Dublin Statement by Gerry Adams Photos by JP Ireland Photoline RTE report (with video) Tyrone Video of CIRA, Edendork Carrickmore parade …
Mentioning this in passing, as it is interesting that in the same week, two notorious Adams cheerleaders/Sinn Fein mouthpieces have both publicly questioned Adams’ future as leader of the party and Republican Movement. This blog report of a Belfast tour (“Professor”) O’Dowd led notes that, before the group were to sit down for a one-on-one session with Adams, O’Dowd suggested Adams could not take things “to the next level”, and would need to be replaced by someone with less baggage. …
Squinter’s column has hit a raw nerve somewhere, generating some 51 comments (so far) on his blog, which was, until now, a tumbleweed winding across the desert end of cyberspace. Most of the comments are generally supportive, as for once he is actually articulating the honest view of many in West Belfast. But he has managed to get up the nose of some party faithful – which apparently has come as a surprise to him. Still, the question of what …
So sez Squinter, 20 years on, Gerry must face the truth: “Adams has been the West Belfast MP for 20 years. If a week is a long time in politics, then 20 years is the Upper Paleolithic Age. It is in that same 20-year period that the slow, steady decline into chaos in certain parts of West Belfast began, and it was on his watch that it has gathered pace to become the runaway train that it is today. …there …
Amidst persistent rumours of yet more informers to be exposed (“3 are to be named soon”, “One has already left his home”, etc., etc.), the World Socialist Web Site examines what is most worrying about the whole charade of informers, agents, and responsibility. A number of very serious questions arise. It now seems that for a long time, counted in decades, the British government not only had a window into the IRA’s internal discussion and organisation but the means to …
Given how ridiculous the idea of celebrating Mairead Farrell at Stormont was, which even the most devoted Sinn Fein supporter had trouble getting their heads around as a great idea, was the whole thing a trojan horse to arrive at this destination instead, which has already had a test-run in Limavady? SF may seek to ban unionist symbols at Stormont and SF anger over IRA commemoration ban Or is that just a face-saving exercise after a spectacularly daft suggestion? What …
