Steven King asks how some of the revelations in the Moloney book will go down with Sinn Fein’s wealthy backers in the US, highlighting in particular the emotive issue of human bombs and the leftward swing in Republican poltics immediately after Gerry Adams asumed leadership in 1986. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.
One MP would like to see it happen. More from Eric Waugh, who claims: “Some 50 Labour MPs now support an end to the Northern Ireland boycott, a group led by Kate Hoey and Harry Barnes, and supported by Frank Field, Gwyneth Dunwoody and Nick Raynsford– and, of course, Lord Fitt.” Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.
With the news that the Claudy bombing case is to be re-opened, Gary Kent’s verdict on the idea that a series of enquiries be opened up into atrocities and injustices in Northern Ireland. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.
The controversy over this book trundles on and is likely to do so for some time. The focus of a lot of the initial press interest is Gerry Adams and his alleged role in the disappearance and death of widowed mother of ten, Jean McConville. Professor Paul Bew reviews it within a wider historical, even though he begins by suggesting that Adams emerges from the pages of the book smelling of “rotten cabbage”, primarily because of the accusations around Mrs …
With the focus of media largely playing on the main protagonists at Stormont, it is easy to forget there are many other views beyond the tight (and not so tight) choreography inside and outside the Assembly chamber. Thanks to Badgers Radio for this transcript of a speech by Des Dalton published on the Republican Sinn Fein website. It outlines the classic revolutionary Republican case against partition: “…it put in place a state, whose foundations were naked sectarianism, discrimination and bigotry, …
About 15 years ago I spoke to a member of the RUC who was then based on the Loyalist Shankill Road. He said his job fell into two distinct roles. In Nationalist Ardoyne, he was a soldier; frequently lying flat out in someone’s front garden dodging bullets. Whereas on the loyalist Shankill, he could be found conducting traffic and helping little old ladies across the road. Things have changed. The police no longer play the role of soldier in nationlist …
The book that most people have been awaiting all summer has finally arrived. We first picked up on it back in July when the author was interviewed by Jack Holland. Ed Moloney’s book aims to be the definative work, hoping to displace Tim Pat Coogan’s The IRA from that role. It remains to be seen if that will happen, but early signs are that this gets deeper and asks more searching questions of the organisation than any previous work. Reviews …
At the signing of the Belfast Agreement in 1998 the paramilitary’s political representatives were some of its staunchest supporters. So, David Gordon asks, what happened? Includes good coverage of the three main groupings; UDA, UVF and the LVF. BTW thanks to Airstrip One for the mention for the Letter. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.
Deireann Eoghan Ó Néill: “Ba é an t-ionsaí ar Jim Gray i mBéal Feirste Thoir, an tseachtain seo caite, an chéad ionsaí ar Bhriogáidire de chuid an UDA ó cuireadh struchtúr na mBriogáidirí ar bun ag deireadh na 1970í agus is cinnte go n-imreoidh an UDA díoltas fola ar an LVF i ngeall ar an iarracht maraithe sin. Fuair an UDA réidh le ceannaire aonair ar an eagras i 1979 nuair a ruaig siad Andy Tyrie agus shocraigh ar struchtúr …
I mbun an abhair, maígheann Robert McMillan; “Tá an bharúil ag scaipeadh fríd Rialtas na hÉireann agus Rialtas na Breataine féin nach fiú Trimble a shábháil. Ní raibh sé ábalta barúlacha a mhúnlú i dtreo a pholasaithe féin agus chaill sé an cath ina pháirtí féin.” Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.
The Belfast Telegraph letters page has long been colonised by Unionist correspondents who feel bitterly let down that Sinn Fein were ever let into government. Yesterday however, several pro-Agreement or even ambivalent voices, for the most part took the floor. However the tone seems unrelentingly dark. Wes Holmes suggests that there is a vicious circle at work within Unionism, that it seems helpless to get out of: “The strategy [behind the UUC’s decision], undoubtedly, is to save the party from …
David McKittrick looks darkly at the future ahead. He opens by suggesting that the recent motion passed at the UUC has: “…no obvious wriggle room, it commits Trimble and his Unionist ministers to resigning immediately from the power-sharing executive unless the IRA not only disarms but actually disbands by January. It also demands a halt to policing reforms.” He believes this is the result of deliberate strategising on the part of anti camp: “No one believes the IRA could or …
Brian Kennaway, former convenor of the Orange Order’s education committee spoke to the annual gathering of the Ancient Order of Hibernians. Whilst suggesting that the two organsations had much in common, he also dealt with the obvious differences: “Tolerance does not mean the acceptance of the other person’s point of view, but the acceptance and acknowledgement that he has a right to hold that point of view.” Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.
Thanks to Paul Dunne at Shamrockshire Eagle for this previously unpublished account of the events of Bloody Sunday. It was reproduced in the London Review of Books last July, alongside his own more recent account of appearing before the Saville Inquiry in the Derry Guildhall. I had read this at the time and had convinced myself that I had already published the link. Thanks again to Paul for the nudge!! Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and …
Looks like the minister for roads in Northern Ireland may face prosecution for blocking one of them. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.
Brian Feeney beleives the UUP is on track to rip up the whole Belfast Agreement. He quotes Gerry Adams: “Even if by some Santa Claus intervention the IRA disbanded by Christmas, it is not enough for unionists. There are that many conditions in this UUP policy it would be impossible unless we ceased to be nationalists.” Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.
Henry McDonald paints a grizzly picture of the path the UUP appears to have chosen, suggesting that not only is it prejudicial to their own success, but that it can only weaken the position of their closest allies in the peace process, the moderate nationalist SDLP: “Mark Durkan looked visibly drained by the news from the Ulster Unionist Council meeting. He no doubt understands even if the unionists don’t, that their threat to pull power sharing down only strengthens Sinn …
Presumably substantially written before the UUP deadline was set last weekend, this Adrian Guelke article in the latest Fortnight magazine still manages to read like a political postmortem. However he formulates a number of interesting questions for mainstream Unionism. Not least, what has happened to the middle ground since the Belfast Agreement? He returns to a previous era: “Whereas Brian Faulkner behaved after January 1974 as if Gerry Fitt of the SDLP had just become his closest political ally, Trimbles …
Here’s the Guardian’s selection of the best and the good. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.
Rosie Cowan adds detail to this growing story. One senior paramilitary speaking about controversial paramilitary leader, Johnny Adair told her: “…the chances of someone trying to kill Adair, who has survived several republican and loyalist murder attempts, were extremely high. ‘That would be a nightmare, because it would turn him into a martyr, like Billy Wright. Lots more people would die in his name and families would be torn apart. The UDA motto is Quis Separabit – Who will separate …
