Dealing wit the past

Talks on the past, no talks on the welfare deadlock, a border poll? No prizes for guessing what they amount to.

Brian Walker on September 29, 2014, 12:28 pm | Readers 982

Government by tweet is a curse as it fends off searching inquiry. Twitter is a blessing for the non-information strategies of government by politburo. I’ve never known a time when it’s been more difficult for political correspondents to do their jobs. Is Liam Clarke of the Belfast Telegraph right when he fears a slow slide to a snap election? What would that change? What about a border poll? Yet another ridiculous distraction. At best it’s a sign that the public would …

Memo to Richard Haass: Greater openness in dealing with the past is long overdue

Brian Walker on August 12, 2013, 5:50 pm | Readers 54

This call for a swift cross border public inquiry into the Omagh bombing by the British ambassador to Dublin at the time carries weight. But enough to succeed? “Material which the families presented to the British and Irish governments over a year ago, so far without response, suggests failings in MI5, the Garda and the FBI.” Fifteen years ago, Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern made clear no stone would be left unturned in the search for the perpetrators. This hollow promise …