The dark side of politics rears its ugly head as Alliance offices attacked.

Last night we have once again seen the ugly side of politics in Northern Ireland as the East Belfast Alliance party office was attacked with two petrol bombs. Last week, I was there doing an interview with Chris Lyttle and normally I don’t write about what I see when I’m out and about doing interviews but after last night I thought I should convey some of my impressions about the office and the people who work in it. What really …

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The judges are right to speak out against coat trailing politicians

The sequence of empty complaints  led by Peter Robinson  about the “perceptions”  of partiality in the granting of bail  only risks creating more trouble for the police and the courts to deal with,  witness Glengormley last night.  The gurning is unlikely to have the slightest effect on the PSNI and the judiciary. This is not because of unreasonable stubbornness on their part but due to the poverty of the criticisms. For the first time that I can recall the judges have hit …

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The political vacuum is compromising the standing of the PSNI

When criticism is made from both directions it’s often said that the subject of the criticism must be doing something right.  I suspect that’s what Matt Baggott is thinking now over the rows about recent arrests on both sides of the divide. There is an alternative view of course; he may be getting it wrong across the board. Either way a small storm of whataboutery is blowing. It must not get out of hand.  Willie Frazer is a hero to …

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