nationalist

The Good Friday Agreement: A Milestone, not the Finish Line

Finn Purdy on March 20, 2018, 10:27 am

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Twenty years on since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement and it is now being called into question, but not for the right reasons. The agreement’s fitness for purpose has been challenged in recent weeks as it is perceived as standing in the way of the hard Brexit that some desire. Rather than question the agreement because Northern Ireland is currently without an assembly or because even whilst there was an assembly in place its legislative record was pitiful, …

Blind spots in cultural terminology

Andrew Gallagher on February 16, 2018, 6:46 pm

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One long-standing problem in Northern Ireland is the fact that many things have multiple names, the choice of which can be both revealing and controversial. Derry/Londonderry is the most well-known example, and the name of Northern Ireland itself (or the avoidance of it) can also cause friction. However, such problems can be glossed over by simply ignoring the speaker’s choice of terminology, as it does not introduce ambiguity into the discussion. Less obvious are those things that do not have …

Listening to the quiet voices of The Somme

Ian Malcolm on July 1, 2016, 12:20 am

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As a child I was forever fascinated by a random collection of oul ‘things’ in a rarely-approached cupboard at home. It was the sort of place where unflattering school reports and old medical cards lay alongside broken spectacles and stringless yoyos, the theory being that they might some day be read, repaired or resurrected. There were a few medals – the full relevance of which I never discovered – but what especially caught my imagination was a bloodstained Nazi armband, …

Republicans and Unionists both need to look at their directions of travel

Mr Crumlin on May 17, 2010, 10:20 pm

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Guest blogger Mr Crumlin argues it is high time both Republicanism and Unionism stop coasting in the same gear they were in during the conflict. And he asks: “Does unionism genuinely want to work with their fellow countrymen in the north? If so, then it is up to republicanism once again to show leadership and to travel the extra mile for the national good.”