Ted Heath is the latest and most senior Tory to be named in paedophilia claims. But how do you prove a negative?

Growing up in the 1960s with a precocious interest in politics, the main UK party leaders Harold Wilson and Ted Heath were among my role models. The new term  “meritocrat” might have been invented for them . Both of them came from modest backgrounds and made it to the top.  Politically I admired Heath’s decisiveness compared to Wilson’s waffle and to some extent I still do.  At the time, entering Europe and introducing  power sharing in Northern Ireland required bold leadership, however mixed …

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“Last January, the vast majority of families decided that the 39th Anniversary would be the last march”

Despite the declaration by the organising committee last year following the publication of the Saville Inquiry report, and the absence of endorsement by the Bloody Sunday Trust this year, a sizeable number of people took part in the 40th anniversary Bloody Sunday march in Londonderry yesterday.  Estimates range from several hundred to almost 3000. And, although Eamonn McCann doesn’t directly cite the absence of the Trust’s endorsement of yesterday’s march among the reasons for his resignation as chairman, he does register his disagreement with that decision. …

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“when trying to reconstruct history, dip your bucket as close to the source as possible”

Former Sunday Times Insight journalist, Peter Pringle, savoured the publication of the Saville Inquiry report.  And he had some interesting thoughts on Saville’s methodology But questions about Saville’s report on Bloody Sunday remain to be addressed: how did they sift the evidence? What evidence did they leave in, or out? What did the secret services redact? Why did he take so long? Here’s a suggestion of how to start reading beyond the headlines: look at Saville’s methods for reconstructing history. Mark …

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How David Cameron has shifted the ‘moral economy’…

Two interesting aspects of Malachi O’Doherty’s latest post on his own blog. One is the soundtrack of the crowds in Derry listening to David Cameron’s broadcast speech from the House of Commons. First there are jeers, and then it gives ways to cheers. And then this, which is actually Malachi’s response to his first commenter: …the moral economy has shifted. No previous prime minister during the peace process has hinted at a willingness to embarrass Martin McGuinness and at the …

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“Martin McGuinness was more likely than not to have been in possession of a Thompson sub-machine gun”

Saville made no finding on whether Martin McGuinness had “fired a Thompson sub-machine gun from the Rossville Flats”.  But, despite Eamonn’s ‘not proven’ claim, it’s more a case of ‘not [fully] tested’.  From the Saville Inquiry’s Consideration of the evidence relating to Martin McGuinness [scroll down] 147.349 We were unable to obtain a written statement from Infliction, or call him to give oral evidence. Nor was Martin McGuinness able to question him or even be told who he was. The same applies to the …

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“None was posing any threat of causing death or serious injury.”

The Guardian identifies the key findings of the Saville Inquiry report.  The significant one for the families “None of the casualties shot by soldiers of Support Company was armed with a firearm or (with the probable exception of Gerald Donaghey) a bomb of any description. None was posing any threat of causing death or serious injury. In no case was any warning given before soldiers opened fire,” the report said. The Guardian also points out Lieutenant Colonel Derek Wilford did not comply …

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“I had to put a lot of pressure on Tony Blair…”

On the eve of the publication of the Saville Inquiry report, The Guardian‘s Henry McDonald reports former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern’s claim of responsibility… Ahern said its impact on the peace process had been critical. “It was immensely important because at that time we were trying to build confidence and help the people of Derry, who had been dealing with this for years,” Ahern said. “I had to put a lot of pressure on Tony Blair. All the advice he was …

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Tom Elliott on Bloody Sunday, Saville and Martin McGuinness

Maybe I am biased living in Fermanagh but I have always regarded Fermanagh’s two unionist MLA (no disrespect to Maurice Morrow, he is more South Tyrone based) as amongst their respective parties’ serious talents. Tom Elliott has a piece in the News Letter on the Saville Enquiry and Bloody Sunday which is very interesting: The publication of Saville will bring us back to a dark year in our history. The bloodiest year of the Troubles was 1972, when 497 people …

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“Is it not the primary duty of states, for all their imperfections, to provide external protection and internal security for their citizens?”

A good attempt by the Guardian’s Michael White to look beyond the publication of the Saville Inquiry report and to ask, with some historical context, what happens next So Bloody Sunday needs to be placed in context, hard though it must be for those whose lives were utterly changed by it and have found it impossible to move on without first obtaining redress. Should prosecutions be launched 30 years after the event? If viable evidence can be mustered from the …

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