BBC NI’s Spotlight programme tonight investigates the republican movement’s handling of sexual abuse allegations against a suspected IRA member. Maíria Cahill has waived her right to anonymity to tell how the republican movement responded to her allegations by first investigating them, then burying them and imposing a code of silence to protect the movement. She more…
The news on Mitchel McLaughlin not getting the seat Peter Robinson once promised him, in two Tweets… One, if Mitchel ain’t getting it, no one is… McLaughlin didn't get the post then as expected? @mickfealty this truly is a farce of a govt http://t.co/Wlf30E34dk — Katie-o (@kateyo) October 13, 2014 Two, some context… Unionists causing more…
So this morning, I am genuinely sorry to say, was another Sinn Fein car crash on Nolan. No doubt the party flaks will be giving him stick for being too harsh on Alex Maskey (usually a master of the talk over the interviewer technique). Yet that would be wrong on so many levels. If ever there more…
Peter Shirlow has to deal with politicians and so cannot afford to sound completely exasperated or polemical. Informed by his detailed work in the communities he discusses the perceived gap between public attitudes and the starker political positions in the Belfast Telegraph, in the light of the recent LucidTalk poll commissioned by the paper. I would only add more…
Photo by: Marty O’Connor The North West Mountain Rescue team coming of Croagh Patrick on reek Sunday. Every team on the island attends to provide cover for up to 20,000 pilgrims climbing the mountain on the last Sunday of July. The exercise starts around 3.00 the night before when the teams deploy, A team can more…
A seven-week education and training programme on ‘Remembering a Decade of Change and Violence in Ireland, 1912-1922,’ will be delivered by Rev Dr Johnston McMaster and Dr Cathy Higgins each Tuesday from 21 October to 2 December at the Lansdowne Hotel, 657 Antrim Road in Belfast. The evening begins with tea/coffee/sandwiches from 6 pm and more…
If the two by elections in the south on Friday were a experiment, what would have been the hypotheses and what might we safely conclude from it? Well, let’s look first at the one in Roscommon South Leitrim. In neither case is the news good for political parties. First there’s a near thirty per cent drop more…
And on Tuesday night Spotlight according to today’s Sunday Independent is on a controversial case of a young woman who makes specific allegations against a named member of the IRA. According to the report a case was prepared against the man concerned but he was acquitted when seemingly at the last minute no evidence was offered at his trial. We’ll have to more…
This week a messianic nationalist party of still dubious respectability came within 600 by-election votes of cementing beyond doubt its credentials as the main electoral threat to the senior coalition partner. (more…)
I honestly didn’t know what to expect from ’71. Confusingly, the Google summary told me it was about “Sandra, a young Belgian mother, discovers that her workmates have opted for a significant pay bonus, in exchange for her dismissal.” So far, so huh? One of the director’s, Yann Demange’s, best known previous credits was ITV’s more…
I haven’t yet managed to read Jonathan Powell’s new book: Talking to Terrorists: How to End Armed Conflicts”, but potted versions like this one in Prospect magazine delivers his thesis with his usual crispness. “In democracies we cannot kill all the terrorists, so we will have to talk to them at some stage! And just in more…
Photo by MNM Photography, Taken on September 26, 2014 The Milky Way is the galaxy that contains our Solar System. The Milky Way is a barred spiral galaxy some 100,000–120,000 light-years in diameter, which contains 100–400 billion stars. It may contain at least as many planets as well. As we all worry about if Stormont will collapse, who can march where more…
This year’s Progressive Unionist Party conference [party website down!] was held in the Dunsilly Hotel outside Antrim. About 80 delegates were present, around 40% were women, some of whom were obviously now making a big impact on party policy and direction. The audience seemed a little younger than previous years. It was good to see more…
I love a good talk and debate, it’s like the theatre only cheaper and more interesting. In this decade of centenaries there is an abundance of talks for history junkies. Recently I found out about this series of talks happening in Belfast. I missed the first few but will defiantly be at the rest of them. Tom more…
An atmospheric photo by Roger Bradley of a band parade in Banbridge, County Down. Taken on September 12, 2014
My assumption is that it must have been quite an election. I can only assume, as I had not even been conceived, let alone born, then, but the contest around the UK had far-reaching implications for both Britain and Ireland. Polling exactly forty years ago today – barely eight months after the previous general election more…
To pay or not to pay water charges was the question of the week for the southern wing of Sinn Féin. In the north, things are completely different… Under pressure from former MEP Paul Murphy of the Anti-Austerity Alliance, the party’s candidate in today’s by-election in Dublin South West, Cllr Cathal King, had majored heavily more…
Photo taken by Brian O’Neill at the Ulster Museum, Sept 2014 Alan McBride is the Centre Co-ordinator of the WAVE Trauma Centre in Belfast. His wife Sharon was among nine people killed by the IRA in the Shankill bomb in 1993.
Just in from the BBC; Political Correspondent Martina Purdy is leaving Ormeau Ave for a new vocation in the church. Speaking about her decision she said “I’ve been a journalist now for almost 25 years, 15 of them at the BBC,” Martina said. “It has been an immensely rewarding profession. “I am especially grateful to more…
In which country in the world would you find such massive relief in government circles when that governments of the candidate feels to win a by-election to the upper house? Irish Independent reports: But his huge support from Fine Gael and Labour TDs will nonetheless prove extremely embarrassing for the Taoiseach. The government has now more…
